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| ====The Time of Knowing==== | | ====The Time of Knowing==== |
| The Time of Knowing is a ritual of betrothal between a member of each of the four sexes. A locket containing a strand of each member’s hair, and the symbols of each [[MA:gender|sex]] placed around a cross-shape is given to participants. | | The Time of Knowing is a ritual of betrothal between a member of each of the four sexes. A locket containing a strand of each member’s hair, and the symbols of each [[MA:gender|sex]] placed around a cross-shape is given to participants. |
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| ===The Sending===
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| The Sending is a ritual that is observed to mark the death of a clansman.
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| *It is preceded by the Rite of Memory in which mourners record memories of the deceased in the form of biochemical imprints on a crystalline cipher.
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| *Mourners create their own mask of death for this ritual. It cannot take place until all members of the clan concerned are present to participate. As such, the deceased is kept preserved in the clan keep until the ritual can begin.
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| *The ritual is timed to be completed before midnight. Clan members are summoned by five tolls of a bell, at which time the coffin is brought out from the keep by hooded, robed figures to the rhythm of a drum beat. The procession is led by the three surviving bond mates of the deaceased, and a priest or priestess who represents the missing [[MA:gender|gender]] from the bond. Each one represents one of the four Andorian elements – Wisdom, Strength, Blood and Passion.
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| *The coffin is placed on an obsidian coffin while ritual songs are sung. When the entirety of the procession reaches the table, the leader of the ceremony offers a prayer before both the body and the memory cipher are cremated.
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| ===Ritual attire=== | | ===Ritual attire=== |