Good Freeday, 19th of Aprillia, 470th Year of the Fifth Era
“... disi ma dipagogo, dipangiar Jesus soaraNa mandok: ‘Nunga marujung’, jadi tos ma hosana. (And so there Jesus spoke: ‘It is finished.’ And so he gave up His Spirit…” Archbishop Ludwig’s voice was cracking as he said those words.
The bells of the great Church of Goria had rang solemnly as the congregants had lowered their heads as if in deep contemplation. The great crucifix of the church was ladened over with a purple-coloured cloth as the altar was draped in black. Archbishop Ludwig was standing behind the church’s podium whilst looking solemnly over the Halak Church’s Liturgical Missal. He along with all the other priests and liturgists could be seen wearing the sudung mourning ulos while all the other congregants in the pews were also wearing the sudung and black-coloured clothes. Whilst the bell was being rang with single strikes, Hesekiel played a very special Hymn on the piano for the Good Freeday Liturgy or what the Church has dubbed ‘Ulaon Nahohom’.
The liturgy of commemorating the death and sacrifice of Christ upon the cross was one of the most austere religious ceremonies of the Halak Church. The usual joyous pomp of the Halak was nowhere to be seen, replaced with a calm and serene yet at the same time deafening atmosphere. Throughout the ceremony that had started an hour earlier, Archbishop Ludwig had forced himself to narrate the entire dozen-page long liturgy regarding the crucifixion story starting all the way from the night that Christ was arrested up until Christ’s final draw of breath upon the cross.
As always when it came to church services, Josias was seated at the front row along with his family and - due to his official betrothal being quickly approved by the king, the church, and the Rapmasari clan - his fiance Serena. Josias was holding Serena’s hand the entire liturgy up to this point to help her calm down. Leading the liturgy of the Ulaon Nahohom was a demanding task, having to recite all the proper prayers, scriptures, as well as the actual liturgy would take almost two hours of recitation with only brief reprieves in between when it came to the part of the congregation singing. Needless to say, Serena was greatly worried for her father’s health and was ardently watching over him for the slightest sign of his health failing.
Luckily, the liturgy had come to an end without issue and Bishop Ludwig looked relatively fine. Josias breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw Serena calming down. However, due to the very nature of the liturgy itself, when Josias looked around, many of the congregants still had their expressions appear crestfallen. Many of the younger people had managed to keep a relatively stoic expression as perhaps due to how crowded the church was they were more thinking of when the long liturgy was going to end but when Josias looked at the older folks, their faces looked as severe as ever.
It was perhaps the dissonance that came from the difference in generation. All things considered, Josias’s generation was the first proper generation to have been brought up fully within the confines of the Christian faith. Though he was sure that many from his parents’ generation had also been brought up as Christian from a young age - especially with the Church’s efforts in educating the children of the prominent clans - they could all still remember a time, however hazily, when they weren’t christian. But despite that, it was many from his grandfather’s generation who seemed to had taken to the faith the most seriously out of everyone.
Perhaps it was in virtue that most of the old folks were adults during their conversion, they had the privilege to properly wrestle and understand the tenets of their new religion that they gained the religious zeal that people who were brought up in the religion just couldn’t have. Though it was rare for Josias to see his grandfather be anything but jovial or stoic, even the King who was sitting beside his eldest son was bowing his head with reddened eyes, with a few tears running down from them due to the liturgy.
But saying all that didn’t mean that Josias didn’t have proper respect for the liturgy. Far from it. Perhaps it was pressure from his prideful youth which prevented him from showing his emotions too overtly, but even he had felt his eyes moistened at the reflection of his God’s sacrifice.
Josias was never one to be too interested in theology but he also wasn’t completely disinterested on the topic. He had always enjoyed long discussions with Timotheus on matters of doctrine, dogma, as well as - and more importantly for him who will one day reign as King of Goria - where the Halak church officially stood upon the world stage. In these discussions, he would also ask to be taught the stories and beliefs of the Pre-Christian Halak cosmology but was rather dismayed by how disparate and sometimes conflicting or downright contradictory the information was.
