Offerings

A lot of work done at Merric college includes
Burnt Offerings
Guilt Offerings
He went through to the Guilt Offerings Chamber and used the washrooms there. As the sacrifices made here were generally made in silver coins, there was a lot less blood swilling around in the shower drains.
This was an old college building, not a custom-built Tabernacle like they had in Kirkland, and the hastily installed facilities were barely fit for purpose. The cleaning staff would sweep everything into the drains and the fat would congeal into huge pipe clogging lumps that were incredibly hard to remove.
Jealousy Offerings (Bitter Waters)
Chapter 5:
Boring as Jack’s job was now, it was still way better than last year when they had been doing the Jealousy Offerings. He spent all day herding around terrified women while the acolytes forced them to drink the bitter waters. That had been awful. It was all over now though, and he was thankful for that.
Chapter 11:
Due to its rarity, there was no one specific assigned to this type of offering, so anyone that happened to be on hand would oversee it.
~
They had descended into a windowless room that contained a row of chairs, and a table with several containers on it of various shapes and sizes. At the back wall were two sinks and a shower cubical.
Acton walked to the table then turned and smiled at the couple.
~
‘You have nothing to fear, Mrs McAdam, if you have done nothing wrong and perform the ritual exactly as instructed. All you must do to prove your innocence is drink the bitter waters and hold it in your stomach. If you are sick then you are guilty, do you understand?’
~
Acton turned back to the table and took an earthenware bowl and placed it before him. He then took a bottle of holy water and poured half of it into the bowl, carefully replacing the stopper in the bottle once he was done. Next, he picked up a jar and opened the lid. Inside was dust from the floor of the tabernacle, a toxic mix of ash, dried blood, ground up bonemeal and bits of rotten meat from the drains and scuppers from the burning room floor. He took a spoon and ladled a generous amount into the water. The amount of dust was at the discretion of the person performing the ritual. The more forgiving would put in only a half-spoonful, while others put in more.  
~
‘And if she’s sick, then what?’
‘She is punished.’
‘How?’
Acton sighed. ‘Did you not read the form you filled in? She’ll be stoned to death or hung in her cell depending on the weather. If she was a special case, she’d be crucified.’
‘Oh aye, right.’ The reality of the situation was beginning to dawn on MacAdam. His wife was too busy with trying not to be sick to listen to what was being said. ‘She’s nae a special case?’
‘Where is your form?’ Acton waited until MacAdam had fished out some papers from his coat pocket. He then turned over two pages and pointed at the paper. ‘Section 12, See? She’s not formerly of a heretical religion. She’s doesn’t have a criminal record. She’s not homosexual. There is…’ 
Sin Offerings 
(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_offering)
Chapter 6:
‘You have fourteen days to make a Sin Offering at the Temple. After that they come with the canes.’
‘They can get tae fuck,’ grumbled Johnny. ‘I’m packing up and going to mum and dad’s.’
‘Can’t they still get you out there?’
‘Maybe, but there is no way I’m doing an Offering,’ he replied. ‘I’m not paying to have any animals killed on my behalf. I’m a vegan for fuck’s sake.’
‘You have to, or they come after you,’ she insisted.
‘Maybe in the Delta, but not out in the hills. I’m going to get all my gear together and stay at my parents over Christmas. Want to come? They love you.’
Notes on Sin Offerings
A man, bearded and wearing tassels on his coat like all the other men, approached the gate. In his left hand he carried a cage that had two pigeons in it and under his right arm he carried a turtle.
‘Hey mate, where you are going with that lot?’ enquired Bunn.
The man stopped and looked up, seemingly startled to have been addressed.
‘I err,’ said the man. ‘I got a fixed penalty notice to do an atonement. Sin Offering and a Burnt Offering.’
‘I can see that,’ nodded Bunn, with a heavy sarcasm only achievable by old coppers. ‘You didn’t read the FPN properly though, did you? You’ve need to go home and shave your head.’
‘Fuck’s sake!’ groaned the man. ‘I took two buses to get here!’
Bun leaned back and laughed. ‘Them’s the rules buddy.’
Jack laughed too, but it was in his nature to help people. “Look, you can leave the beasts in the guard hut and go down to the showers by the Sin Offerings. See if you can beg a razor off an acolyte, then come back here.”
‘Bless you son!’ exclaimed the man handing over his burden. Jack took the cage and the turtle and put them in the hut.
‘You are too soft,’ remarked Bunn as the man jogged off and entered the Temple.
Jack smiled and said nothing.
Involving five gold mice
A short, bandy-legged man approached the gate. He was dressed in an orange raincoat and was carrying a wire cage used for housing rodent-type pets. There was sawdust and a little wheel inside it, suggesting it had been borrowed from a child.
‘What have you got there?’ asked Bunn.
‘Five mice,’ said the man.
‘It’s for the piles,’ said Jack, covering his mouth with the back of his hand in the style of a stage whisper as he addressed Bunn.
‘Oh right,’ said Bunn tilting his head back. ‘Philistines, is it? Off you go mate.’
Category:Paradise
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Category:Evermarch