Sígáfa

Sígáfa is the term used by the Siur people to refer to their perception of their identity as a people and a culture. While elements of this perception overlap with the principles of Arlatur – the dominating faith of the Siur country for more than a millennium – it also draws on aspects of Thúrun, the system of belief which Arlatur largely displaced during the eighth century CE, with a leavening of secular practical experience.

Etymology

The word sígáfa is usually translated into Ellish as “Siurness”; sí-, as a prefix or compounding form, is the usual adjectival form of Síur, while gáfa in modern Hártal typically translates the term “genius” or “intelligence”, but can also refer to a kind of spiritual essence or the personification of an abstract concept, not dissimilarly to the use of the word in terms like the (originally Old Sabamic) genius loci. The translated term is frequently understood as “having the qualities of a Siur”, although for most Siur themselves sígáfa is seen as a more all-encompassing descriptor, combining mind, body and spirit in an indivisible whole. Comparisons have been made with the concept of the neisti within Arlatur, although extrapolations on the subject have been recorded at least as early as the beginning of the Common Era, generally accepted as the period in which the Vossar and the western Sunneni coalesced into the original Siur people.

Spirit on the land

The influence of Arlatur on the Siur self-image is, for many, so overwhelming as to almost drown out other factors. Arlatur had strong underpinnings in the law – its creator, Ragna Hrafnamaður, trained as a lawyer, and other legal minds, including her mother Hjördís Birgissor, were influential in its dissemination – and the phrase ekki ríki manna, ríki laga, “[we are] not a kingdom of men, but a kingdom of laws” (from the tenth-century Proclamation of Ókyrrast) underlines the sentiment. Typically Siur will make some effort to set aside their personal opinions and examine a situation as impartially as possible; and with the revival of Arlatur after the Secote collapse of the middle twelfth century it became possible for some individuals to earn a living as mediators (sannsigtarar, roughly “truth-sifters”), even outside the law proper.

A key aspect of Arlatur teachings was a commitment to lived truth that has been compared in some quarters to a fetish; Hrafnamaður expressed this in her 10th Disputation as “speak plain, speak true, fear nothing, fear no-one,” and some studies have extrapolated this back to the concept of wirda within Thúrun, by which those who would be chosen to lead in the afterlife had to demonstrate their worthiness for such a responsibility in this life. Many outsiders see Siur as being almost incapable of tact, and the former Helmin alráðherra Atgervi Moll observed in cabinet that “[a Siur] will forgive you almost anything except lying to him.” Through this, formal oath-taking is seen as unnecessary and even insulting, as, if one speaks truthfully, this cannot be made “truer” by an oath; thus, ceremonies such as the axareiður, although often described as “oaths” (axareiður literally means “axe-oath”) are closer in spirit to affirmations elsewhere. This carries over into everyday life in the sense that a Siur will display courtesy to an individual to the extent that he believes is due to that person, and not automatically the other’s “right” by virtue of title, seniority or position – an outgrowth of Arlaturi beliefs in the fundamental equality of all human beings, and its stance that respect must be earned in order to have value. On the other hand, by extension, bragging or self-aggrandisement is very firmly frowned upon – but, likewise, self-deprecation is viewed poorly, with both seen as an unwillingness to subject oneself to objective scrutiny.

Hrafnamaður’s teachings also served to foster a cultural tendency towards restraint; Siur are frequently seen by outsiders as stand-offish, even to the point of rudeness, and the familiar gesture known as the múra often underscores this (whereas the Siur themselves reserve an actual handclasp to close friends and family only). Similarly, there is a widespread aversion to ostentatious display and, often, the extensive use of colour, summed up by the common maxim minna er meira, “less is more”; generations of visitors to Siur states have remarked on how drab and dowdy the cities and the people have appeared as compared to their own homelands. This is perhaps a little unfair – Hrafnamaður also counselled “immoderation in moderation”, and most Siur are just as capable of letting their hair down as anyone else – but not wholly undeserved.

The ban on proselytization observed by Arlaturi – never formalised, but strongly enforced nonetheless – in the wake of the devastating Vinadeila period extends beyond matters of faith into more secular spheres. An Arlaturi does not seek to force his beliefs on others, but honest enquiry into the tenets of Arlatur is always welcomed; thus Arlaturi are bidden to live in a manner which will draw in and inspire others – to “be the light on the hill”, in the words of the former brætur Kardý Perún (in office 1799–1805). Outside the faithly sphere, this has sometimes been seen as arrogance – and, at times, explicitly stated as such; the Helmin althein Pétur Dálbarð (in office 1930–35), during a dispute with the government of Elland, stated in a letter to no less than King Henry IV that “you think that you are better than us – but we know that we are better than you.”

Outside opinions

Understandably, some aspects of the Siur self-image sit poorly with people of other faiths who feel themselves to be disdained or condescended to by some Siur, whom they may see as being overly self-righteous. This has been a particular issue in the case of Siurskeyti, the largest and most politically significant Siur state, where successive Siursk governments have, in positioning themselves as mediators in interordinate disputes, often arrogated to themselves the status of “the adults in the room” or “the only sane men”. A not untypical example may be seen in the Siursk mediation at Feijerpoort in 1939 of the Snow War in northern Emilia late in the previous year; a disgruntled member of the Odannach delegation observed that “[Siurskeyti] wades into these things like a teacher trying to break up a schoolyard fight and insisting that everyone shakes hands and tries to be friends again.” On several occasions Siurskeyti and Helminthasse have shown measured insult to other states, particularly [[Siriash|Sirian]-majority, where women are less prominent in public life by sending women as ambassadors.

On occasion this has manifested as a certain sense of unworldliness; studies of proceedings at the Congress of Kethpor have suggested that the leadership of Terophan, for whom Siurskeyti was a rare ally in the west, consciously played on Siursk beliefs in an overarching concept of interordinate law to bring other Messenian states to the table, whereas the Terophatic emperor Vsevolod I intended the gathering much more as a manifestation of a nascent Pax Terophatica at the beginning of the Terophatic Ascendancy. Neither is the ingrained instinct of most Siur towards candour usually helpful in other areas of statecraft; attempts by the Siursk government to conceal the motives behind its intervention in the Arisian War (1974–77) led to open, if limited, war with Zeppengeran and a paroxysm of outrage in local public opinion which brought down the government and left the then thár Heiðra Hret politically crippled.