Wednesday 13 January 2021

Three Kinds Of Sacredness

"The Season of Forgiveness."

The City people, dwelling amidst the ruins of Empire, value honor and still serve their ancestors' gods. The desert dwellers, former Imperial subjects, value their freedom and regard their land as holy.

"'It is too holy for an Imperial foot to tread. You would not understand this, merchant.'" (p. 141)

(I am reminded of some nineteenth-century Catholic propaganda which asserted that the Holy Land was profaned by the foot of the Mussulman.)

The Terran traders are more powerful than the Ivanhoans but seem to value only material gain so how can they be trusted? Then they demonstrate that they also value peace and even celebrate a season of the Prince of Peace. All three groups have a sense of the sacred. The Terrans can now make peace between the two Ivanhoan groups.

4 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

More exactly, the Ivanhoans could now see not all Terrans were crass materialists, that they too had beliefs which they held sacred.

And I would not be surprised if some Jews believe that Muslim Dome of the Rock mosque profanes the site of what was once their Temple!

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

Mecca is forbidden to Christians, of course.

All group identities are defined -against- somebody.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling,

If a fanatical Jihadist movement arises among Muslims which seriously threatens non Muslims, that won't stop Mecca from being destroyed, either deliberately or as an accident of war. I recalled how the Muslims who settled on Bellevue in your THE GENERAL books descended from Muslim vengeful enemies as Mecca was destroyed.

We also see mention of Christians on Bellevue, but only a few times, and of how the "Christos" were persecuted by the Spirit of Man of the Stars Church. And one or two mentions of Jews, including a scene where a Jewish banker watched with "veiled distate" the greed and avarice of Chancellor Tzetzas.

Ad astra! Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Correction: The last part of the last sentence of my first paragraph should read like this:
"...descended from Muslims who fled there as their vengeful enemies destroyed Mecca."

Sean