In the Book of Parables, Adanōs proclaimed that he would be the last to receive the spirit of prophecy, Eleio, as a prophet, and that all future recipients would in fact be Saints, who would use it to ‘make themselves as monuments to Heaven upon earth’. In the words of Adanōs, on their seventh day of life, when receiving their Breath of Life (Ann. An Adanic ritual in which a priest exhales into a baby’s mouth), they will instead inhale Eleio, and thereafter work in the name of the Glorious One. Some Saints are noted to have received Eleio in this manner at different points in their lives, for instance after surviving a drowning.
Ann. A parallel to the story of the Demōchipē, who is said to have drawn first breath only after his eighth day of life, when he strangled and made a crown of the serpent he was born wrestling.
A person may not be confirmed as possessing Eleio in life. This is because the wicked may falsify signs, whereas the most certain signs of a blessed individual’s passing is their appearance during communion with the God, intercession, or inexplicable incorruption of their mortal remains. Saints’ Days are placed into the Tanthene calendar according to their date of receipt of Eleio, that is, typically a week following their birth. Certain major saints instead received days according to deeds.
I. The Calendar
The calendar consists of 12 months of 30 days, with a fast of 5 (6 every fourth year) leading up to the First Dawn each year, the first day the sun rises over Tanthes after the month of Night. In ancient Hesod, the months were devised according to the lunar cycle. The first seven months have names referring to their attributes in nature and society, whereas the latter four receive numerical names, and the final month is called Night. In all:
- First Dawn
- Second Dawn
- Waking
- Tears
- The Wayfarer
- The Wheel
- Red
- October
- November
- December
- Undecember
- Night
- Intercalary Days (The Lustration)
II. Holidays and Saints’ Days
What follows is a non-comprehensive list of feasts, fasts, and holidays held in Adanism. The most important such are bolded. They are presented in order of the course of a year, beginning with the intercalary days and the Lustration. Some include particularities of celebrations or rituals carried out on these days.
- The Lustration, or the Purification, is a solemn ritual undertaken during the 5-6 days intercalated after the end of Night, but before the sun has risen for the first time, beginning the year. The healthy are expected to fast for the first 12 hours of wakefulness, traditionally heralded by public worship bells. The sick are expected to eat, oftentimes fed by their fasting neighbors. These hours are to be spent in worship and reflection, and followed by a solemn dedication for the coming year.
- The Feast of First Dawn (1 First Dawn) is the traditional end of the Lustration. Adherents are expected to awake ’naturally’ (with the sunrise) and attend worship, where, after the saying of blessings, a feast is conducted for the entire period of daylight.
- The Feast of the Prophet (8 First Dawn) is the celebration of the Prophet Adanōs who was, according to the Book of Parables ‘born with the world’, that is, on 1 First Dawn. His receipt of Eleio occurred, then, on 8 First Dawn. The day is marked by feasting and public singing. Some adherents choose to fast prior to the evening feasts. The period leading up to the eighth is called the Ascent, and is marked by preparation and a return to labor after the Lustration.
- St. Machaōs’s Day (19 First Dawn)
- St. Thegéa’s Day (23 First Dawn)
- St. Gianōs’s Day (28 First Dawn)
- St. Eleiōs’s Day (2 Second Dawn)
- The Feast of St. Sampastōs (10 Second Dawn) is the celebration of a first-century priest who marched alongside Jirair Daneche in his conquests, blessing his host in exchange for conversion. He was considered the patron saint of Panarine, and now Antōmenea. Celebrants traditionally fast a half-day, then feast in the evening.
- St. Echléme’s Day (13 Second Dawn)
- Second Dawn (Vernal Equinox, 25 Second Dawn)
- St. Pargeōs’s Day (30 Second Dawn)
- St. Larestē’s Day (5 Waking)
- Ox-Turning (8 Waking) is a minor planting festival.
