Sanctuary of Orshan

The Sanctuary of Orshan is seemingly one of the larger places of worship for Orshan in Amalo.

Appears in
The Witness for the Dead

Details
“The Sanctuary of Orshan was not far out of the city, not anymore, as the city slyly edged closer every year, but it was still peaceful, a low rambling building, always looking surprised when it produced a second story.” It was south “and west of the city, along the River Road”, and the Orshaneisei “kept a corn maze in the old way, with a great procession to celebrate when they harvested the corn, which then went to the city’s poor.” Late in the season, “the maze was marked out by the weight of thousands and thousands of feet, plodding, dancing, marching, and it was permissible to walk the corn maze even when the corn was not there.” At the center of maze, the pebble markers formed a cross, “and over the cross was a four-legged bowl containing a great heap of the milky white pebbles", which serve as pilgrimage tokens for visitors.

The sanctuary was “a maze of white-walled rooms with braided rugs”, and in the back has a “porch that looked out over the cornfields in the sanctuary’s care.” The Orshaneisei ate dinner in a room with long tables and benches, and were loud and talkative.

An Orshaneisei at least sometimes sat by the door of the Sanctuary to welcome visitors.

Orshaneisei

 * Brother Cenethis