Re: Religious text in Conlangs

Well, Yhe Vala Lakha has some liturgy, which I suppose I should've written -
this liturgy's to do with the re-admission of an unnamed to her clan, and
consists of reciting privations Lakhabrech suffered before becoming
Lakhabrech:

Iyheti,  sha iyhe sirerakh          ya fayatamai    aru yhe eme'ayaarasun
To this,  this is a feast/ceremony     to remind us  of   the our time-when

aru invhanare aru tyekharrai    Yhe Farr.  Ya eme  ya emekharshanti yhe lakha,
of   escaping  of    bondage of Yhe Farr.  We (incl) yes hunted    freedom,

ya eme ya emekharshanti haukasuneme.
we (incl) searched        for our humanity.

Ain eiyhasun emeti     ya maazhi emerakh, ya khavhti, ya kera,
But  there was nothing for us  to eat,         as to prey,  it was small,

aru perie, ya aru launered, ya kerhas,      ya kerkherya, ya khavha kera,
of fields,      of  forests,     it was rabbits,     ferrets/rats, small prey,

ya yhe inisatayao, ya yhe fayatoaya, ya yhe vhiatu nikhayao.
the burrowers,       the flyers,             the swamp swimmers.

Eme'otwanti yempro i yhe yezhech taararo, ya eme'otwanti eyatwasun.
we walked down from the high plains of death, we walked the trackless wastes.

Ememvhranti yempro ka yhe eimeri launered, ya emeina'iata yhe kharesheme,
we  came     down   to the of despair forests,  we taught (ourselves) to hunt,

ain fayezhchaini nyaberi'eme ya khavhti!  Ain tyeriseme, ain tichya'eme
but killed (were) our men        as prey!      but our daughters, our sons

ya eilakhati tautyerrakhni!   Eme yhe berini, ya iyetyishniti emefayakhershani
as slaves they were bound!  We the women, as breedings we were captured

emefayityishni!  I ayhati tantwati vherti, ya emefayalakha,     i eihaukasun
we were bred! from such evil fortune, we liberated (ourslv), from inhumanity

emefayahaukanti!
we became human!

Itaysun eiyhasun emeti,         itayneredeme eiyha emeti ya fayevhiri,
Territories of nothing we had, our villages none we had to defend,

eihiawa ereyahi    emeti ya ayhawa emetyinti liyayha.
no place of safety for us that there   we could bear (children).

I taararo yempro ememvhranti,     i eiperisun      emeyemanti,
From high plains we came down, from deslotation we descended,

i yezhech eyeatwasun ya kherayashu vhekhrani aru Yhe Farr emevhanarenti.
from the wastelands of death and hunting guided by Yhe Farr we escaped.

Ara yhe iftasun ayaaravhra emeti.  Rakh!
Now we have hope for the future.  Eat it!

It's used for greeting new members into the society, and for acknowledging
that adolescents have reached a useful age and are now adults; it isn't like
Seder, which is practised yearly, or like Communion, which is practised
weekly and/or daily - Liyhita who have encountered Seder have always been
interested but also argue that this ceremony, the eating of lesser prey and
welcoming the new member into society, known as Yhe Rakhya Irretu - the
Welcome of Eating, or the Shared Welcome, is more holy, because it only
occurs when welcoming new members, adolescents and re-named into the
community, and thus is more sparing of its power.  They have no opinion on
Holy Communion, I'm afraid, or rather, they do have an opinion but would
rather keep on good terms with its practioners.  As far as I can make out, it
transgresses on of their most central laws, Yhe Shawi tuvhe Yhe Fayavala
Rakhya - The Tooth (Capital Law) against the Eating of Speaking Beings, even
though it has been explained that it is purely symbolic.  And as their
deities are solar, and eating them doesn't make any sense to them, I think it
best to leave things the way they are.

It also doesn't mention the Goddesses, because that grew up out of the long,
long periods of fighting to establish a sane order of society instead of the
vhekhrani aru Yhe Farr (Guidance of The Master/s) that had preceded it.

Revo,    ya va haukati,       Balrevo, ya tyerachti nayail.
Sun, she gives to humans, Sistersun, she listens to children.

Sire yhe pauote,   tauva khavh.
The spirits laugh, they give prey.

That is the general view of supernatural portfolios - the Sun and Sister-Sun
you appeal to in times of crisis, the Sun gives to humanity in general and is
the environmental councillor, the Sister-Sun listens to prayers concerning
the unobtainium and is in charge of human wishes and desires, but the spirits
send the prey along and enjoy the feast with the humans.

Wesley Parish

P.S.  Sorry I didn't get around to translating the liturgy/translation
exercise below - I got caught up with my own conworld's liturgy.

On Wednesday 30 April 2003 08:52 am, you wrote:
> Hi All!
>
> How many of your concultures have religions?  Sacred
> texts?  I have been working on my conculture for the
> Mocteno [who speak Lenmoct.  Hint, these words are related:
> Lenmen means priestess.  So 10 points to whoever defines the
> roots in the three compounds.]
> I was thinking about cultural justifications for the name I've given
> to my language, Lenmoct, and its literal meaning, mother-goddess.
> I was thinking that in their religion the "mother" is responsible for
> giving society their first word and language and so changing them from
> animal
> to human.  So here is the little bit of liturgy I wrote for them.  I would
> imagine it being recited at a child's birth:
>
> Acg lapyccuascul, li moct ano lyctatec cg en.
> Col eno ciatpetdcea, sapagec cg.
> Ddysatec col.      Tdonatdec cg.
> Col-ga cil cgotddac-cy.
>
> [ax 'lapik,waskul lI mVC 'aNo li'Ca,tEk xEN
> kVl ENo jat'peTk@ sa'pagekx
> ri'satEk kVl   T@'naTEkx
> 'kVl'ga jIl 'xot,Traki_0]
>
> Time-marker womb-dream, the goddess us-feminine-inverse [1] the word.
> The-plural we water-wanting, breathed it.
> Stood the-plural.  Spoke it.  The-pl-past the-general
> woman-collective-present.
>
> In the womb-dream, the goddess made us drink the word.
> We were thirsty, we breathed it.
> We stood.      We spoke it.
> Now we are humanity.
>
> Jake
>
> [1] David Peterson asked me if I could leave out the verb and just
> use genders to imply agent/patient roles.  Well, I used that here.
> This kind of verbless construction (with specific articles, not general
> articles) is used for phrases like "made us drink"
> where "made" functions like -igi in esperanto.  I just leave out the
> first verb and everything is dandy.  :)
>
> P.S. I'd be very proud if this is used as a translation excercise.
> I'd like to see it in different conlangs and have a collection.  It's
> a little short and unchallenging, perhaps.
--
Mau e ki, "He aha te mea nui?"
You ask, "What is the most important thing?"
Maku e ki, "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
I reply, "It is people, it is people, it is people."