Magna Serpaensism/Rites of Adulthood
Extracted from "Letters of Priest Teilhard to the Pagans of Tichi"
Today I will instruct you of the way the followers of Magnus are recognized as adults in his eye so they may claim their rightful place in their families and in society. For this, they must show the strength and resourcefulness of a man, but they must also be able to avoid the recklessness of a child.
On the month of the sixteenth birthday of a youth he is brought with his mother, father, and the local priest who will consecrate him, into a boat, and they sail together towards the open sea. As the boat gets farther and farther away from the shore, the youth must jump off the boat and reach the shore by swimming. His mother urges him to jump right away and gain the safety of the shore while it is easy, while his father urges him to continue with the adults just a while longer for the honour of the family. The choice of the moment to jump however, is entirely the youths choice. The farther from the shore he leaps into the water, the greater the honour for his family. If the youth jumps or falls so close to the coast that he can still walk in the water, it is a huge dishonour for him and his family for he had shown the fear of a small child.
On the other hand, many a careless youth, wishing to impress his father and his village, has jumped too far from shore and was unable to reach the land. However, our lord Magnus teaches us that while the fool might perish because he has no need for them, mercy is the way in all things, and waiting villagers will help rescue the youth, though he must wait a year before he can attempt the trial again. If even the villagers cannot save him, it must mean that he had done some evil so great that even Magnus could not condone it and the youth is branded as a heretic and his family shamed.
When the youth reaches the shore, the young adult has shown that he has the wisdom and pride of a grown up. However, it is yet too soon to call him as such, because an adult must be able to show self reliance. To show this the youth must then spend one week in the woods speaking to no other human being, with only one knife, and then he must come back with at least a piece of game - even as small as a mouse - because Magnus doesn't want servants who wait for the end of the storm, with hunger in their belly, but servants who will be hunters and will be able to take what they need from the wild.
When he comes back, there is a great feast with lots of drinks and meat, but the youth will eat only what he had brought back from his week in the wild, to show that he puts the wellness of his village before his own welfare.
After that, the youth will truly be recognized as an adult and the priest will give him his adult name, and prostrate him before the altar, so that Magnus too may recognize his follower who has become a man.
