Research on the religion of the islands of Lilliput and Blefuscu

[Civil War Bugle]

Scientists, scholars, and others have taken a great interest in the islands of the tiny people since their discovery near the beginning of the 18th century. An influential volume written by the individual who first made contact with them was published in 1726¹, and has been dominant in views of their society among the general public and, for a long period of time, among academics. However, it has become increasingly apparent that, due to the circumstances and nature of the initial researcher's time among the Lilliputians, his account was not as full and accurate as hypothetically possible. Naturally, his early scholarship did not benefit from the standards which contemporary social scientists and academic theologians and scholars of religion would apply, given that he worked prior to the development of modern standards. More importantly, he was an individual trained in medicine rather than even the academic standards of the day for the predecessors of modern social science and religious study; he was placed in a situation alien to his upbringing in both language and culture, and while seemingly attempting in good faith to relay his findings, he was untrained in the most relevant methodologies available. And, perhaps most importantly, the circumstances of his arrival in Lilliput mean that he was at times overtly and at all times practically speaking a captive of the political regime dominant in Lilliput at the time of his presence there. This captivity, in conjunction with the considerations mentioned above, meant that he had both limited information and limited ability to interpret and contextualize that information.

Now that new information has become increasingly available, funders² have kindly enabled more detailed research into the religious beliefs of the tiny people. Our aim is to organize and present this information for a lay western audience unfamiliar with sources other than L. Gulliver's original treatise, and we intend to provide regular updates on this topic as they become available from our researchers.

¹See generally L. Gulliver, A Voyage to Lilliput, Motte Printing House, 1726.
²Our thanks to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, the Rockefeller Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Estate of Joan Kroc.

[Civil War Bugle]

Meta

This thread is intended to serve as a public presentation of a religion I am creating after having read Zompist's religion construction kit and certain other items. I am am primarily interested in developing the religion qua the religion, and am using the setting mentioned in the first post largely as a narrative hook. I had been interested in placing my fictional religion in the real world, fictionally speaking since I intend this project to be creative rather than actually religious, but have not yet developed enough of a conculture to place the religion into; thus, I am framing it around something which already has been described but where I can claim the previous descriptions were wrong in some important way. Since right now my focus is on the religion, I feel I can modify it later as needed if I use it for a conculture or other setting.
I will be gradually posting information about myths, religious organization, practices, theology, and other similar topics in this thread. I hope you enjoy.

[Raphael]

Sounds fun and interesting! I especially like the list of grant-givers.

[Civil War Bugle]

Overview

The religious system of the tiny people is largely divided into two broad and separate spheres, the royal rites and the popular rites. Each focuses on different gods, has different purposes, serves different justifications, although there is some institutional overlap in the form of the colleges of monks and their allied lay associations. The king of Lilliput is held to be maintained in office by virtue of the mandate of Flimresh¹, the protector of penguins and thus by proxy the god of the sea; the emperor of Blefuscu is supported instead by Colmin². Flimresh has some following outside the royal cult but is of much lesser importance there, and Colmin has almost no following except within the royal cult; their roles within the royal cults are almost entirely for legitimizing the royal family and for predicting the future.
Outside the royal context, the gods are seen more as explanations of aspects of the world and creation than as targets of worship. The fact that Golam created crops via sexual congress with a flock of birds, for example, may be cited as the explanation for the rituals of the spring planting, but Golam is not mentioned in these rituals and in no way is he held to promote or inhibit crop growth after a well- or poorly performed ritual.
In essence, popular religion is focused on ritual activity which either induces some ecstatic experience or is oriented around some family or community oriented act, such as marriage, remembrance of the dead, or passage through different stages of life. These rituals are not ontologically required, merely useful or desirable for their intended purposes. The rituals are, however, probably the most important aspect of religion. Golam, Flimresh, Colmin, and their fellow deities may be largely ignored except as the topics of stories, and the rites they initiated may be for practical purposes rather than to promote something like salvation, but the rites are viewed as the very glue which binds society together. The eggs used in the royal cult are a major metaphor - if the fetus within is deformed, it bodes ill for society. Likewise if a ritual is not carried out correctly, it points to some ill effect in a person's character, even if the person could have chosen to avoid the ritual for valid reasons - the person must have some error inside his metaphorical shell. The orders of monks and the fraternal organizations which surround them, with their hoop and rope games, are major influences in the preservation of the rites and promotion of knowledge about them, As we advance further in this treatise, we will be exploring all these things in more depth.


¹'Strengthens-Wing'
²Literally an archaic form of 'Green', but used as a name for Jupiter.

[Civil War Bugle]

Sounds fun and interesting! I especially like the list of grant-givers.

Thanks! Somehow I am amused by the idea of funding for this 'research'.

[Glenn]

I am enjoying this so far; the overall flavor reminds me of what I have heard about ancient Roman religion.

Sounds fun and interesting! I especially like the list of grant-givers.

Thanks! Somehow I am amused by the idea of funding for this 'research'.

The list of funders sounds very much like the list one typically hears thanked for programs on NPR.

[Civil War Bugle]

I am enjoying this so far; the overall flavor reminds me of what I have heard about ancient Roman religion.

Thanks!

Sounds fun and interesting! I especially like the list of grant-givers.

Thanks! Somehow I am amused by the idea of funding for this 'research'.

The list of funders sounds very much like the list one typically hears thanked for programs on NPR.
[/quote]

Weird how that happens.

[Lērisama]

I am enjoying this so far; the overall flavor reminds me of what I have heard about ancient Roman religion.

This says it better than I would; I am enjoying this, and it does remind of Roan religion slightly. I am eagerly awaiting new research on the origin and nature of the little-/big-endian schism. From Gulliver 1726, I'd assume it was first political and then retroactively justified with religion, but I would love to hear a more modern take on this. Please don't feel rushed or anything; I am perfectly happy waiting, and would still enjoy it even if that were beyond the scope of your research

[Civil War Bugle]

I am enjoying this so far; the overall flavor reminds me of what I have heard about ancient Roman religion.

This says it better than I would; I am enjoying this, and it does remind of Roan religion slightly. I am eagerly awaiting new research on the origin and nature of the little-/big-endian schism. From Gulliver 1726, I'd assume it was first political and then retroactively justified with religion, but I would love to hear a more modern take on this. Please don't feel rushed or anything; I am perfectly happy waiting, and would still enjoy it even if that were beyond the scope of your research

Research has not yet fully indicated the details of this but we may learn more in the future. And thanks for your patience; I’m unsure how rapidly I will be posting updates, as the semester at my school is beginning, with uncertain impacts on research speed.

[sasasha]

This is really fun and I'm looking forward to reading more! Thanks to the funders for generously making this possible.

[Civil War Bugle]

This is really fun and I'm looking forward to reading more! Thanks to the funders for generously making this possible.

Glad you're enjoying it! The current research is focusing on the colleges of monks and we have elucidated many interesting details about them. I have begun to draft a post on this topic which I hope to post tomorrow evening or on Sunday.