- St. Eleōs’s Day (14 Waking)
- St. Airēne’s Day (20 Waking)
- St. Mede’s Day (21 Waking)
- St. Cherōne’s Day (24 Waking)
- St. Giorite’s Day (28 Waking)
- St. Eulessa’s Day (1 Tears) is a celebration of love.
- St. Pargesta’s Day (7 Tears)
- The Feast of St. Mitreiōs (15 Tears) is the celebration of a third-century priest and martyr slain during the imperial conquest of Orod. He gave alms to refugees of the fighting, regardless of their faith, and is regarded even more highly within the Southern Church for it. Celebrants traditionally spend the day giving alms. Children receive presents from their families.
- St. Semonōs’s Day (23 Tears), or The Feast of St. Sölöhtan in Calassy, is the celebration of a third-century priest and scholar from Calassy who converted to Adanism and brought the faith to his native country. Rather than the date of his Breath of Life, he is remembered on the anniversary of his translation of the Gospel of Adan. While the religion of God’s Worship is not in communication with the Tanthene rite, St. Semonōs’s day is celebrated as the Feast of St. Sampastōs is in Antōmenea.
- St. Laurene’s Day (25 Tears)
- St. Atamiōs’s Day (26 Tears)
- St. Lareiōs’s Day (3 The Wayfarer)
- St. Ignese’s Day (6 The Wayfarer)
- St. Maro’s (Meirōs’s) Day (11 The Wayfarer)
- St. Adanasē’s Day (16 The Wayfarer)
- St. Nathaōs’s Day (21 The Wayfarer)
- St. Zaidōs’s Day (30 The Wayfinder)
- St. Thebe’s Day (3 The Wheel)
- St. Themōs’s Day (10 The Wheel)
- The Pilgrimage of St. Adanōs (15 The Wheel) commemorates the journey of the Prophet Adanōs from his native Ilimpar to Tanthes. The next three Mondays are to be spent in prayer and reflection, living as a penniless wanderer. Charity and fasting are encouraged.
- St. Cleita’s Day celebrates a first-century peasant woman who sheltered the Prophet as he neared Tanthes. It is said that she found him collapsed and nearly expired from the arid heat south of the Sea of Goent.
- The Prostration of the Magi (1 Red) commemorates the Cabal of Tanthes’s acceptance of Adanōs’s terms, and their taking up of the Yoke of Adanōs. As first-century Tanthes was ruled by its cabal, the Prostration is a celebration of community especially in urban environments. One more fast is undertaken, and then a feast precedes evening prayer. Compositions and dedications are made to the glory and the future of the faith.
- St. Xanastōs’s Day (3 Red)
- St. Ourōne’s Day (9 Red)
- St. Toumestōs’s Day (11 Red)
- St. Fiorenōs’s Day (13 Red)
- St. Euthegista’s Day (20 Red)
- St. Paōs’s Day (27 Red)
- St. Tamōs’s Day (1 October)
- St. Larē’s Day (9 October)
- St. Anamede’s Day (19 October)
- St. Elosēcheōs’s Day (25 October)
- St. Giugenea’s Day (10 November)
- St. Theisso’s Day (16 November)
- St. Nicheleōs’s Day (21 November)
- St. Danechē’s Day (9 December) commemorates the first Emperor of Panarine. This was a national holiday during the time of Imperial Panarine.
- St. Chorōs’s Day (14 December)
- St. Aimele’s Day (25 December)
- St. Xanthaōs’s Day (30 December)
- St. Elosēne’s Day (2 Undecember)
- St. Agiamena’s Day (13 Undecember)
- St. Nousso’s Day (21 Undecember)
- St. Mesdouro’s Day (10 Night) & The Going of the Year is a reflective but not overly solemn day of feasting and charity which traditionally starts on the feast day of St. Mesdouro, a second-century martyr from the very periphery of Hesod who was slain by heathens. She is seen as a patron saint of the persecuted. The feasting is often allowed to continue until the ‘morning’ bells after the sun sets for the year, but fasting is prohibited.