Regardless, in his mind which perhaps would be very biased considering how he was raised and taught, Josias felt none of the other religions or streams of faith upon the face of Banuatonga could even come close to the profoundness of the Christian faith. Never had he read or even heard of another deity that had been described as so loving and filled with humility as the one deity that - despite his purported power - was not only tortured for His love but was also willing to die for them. A deity that loves His creation despite the feeling often not being reciprocated. A deity that doesn’t require sacrifice from His people, but instead became the sacrifice for His people.
Without Josias even realising it, his moistened eyes had turned into actual tears as the church bell was struck for the seventh and final time for the liturgy.
“Let us stand, brethren, and sing to commemorate our Lord for His Sacrifice…” As Bishop Ludwig said that, the entire congregation stood up as the music picked up for them all to sing. Josias saw as Hesekiel put more grandeur into how he played the piano while the other musicians followed his lead, producing a symphony of such simple beauty.
And so the church sang along to the music, once more as if proving to God that the Halak were truly the most blessed people when it came to matters of music and the arts, “~Jesuski Tuhanki, siapuli tondingki… O na bernit ma ditaon Ho Tuhanku di silangMi… Di na laho tos hosaM! Di na laho tos hosaM! ( Christ my Lord, My Redeemer, and the saviour of my Soul… O what suffering and pain must You bare up on that cross! Where Your Spirit was given up! Where Your Spirit was given up!).” As the church continued to sing, Josias could even hear some people already start to sob, “Beta hita tu Tuhanta na gantung di Golgata. Sai tajangkon ma hatana na mamboan haluaon! Di tondim ale amang, di tondim ale inang! ( Let us all come to Our Lord who now hangs from Calvary! Now and ever shall we hold to all His Words that grants salvation! As we etch them on our hearts! As we etch them on our hearts!)”
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As the congregation had finished singing, Bishop Ludwig had allowed them all to be seated as he read out the final part of the reflective liturgy where he gave an uplifting speech for the people to live out Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross and become a blessing through it. The Archbishop continued to stress how important faith was to the lives of every living christian and how it is through that faith do people find their salvation from God. After finishing that final part of the liturgy, Bishop Ludwig climbed down the podium as he invited the congregation to sing once more and after that, concluded the liturgy with the Lord’s prayer.
After the conclusion of the Liturgy, the ceremony at the church was still far from truly over. After the Ulaon Nahohom, the Sacrament of Communion and the Eucharist was to be administered on all confirmed congregants. This was quite undertaking as in that one day, upwards of two to three thousand people had to be given the sacrament. It was a large undertaking even for the people of Goria but by the skillful direction of the Archbishop and his cadre of priests, the extraordinary feat managed to be done in a few hours. Finally the religious ceremonies had ended with the Archbishop and the other priests blessing the congregants.
The sun had already almost set with the skies glazing a beautiful red-orange tint in its absence. A holy day like Good Freeday would usually entail for most people in the village to take a break or a short rest from their usual daily activities, but instead, after the liturgies were concluded, Josias was directed towards the King’s Hall by his father. Along with him also came the four other young warriors he had picked to act as Goria’s representatives for the upcoming Gotilon Festival tournament.
When the young men had reached the King’s Hall, they saw that most of the Village’s elders as well as their parents had already gathered with the King seated upon the Dragonbone throne with Elder Marasi to his right-hand-side and Archbishop Ludwig standing to the King’s left. Josias had no idea how these old men could be so active and quick when it came to moving. He could’ve sworn everyone was still at church not even an hour ago, but it was clear from the fact that most of the people were still in their black garments that they had immediately gathered to the King’s Hall after the liturgy. Even Bishop Ludwig was still in some of his less-heavier vestments instead of his more casual cassock.
