#maaj

Burning of the 'posilma' is an annual tradition found in many western slomen groups. While not all these groups burn the same symbolic beings or do it for the same exact reasons, the tradition is recognizable to a large majority of Western populations.

In some places, simple cloth/dry plant material figures are used to represent local spirits in mythology that haunt the season with illness and misfortune to ruin the upcoming spring. Causing infertility of man, soil and animal. The beings are very similar among all these cultures since most do have the same origin, but their name and behavior may differ. To bring them into crafted bodies and set them on fire is to weaken their power over the future months. Often, it is accompanied by songs and melodic whispers of the families. To create a wall of connection around the fire so no demon escapes its heat.

The Tatlich word for a witch (a person who's perceived as capable of doing and seeing more than a regular person) is the same as for evil spirits, so when one doesn't specify which spirits, an outsider might think people are being sacrificed to nature. The word started being used for outliers only after witches started being recognized as separate people when new families came to power in the sea's culture, looking for patterns to weaken communities. Thus, the concept of a witch in Tatlich is not identical to the concept in Ciwa. Additionally, Tatlich people celebrate the tradition more as helping the body and soul, a personal ordeal to make sure demons don't find their way inside the homes and flesh of family members while still helping with the future season. The posilma burned here is made of a thick root of a winter plant, formed into a shape of monstrous slomen with evil little grins. It is made to withstand the fire, unlike one of cloth. For bigger and longer fires, they may even be covered in fire-resistant materials. And that is to be a test of the maturing generation. Tokens are made as a preparation for the event from wood or 'eddible clay' (cookies). Slomen either make their own or get community-made ones to symbolize a deed or aspect of themselves they want to burn away for the new year. One doesn't need to visualize their token's meaning onto it, but it's thought to be more effective that way. These aren't the same as sins, that isn't a known concept here, but it's similar in that often they are things a person is ashamed of or feels guilt over. Some choices for a token may be spreading a lie, spreading a sickness, carrying a child of another, losing an important fight, or even just an emotion that doesn't go away and hinders communication. A token can stand for a worse crime, too. Criminals who don't get punished by exile are more than encouraged to join the tradition, so they don't become the weak point, carrying their guilt into people's homes. At this time, a cord cutter must be treated the same as an honoured herder.

When all tokens have been thrown into the flames, the fire is left to go, only sometimes it's killed purposefully if it's lasting into a working day. If the figures are lost to the fire, there is sometimes a backup at the base of the stakes. If there's non left, the tradition has a pathetic end, and some misfortune in the next weeks can be blamed on the fire masters. If at least some of the posilma remain, select brave young men and women, most often entering adulthood or anticipating their first parenthood, take on the task of eating the cooked/burned root. With that, the weight of the tokens is lifted, and the young prove their devotion to the collective. And yes, it definitely tastes disgusting.