d30 Rituals of Autumn

September 20, 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 presented 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 Spring

Rituals of Summer

Rituals of Winter

d30 Rituals of Autumn

1	Everyone harvests an herb or plant to exchange with another, which will be baked and returned as a gift of goodwill. This may be used as a method of resolving feuds.
2	Workers completing their apprenticeship create their first masterworks which will be presented and ceremonially destroyed in the central square.
3	Each night after harvesting, empty fields are filled with a torchlit promenade.
4	Children walk the outskirts in the night burying copper coins to bring the harvest moon.
5	Pies of seasoned meat are baked and left on the outskirts as a peace offering to spirits of the wild.
6	A song of protection is played throughout the settlement each night before houses are sealed until morning.
7	Local lords and officials surrender their authority for a fortnight and the words of age-addled crones are law.
8	Every day a fire is lit at sunset and quenched at the rise of the north star. Silence is observed while it burns.
9	Elaborate kites are flown, crafted of paper and feathers, made to look like crows, owls and falcons.
10	A joust of knights is held with brooms from atop donkeys
11	A dead crop from each field is used to fuel a fire in which an animal is burned alive to bring a stronger harvest for the next year.
12	Swine are driven into the streets and allowed to roam all parts of the settlement freely. When the first returns to its paddock of its own accord, the others are rounded up.
13	Mice and moles are trapped and kept in each family home. They are placed at the table and fed from stores. Their well-being is considered a sign of favor upon the household.
14	Large and elaborate muralistic works of art are displayed, made from only natural materials. Slaughtered animals and the recently departed are restfully posed among them to spend a last respite in peace before passing to the afterlife.
15	An offering must be made to animals of labor each day. If an offer is rejected, citizens carry their own burdens, plow their own fields, and walk their own journeys.
16	Warriors drink a foul concoction of curdled milk and intoxicants and fight in public to entertain onlookers.
17	Scriptures are etched inside husks with charcoal and read aloud to a congregation.
18	Crows are captured in the fields and tethered to scarecrows with barbed twine as a warning to others.
19	Criminals may prove their favour. They are put in cages with starved dogs, and survivors are allowed to go free.
20	Bacchanalian dances are held, clad in garments of husk and vine and painted with soil and dyes.
21	Workers scarify themselves with sharpened stones from their fields and spill their blood on the crops.
22	Bodies of stillborn children are caked in clay and burned in a massive bonfire to carry their souls to the sky.
23	Supplies are chosen for the winter and stored in crypts and catacombs to be guarded by the spirits of the dead.
24	Citizens gather to cover themselves with ash and walk with ghosts in the night.
25	A small temple is built for the oldest members of the settlement. The accommodations are luxurious and their every need is attended to by other citizens. Next autumn it will be burnt as they sleep.
26	A child is chosen to be bricked up in a cave or cellar, where they must remain for a year, after which their return will be celebrated with a feast.
27	Animals are hunted and taxidermied to guard the settlement. As their flesh decays, carved ritual totems are revealed beneath, dyed by viscera.
28	Three hollow metal statues are placed in the central square. A gathering is held. In the copper statue, crops are burned. In the brass, animal sacrifices. The silver awaits a volunteer…
29	Gifts are brought from far and wide and presented to a “protector” chosen from among the citizens. They are buried alive with these gifts to use them in their watch over the flock.
30	A book of religious wisdom or theory is read aloud to a congregation, then it and the reader are burned and all copies destroyed. The words shall live on in the hearts of the faithful, and any flawed earthly copies brought from outside are seized. Those who quote them are taken to be heretics if they contradict the faithful in even the smallest detail.