Ghiacci

Spiritualists who make offerings to the Winter Season with dedication to the god Ghiaccio.
### Seek Winter’s Blessing

Ghiaccio is believed to be the leader of the *Spirits of Winter.* To seek winter’s blessing is to enter into an understanding with the Spirits of Winter so that one is favored with positive endeavors during the winter months.
* While the Ghiacci may seek blessings from gods/spirits not related to winter, their goal is always to appease the Spirits of Winter.

### Practice of Ghiacci

While there is no organized religious practices, daily piety varies from town to town except for a few consistent rites of passage:
* Sumbra: The introduction of children to Ghiaccio in hopes that he will bless them with a good fate.
	+ Children are put outside to nap, unless there is extreme darkness or storms. If a child falls asleep to take a nap inside they are moved outdoors as fast as possible. They are left there without supervision until they make noise after waking.
	+ Houses are built to have a chest in the front, one for wood and a smaller one, called a *Kolybel* the size of a child’s play pin specifically for a Sumbra.
	+ To build a house without a kolybel is considered to cause a curse of infertility. And to fill a kolybel with wood is to invoke the wrath of winter, for the spirits of cold will have been tricked into coming.
* Coming of age: the first week of winter after their seventeenth birthday a child must choose one of two paths to adulthood. Karfi or Krasota
	+ Karfi: A test of fate and battle of strength of will against mountain spirits. These children are stripped of warming layers and sent out at dawn with a weapon of their making. They are not to return to the village until after their day of birth; when done successfully they are celebrated as an adult.
		- To succeed is believed to have the strength to fight the tests of fate which winter has placed before you; and thus worthy of life so close to the Spirits of Winter. These persons are considered *Winter Forged*
		- To return early is to not have the strength or fate for winter. A person who does this is still considered a child, shamed, and sent to live down the mountain. They may try again at a more southern village but can never return up the mountain.
	+ Krasota: A test of fate and cunning against the mountain spirits. The child puts on their finest clothing, without warming layers, and is sent out of the village at dawn with only a bag of offerings (jewelry, food, etc.) They are not to return until the day of their birth; when done successfully they are celebrated as an adult.
		- To succeed is believed to have presented such a beautiful offering that the Spirits of Winter refused games of fate for your life as they considered you a child of spring. These persons are considered *Springlings* and are often sought for spiritual counsel.
		- To fail is only to return early which denies the Spirits of Winter a proper evaluation of character. A person who does this is considered a child, shamed and sent to live down the mountain where they may only attempt *Kafri* next winter. They are never to return up the mountain.
		- Children who left for Karasota but had to make weapons and were fated to games of strength, may return after their day of birth and are considered to have passed *Karfi*.
* Smiert: Death by winter must be buried under rocks. Death by other and honorable means must be burned until their ashes fall like snow honoring the Spirits of WInter.

### Popular Ghiacci Practices

* Place offerings of food on your doorstep overnight for hearty winters
	+ if an offering is still there tomorrow burn it and make a new offering. The first offering displeased the spirits and may be poisoned.
* Cover windows when it’s dark so cold spirits are not tempted to enter.
* If you see an icicle fall, make an offering of food and something shining.
	+ It means someone has made offerings for your demise.
* Frostbite is a warning of wrongdoing

* Ghiacci followers are considered spiritualists and not worshipers as many of their practices are seen as living by superstition