D30 Rituals of Spring

September 27, 2020

Praise the D30, cyclopean chthonic orb, grandest of the dice. Accept this offering of rituals, and blessed be thy rolls.

This table has weird spring-flavored customs, celebrations and rituals for pagans or cultures with remnants of ancient beliefs.

It's written in order of escalating weirdness. Depending on the kind of results you want, use the following:

d10 for fairly mundane/realistic results

d20 for weird results

d30 for trauma, fear and sacrifice

Should you enjoy this table, I have others...

Rituals of Summer
Rituals of Autumn

Rituals of Winter

d30 Rituals of Spring

1	A festival of stories is held, and continues each night until every citizen has told a tale of their life.
2	Swaths of freshly woven white cloth are painted by children with berries and pigments. They are flown in place of lordly banners and religious flags for the first moon of Spring.
3	Fields are sown with coins to bring good fortune in the forthcoming year. They are defaced and it is considered theft to collect and spend them.
4	A single field of crops preserved since the past fall is harvested. Everyone is given a single plant to use as a sacred offering.
5	A troupe of entertainers pose motionless during daylight hours, depicting a different scene from local mythology each day.
6	Fugitives and exiles return to make an animal sacrifice and be forgiven of their crimes.
7	The local lords assisted by a blind wisewoman visit and choose a citizen to be elevated to noble status.
8	Two ropes, one normal, one woven from fresh vines, are tied to a large brass ring. Equal-sized teams of men are blindfolded and pull until one line breaks. If the rope breaks, it is a good omen. If the vine breaks, all must stay indoors all day for a week, maintaining a total fast.
9	Only items of wood, bone or leather are made and sold until spring’s end.
10	All disputes are brought to pregnant women, whose judgments are respected as law.
11	Elders participate in a lottery. The chosen and their spouses are given travel supplies and sent to find the site of a new settlement, and may not return except with news of their success.
12	All children are taken from their families to be apprenticed to elders for a fortnight. Apprenticeships ended before completion are punished by exile.
13	Mud is sculpted into human forms and baked by bonfires to create statues. They are placed as guardians and lovingly repaired by caretakers as they weather in the elements.
14	Each person must cull a mature or old animal from hunting grounds. Orphaned animals too young to fend for themselves are adopted and cared for until they can be released into the wild.
15	A tax is levied on all citizens of one coin per year of age. If unable to pay, a lash is given for each coin.
16	Priests are buried beneath mud-brick cairns for a week’s meditation and prayer.
17	A new well is dug and consecrated with a drop of blood from each citizen.
18	The skeleton of a large predator is placed in the town square, a beehive installed in its skull. Newborns are placed beneath it overnight for blessing.
19	A masquerade of animal masks made of folded paper. One is chosen to be exiled from the community to live with the beasts until the next solstice.
20	A large reservoir is emptied into a floodplain. A member of each family must wait for the release and swim to safety.
21	Iron weapons are freshly forged and given to soldiers and warriors. They are returned and beaten into plowshares after spilling enemy blood.
22	Thorned branches are woven into a sphere in the central square, into which unhatched songbird eggs are placed. The base is filled with berries and grubs to feed the hatchlings. Each that escapes is considered a good omen.
23	Newborn calves are fed on human milk and treated as human children.
24	Each family is given an animal skull within which an egg is placed and incubated by its mother.
25	Children catch and eat salamanders as they emerge from the mud.
26	Visitors and new arrivals must survive a ritual drowning, after which they are considered family by every citizen of the town.
27	Adult virgins of both sexes are paired off and given masks which are worn until achieving pregnancy, after which they will leave their partner and return to normal.
28	A tooth is removed from each child and ground into dust, mixed with flour, and baked into ceremonial bread.
29	A fool roams the night, sneaking into homes to wake children and make mischief in the town. The fool and his chosen have immunity from all justice.
30	Dark-haired children are taken as slaves, their tongues removed and legs hobbled.