House Blacklantern Apprenticing CeremonyWhen Master Saher takes an apprentice, it is done with all of the dignity and noble mien such an auspicious occasion calls for. Our apprenticing ceremony is based on an ancient and venerable custom dating all the way back to 1938. It's a cheap sight gag traditional in Warner Brother's cartoons. Saher takes apprentices in open court, usually at the Barony of Thor's Mountain. He will typically delegate an apprentice to make certain that he is listed on the official business with the Herald. When called before the Baroness, Saher then requests a boon: to take an apprentice in open court. Saher will then call all the household up before the assembled populace. Then, his youngest apprentice present (the one with the least mileage, rather than least chronological age) hold the tome before his aging eyes, and he reads his monologue. Because he is, after all, a Laurel, we must include something documentably historic. So we turn to our play list, and the sufi tale A Death Is Indicated." In this play, the Sufi wise man calls all of his disciples together and tells them, "You have all studied hard, and learned well, but the time has come to take a greater journey. Only those who can learn the next lesson many accompany me. Harken well: When I raise my hands thus, shout 'I must die, instead of the Sufi!'" As you might imagine, most of his disciples desert him, and he and the one worthy student wander off to fulfill the rest of the plot, which is beyond the scope of this article. Back to our ceremony. Saher reads the tale of the teaching and the coming journey, and asks all who would travel with him learn to shout, when he raises his hands, "thus," 'I must die, instead of the Laurel! Let all who would travel with me thus, take one step forward!" Then the whole household steps backwards, except the new apprentice, leaving them alone, forlorn, and volunteered. There are assorted other sight gags involving ropes, belts, and what-not., but that's the meat of the ceremony. Impressive, eh? Part of the point of this silliness is to remind ourselves not to take this stuff too seriously. |