Pantheon Gods of the Forest

The Old Gods as they are commonly refurred to is one of the most ancient religions known in the World. The Faith date back to before the Dawn Age where the Children of the Forest worshiped those deities that protected them during the Dawn Age. They protected the land, the animals, and their children. The pantheon of the Old Gods is large and long listed. Many say that for every different thing in nature, their is a God who Protects it.

The Pantheon Gods of the Forest has a long history, so long that many of the gods are mostly forgotten. All that are left to remember are spoken as the Religion relies on Song Sages to share the stories of their faith. Song Sages travel the land and share stories of the past. However, these stories are fragmented and disputed between the Elders of the Song Sages. Thus when a group of Song Sages who share the stories of a certain god become extinct, the name of that god is also lost. As such only a small amount of the knowledge is remembered by those groups that survived. All other gods are just remembered as the Gods of the Forest.

## Practices

Various actions, such as incest, slavery, and kinslaying are considered offensive to the old gods, although, as regards kinslaying, the degree of kin and circumstance of killing one’s kin (e.g., in war) hold significant influence. The laws of hospitality are considered to be sacred. It is believed that the old gods can detect when men lie to heart trees.

### Worship

Worshippers visit godswoods, groves contained within castles throughout the Seven Kingdoms, where a heart tree can be found. These trees, which have faces carved into them, are considered to be sacred. The heart trees are usually weirwoods, and godswoods are often the only places where living weirwoods still remain[19] until one goes north of the Wall. Once all noble houses had a godswood with a heart tree in its center; However, the First Men, in their wars against the children of the forest, cut down many of the trees, as did the Andals later on, replacing the old gods with their own in the southern kingdoms. Although godswoods can still be found in the south, they now serve as secular gardens.

Prayer and marriages are done in front of a heart tree. The weirwoods and the places they stand are considered to be sacred. They are not to be defiled by bringing animals such as horses into them.

There are no priests, no holy texts, no songs of worship, and practically no rites that go with the worship of the old gods. It is a folk-religion, passed from generation to generation. Worshipers believe the old gods watch through the trees. Prayers are done in silence. Blood sacrifice was performed in the past, however; The entrails and bodies of criminals and traitors were hung from the branches of the weirwoods after their executions.

### Marriage customs

A marriage ceremony takes place in front of a heart tree. The bride's father, or the person standing in his place (usually kin or whoever else is closest to living kin), will escort the bride to her future husband and those presiding over the marriage. Thus far, all the wedding gowns that have thus far been described for a follower of the old gods have been a shade of white – though her wedding ceremony was done following the customs of the Seven, Sansa Stark, a worshipper of both the old gods and the new, wore a gown of ivory samite; Jeyne Poole, during her wedding ceremony following the customs of the old gods, wore white lambs-wool.

Marriage ceremonies are rather short and contain no priests. The bride is escorted to her groom, who awaits her in front of the weirwood tree in the godswood, and a ceremonial conversation follows, where the identity of the bride, of the groom, and of the person giving the bride away are established. The bride is asked to accept her husband, and upon her agreement (*"I take this man"*) bride and groom join hands, kneel before the heart tree, and bow their heads in token of submission. When they rise following a moment of silent prayer, the groom removes the maiden’s cloak, and places the bride’s cloak around her shoulders, after which he will carry her to the feast in his arms. The wedding ceremony is followed by a feast, which in turn is followed by the bedding.

Marriage vows said at swordpoint are not held to be valid, but even if the marriage occurred under force, a lord might claim the marriage to be legal if e.g. lands are at stake.

Lords in Westeros once had the right to the first night, the custom of bedding newly-wed women before their husbands. Queen Alysanne convinced King Jaehaerys I to abolish it, but it is still practiced illegally in some parts of the north, as *"where the old gods rule, old customs linger"*.

### Funeral customs

Specific funeral customs are not known. However, nobles houses appear to bury deceased family members in crypts beneath their castles. The Starks of Winterfell, traditionally worshippers of the old gods, buries deceased family members in the crypts below Winterfell. According to Roose Bolton, another worshipper of the old gods, the bones of his deceased son Domeric “lie beneath the Dreadfort with the bones of his brothers”, suggesting it to be a custom (at least of the nobility).