Lunar Break at the Autumnal Bastion

The journal The Autumnal Bastion predominantly focuses on the adult members of Clan Kavidar during the pilgrimage, however there are a few instances in which children are mentioned as making the journey as well. One such reference is near the end of the journal, when the anonymous narrator is describing the 'breaking' of the full moons. The description itself is thought to allude to a coming-of-age test of sorts mainly for young boys on the pilgrimage.

The Test

According to the translation, the Kavidar boys would each make a hollow clay 'moon' while their elders built the wall, and then would let the clay cook and harden in the sun. At the end of the culminating festivities, during the full moons' break and while the wall was being knocked down, the boys would crack their clay moons on their foreheads. If their own heads cracked and they bled, they were considered to have "failed" the test and still be boys; if they didn't bleed then they were now considered men of the clan.

"Ahh, papa!" the weak Arin cries, holding up the two halves of his severed moon, blood running down his face. . .

—The Autumnal Bastion (Aurelan, 829)

"Look, Petra!" the bastard Arin cries, cracking his lunar yolk upon his head, honey-blood running down his face. . .

—The Autumnal Bastion (Pastigarde, 1463)

An Alternative Theory

Pastigarde disagreed somewhat with the original idea, and in fact believed that the cracking of the clay moons wasn't a coming-of-age test at all. She suggested that the children came up with the ritual themselves because they were bored while their parents were busy building the wall. She also implied that the children may have hidden mead inside the clay moons so that when they cracked them on their foreheads, the mead would run down their faces and they could drink it.

Many of Pastigarde's contemporaries rebutted her idea with the question, why would children choose to do something that could potentially be so dangerous to themselves? This is a valid line of questioning, and it's worth noting as well that though the journal doesn't explicitly mention the children helping build the wall with their elders, it also doesn't explicitly say otherwise and there's no evident reason why the children wouldn't have helped build it.

Lunar Break at the Autumnal Bastion

The Test

An Alternative Theory

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Author's Notes

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