In the middle of the King’s Hall had already been placed several large silver plates of the usual Halak dishes of Ihan Tombur, Sangsang minced-meat, and Roasted Pork. Of course along with the main dishes, two large baskets of rice were also prepared for the people to eat. It would seem to Josias that the king’s court had prepared for a special feast to be held though he couldn’t understand for what purpose as usually the feast would be held after easter. Regardless, Josias had found his seat next to his father.
After a few moments of the people taking their seats upon the cushions on the floor, Elder Marasi had started the greetings for the special summons while the king remained seated stoically. Seated across from him next to some of the elders was a group of people Josias had only really noticed appear at church and never before that. He was unfamiliar with the group of what looked to be ten people seated near the elders. They were all mostly young people around his age, about three young men, two older people around the age of his father, while the rest were young women his age.
“Great Elders of the Realm of Goria, it is with great pleasure today that we welcome our most esteemed guests from our brothers both in blood and the faith from Rumaparau and Hutangali.” Elder Marasi spoke as he motioned towards the unfamiliar group with the ‘somba’ to greet them “It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to our court! Horas!”
“Horas!!” Everyone there, including Josias and the elders, had followed suit to give greetings towards the allied party. Josias even saw his grandfather the King bowing his head slightly towards the allied delegation.
Josias had been paying attention towards the delegation from the Kingdoms of Rumaparau and Hutangali. He was of course aware that among the other Kingdoms of the Halak, Rumaparau and Hutangali held especially close ties as allies to the Kingdom of Goria. This had been the case since time immemorial, but now more so due to the fact that the Kings of those two realms had also relatively recently embraced the christian faith and so besides being fellow Halak, they were also fellow brothers in the faith.
Some people would go as far as to say that the two Northern Halak realms were effectively vassals of Goria in all but name. Josias was of that very same opinion, but wouldn’t dare risk saying it so openly especially in front of the actual delegations of the two realms. Josias was greatly intrigued at just what these people were doing in Goria or what they could have possibly wanted from his realm.
Quietly analysing the delegation, Josias had noticed that half of them were wearing some more western-style clothing despite being somewhat darker-skinned than the other half. Josias had guessed that they were from the Western Port-Kingdom of Rumaparau. The other more light-skinned folks that were with them would therefore be the folks from the Northern Mountain Kingdom of Hutangali. Among the delegates, Josias could see a young Rumaparau man sitting with his back straight in a ready and alert position. The young tanned man looked quite stiff when compared to the rest of the delegate, but Josias could tell that the young Rumaparau man was quietly assessing the situation.
Not wanting to risk showing offence by openly staring at a foreign delegation, Josias had quickly averted his eyes off of the young man and instead looked next to him. Although, what he saw was actually quite intriguing. A young woman, definitely around his age, was holding up a book and looked like she was writing things on it with what he knew to be a pen similar to that of which the missionaries made frequent use.
The young woman had a demure and soft aura to her as she didn’t appear to even care what was being talked about most of the time, continuing to write away in her book. Perhaps she was keeping records of the meeting, but what would he know? It was merely speculation on his part anyways. That being said, Josias could see the girl was fully Halak but also looked very pretty much like a Banuan, lacking the stereotypical and distinctive Halak square or angular jawline. Just as he was observing the girl, she had quickly looked up and for a second, their eyes had met. Slightly embarrassed, Josias had quickly averted his gaze as he focused it back upon two of the older men among the delegation party.
Josias merely shook his head and frowned as his mind was becoming unfocused by the earlier happening. However, he was glad that Serena wasn’t there or else he could only imagine how his fiance would misconstrue him this time. It was a complete accident and Josias assured himself that it was only because they were new faces and he was ‘Keeping an eye’ on them. Well whatever it was, there was no use trying to justify himself to someone who wasn’t even there, and so he turned his full attention to the two men who appeared like they were about to accept the greetings.
After accepting the greetings, the delegation representatives appeared as though they were about to introduce themselves.
