Customs and Traditions

**Religion:** Each of the Clans believe in their own deities. Their respective founders were believed to be the deities themselves. They believe that after they die their spirit joins the Great Spirits, their ancestors, in the Bright Forest. If a cat betrays the Seven Rules or the Medicine Cat Code, they go to The Place of Empty Dark Waters. It is dark and cold. Cats who reside there have aching limbs from trying to stay afloat but never really knowing which way is up or knowing if you're going the right way.

* The Medicine Cat takes the first prey brought back from the morning hunting patrol and blesses it
	+ While they bless it they ask for deity to forgive them for any shortcomings

**The Blood of Peace:** When a leader becomes ill and has to have their deputy take over for them, the Blood of Peace comes into play

* Four cats must venture out to the other to the other two Clans and inform the Clan Leader that their Clan is ruled by their deputy
	+ Two cats go to one Clan, and two other cats go to the other Clan
* During this period, the other two Clans are not allowed to hunt/mark their borders near the Clan that is being ruled by the deputy
	+ They cannot attack the other Clan that is being ruled by the deputy

* The deputy may not fill in for the leader, so the Clan can not go to the Meeting

**The Nights of the Agelm Sea:** The whole island has a special seasonal bio-luminescent event where flagellation gather for three days

* During these three days, the Clans have a period of peace
* Borders are abolished so that the Clans can talk to one another without worrying about their territories
* Eating and hunting prey from another Clan territory is not a violation of the First Rule.
* The Contest of Wild Beasts
	+ Five warriors from each of the three Clans are selected to participate in this event
	+ Randomly mix Clancats together so they are fighting with one cat who knows how to kill that specific animal from their territory
	+ The three groups have until Highnoon to collect the three items:
		- The tooth of a shark
		- The tooth of a snake
		- The two tusks of a wild hog
	+ These three items are turned into necklaces that the three leaders of the Dance of the Deity’s wear
* Apprentices from other Clans chat and train together.
* Warriors from each of the Clans share their dances with one another
* They share an improved combined dance of all the three Clans on the third and final day called the Dance of the Deity’s.
	+ ReefClan uses swift tail movements and body swaying in the Winding Coral Dance
		- Their background tempo is slow but loud
	+ SpringClan uses jumping and leaping movements in the Soaring Butterfly Step
		- Their background tempo is peppy and melodious
	+ LagoonClan stomps their paws and uses sharp movements in the Flaming Fireflies Beat
		- Their background tempo is loud and quick
* Elders find comfy spots in the territory of other Clans and tell stories of their Clans to the kits
* Medicine Cats share a particularly strong spiritual connection during this period. They celebrate the Words of the Wise Ones where they go to each of the three deities worshiping places; Springstar Point, the Musty Moor and the Flora Valley. During this time, they hold a vigil and prayer time for their respective deities.
* The leaders from each Clan go to the Meeting Valley with their deputies to talk about the status of their Clans and their deities

**The Meeting Valley:**

* The Meeting Valley is a cozy dip between two of the "mountain" peaks just large enough to comfortably hold a Clan-sized amount of cats for a temporary time. Clans may send up to a third of their population to gatherings. If the moon started to be covered by clouds, the meeting would end. All the Clans attend the meeting at low tide, just after dawn. If there was a storm then the meeting would be cancelled.

* Each of the Medicine Cats keep track of the moon in their own unique ways:
	+ ReefClan is extremely devoted to their deity. They rely on observation of the moon during its phases
	+ SpringClan Medicine Cats leaves claw marks on the inside of the cave behind the spring. This cave is named the Moon Cave
	+ LagoonClan notices that the tide becomes higher each day. They learned that through various "supernatural" occurrences that it was the full moon that night