Welcome to Part 17-3 of my World Building blog series 😀 I’ll be covering just about every topic I can think of that goes into world crafting. If you have any topics you’d like me to write about, please let me know 🙂
Do the religions you’ve created have any daily devotional practices? If so, what are they and what do they center around? Do you research about devotional practices for religions around the world and choose (or make up your own) varieties that best suit the religions you’ve developed. One example is food centered devotions, with expressions such as prayers said before meals or offering up a portion of your food to the deities.
Are there designated spaces for worship that your characters are using? If they’re within the home, is there a separate area or special room? If worship is practiced at specific locations outside of the home, you have some flexibility between indoor and outdoor locations. Are there the equivalents of churches/mosques/synagogues/temples, etc.?
Are there any particular symbols associated with the religions that you are creating? Are they restricted to temple and shrines, or can they be used to decorate the home? Are they large or complex, or small and simple. Do people wear them as charms in their everyday life?
If you’re incorporating prayer into the story, there’s not necessarily a need to write them out or anything. You can just mention the prayer and its purpose if you don’t want to get detailed. If you do write out any prayers in full or in part, just make sure that it’s relevant to the religion in a way that’s easily understandable to the reader.
Religious ceremonies can bring some authenticity to your fantasy religion. Consider birth ceremonies, coming of age ceremonies, marriages, funerals, etc. How are each of these situations (and any others you can think of) viewed within the context of the religion and the society as a whole? What is involved with the ceremonies related to them? Are any of them mandatory? Do any of them cause contention within society? Ie. are there any practices associated that people disagree with?
Are there any particular colors or styles of clothing associated with the religion? Is there a particular rayment designated for the priesthood? Are civilian followers of the religion expected to dress a certain way? Are there any fabrics or styles of ornamentation (tattoos, piercings, etc.) that are considered taboo, or alternatively, an integral part of the religion?
Happy writing!
-Erin
Loved all of the questions you asked, they’re really helpful and are definitely making me think.
I just want to hear a bit more from you! You asked so many great questions but didn’t really talk about the topic
I mean it’s your blog so you can write it however you want, this is just my EBI opinion.
Hi Connor,
Thanks for reading and commenting 😀 The world building series is meant more to be a resource for people to use while world building, so I tried to keep most personal things and opinions out of it. In the future and in other posts outside of the world building series you’ll be able to get my personal views on things. I’m happy to answer questions if people have them about anything specific 🙂