Hurmu religion

The Hurmu religion is an ingrained part of the Hurmudan nation. It plays a role in modern Hurmu society. The traditional religion lacks deities or gods; Hurmu has a traditional word for a purported deity, pipi, which is important in Hurmu legends and in historical interactions with deist religions.

Cosmology

The traditional beliefs is that the universe is an ever-changing organism. Every little object, every atom if you will, is considered its own little being. As such, every human is a being of his/her own, but at the same consists of smaller beings (different organs have different wills and personalities), and one organ, for example the liver, can be divided up to its components down to the smallest possible level (similar to atom or proton etc in modern physics).

As such, Hurmu people have a deep respect for everything, whether it be other humans, a piece of hair on the floor, and nature itself.

Creation myth

As the universe is an ever-changing organism, things will never stay the same. Nothing is ever constant. Hurmudans believe that the world was originally a formless planet, a rock without life, but it had water. One day, a meteor hit the surface of the world. Before impact, it split in six smaller meteorites, each hitting the ground in northern Lyrica. The impact craters became the six Holy Lakes of Hurmu.

The meteor that crashed had the seeds of Micran life within it. The reactions between water (the sea), the dirt, the fire (from the impact), and air thus became a breeding ground for the first life. Eventually, a whole ecosystem was created, with karjak-ka (sentients, literally "the thinkers"), assuming the responsibility of taking care of creation. That is the burden of thought, they say.

As such, Hurmu cosmology understands that humans are not the only karjak-ka, but other karjak-ka are possible. Even before meeting other karjak-ka, Hurmu people held this belief. It was simply the most logical thing, it was reasoned.

Rituals

Liturgy

The liturgy of the rituals (by some scholars considered sacraments) has remained unchanged for as long as Hurmu has had a written language (in the 1300s). It is unknown how much older than that the Hurmu community or religion is, but archaeological remains point to the first century before Norton.

The liturgy consists of a collection of songs that are chanted at various stages of one's life and days. There is one chant for every day of the year, and then chants to call upon at various situations. All in all, there are 688 chants that are considered ancient. Since the arrival of the written language, countless modern chants, songs and poems have been affixed to the traditional body.

Historically, the daily chants would be read upon either daybreak and on nightfall (different tribes having slightly different traditions here), while other chants would be called upon at any time, whenever necessary. Each band within a tribe would have at least one member who knew the chants by heart, and it was considered a virtue to know the entire body of the ancient ones.

It is through the chants that the ancient Hurmumol language – the indigenous language of the Hurmu people – has survived. In the late 1300, the language began to become displaced by a Norse language, developing into the Hurmu Norse dialect. By the end of the 15th century, the Norse language dominated all areas of life. Liturgy remained to be chanted in Hurmumol, though since the early 15th century, many chants have been translated to and recited in (in a lyrical fashion) other languages, particularly Norse, but also Lontinian, Elw, Lakkvian and Craitish.

Immersion in water

The immersion of water, or baptism (Hurmu Norse: doopeð), is superficially similar to the Nazarene and Ashkenatziist concepts in terms of practicalities, but there are numerous symbolic differences.

While originally such immersion in water was only performed in the Holy Lakes, other natural or artificial bodies of water are considered equivalent. Even a pool or a bathtub is considered acceptable. The Hurmudan community of Elwynn, for example, find good use in the River Elwynn, due to the cultural links the Elwynnese nation has to that river.

The first baptism occurs following once birth or upon converting to the Hurmu faith. The timing is calculated as follows: From the date of birth (or conversion to the religion), one takes the nearest equinox or solstice, and add one year. That date will be the day of submersion in water, and was in olden days considered the day of personhood of a child. This was also the traditional time where a name was bestowed upon the child.

This baptism is repeated on reaching puberty, signifying a larger legal standing in the traditional community, and upon reaching adulthood (traditionally on the first marriage or for unmarried persons, upon their first child's birth, or other important milestone in early adulthood).

Baptism is then repeated upon other important milestones in life, such as divorce, remarriage, during or after going through a personal crisis (mental or physical). Some people choose to undergo it upon moving to a new area or a new country, or upon taking on a new profession or becoming retired.

Baptism is also bestowed upon a recently deceased person. On the first day after the death of a member of the Hurmu community, they submerge their dead comrade in water, clean him/her, and then prepare him/her for the funeral rites.

Since the establishment of the Republik, these traditions have no legal standing, but they are still, even more so in the diaspora, a part of the cultural identity of the Hurmu people.