Family Vestments

"From rough wool, a thread is made. With each thread, a part is made. With each part, a greater whole is made. As befits something to represent family."

— Thedela Korsiki, Family Matron

  Durrsians have close-knit families, and this is reflected in a specific project usually carried out by the oldest female member. This is done through knitting, fittingly enough, with thick woolen strands. Most commonly, the project takes the form of a knitted top sectioned into small square areas for each individual in the family. An object or image is chosen to represent each member of the family, and these are added outwards from the initial piece (which represents the maker). This is the general idea of the "family vestments", which are often added to over generations. Modern efforts have changed so it is simply sewing these knitted pieces onto an existing shirt or garment, to give people a proper template to continue working from. This also makes dismantling the vestments easier, in the case where it needs to be altered or recreated.

However, this is only the general method. There are many extended aspects, such as literally including extended family to be represented on the garment. When this is done, they are connected to the part which is closest to them in the family. For example, the uncle of the crafter would be attached to the father's part which is in turn attached to the initial piece. This can continue for as long as the creator is willing (or able) to track down their family ties. When consulting other families for information, often the design used for individuals which 'overlap' between families is shared. And assuming the responsibility of continuing adding to the vestments means adding a small embellishment to the previous creator(s) before continuing. This results in a few older families having truly stunning vestments which can double as coats if they were ever worn.

That said, these clothes are almost never worn casually. They exist to be displayed, not simply to be worn, which is unusual for Durrsk. The two occasions the family vestments are worn are usually followed by carefully dismantling them: weddings and on the birthday of a new child. During a wedding, the vestments are worn by the head of the families and it is tradition to spend the next week remaking the vestments to include the new families with each others' vestments to work from. When a new child reaches one year old, the vestments are only partially disassembled to make room for a new piece to represent the addition. When not being worn or worked on, the vestments are stored in a cedar chest carved with the family's crest. Often the ones who work on the vestments will carve their own pieces into the sides so a record can be kept of who has done the work.

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