Harumeku

Harumeku is the Yuriban goddess of spring. She also has domain over young creatures, especially children, and is considered their protector. Harumeku is also tied to the direction east; prayers to her are often said facing in that direction.

Symbols

Harumeku's colors are lilac, sky blue, and indigo. Her sacred animal is the rabbit; she also is the deity connected to the Tunyanniichuan spring. In ancient artwork, it is suggested that ribbons and seedling plants were common motifs for her, as well as apparently being common tokens of devotion to the deity.

Mythology

Harumeku is often portrayed as a very sympathetic deity. There are a number of local legends about her sending help to individuals who are lost or in distress. (In fact, the native equivalent of a 'Good Samaritan' would be someone who was 'sent by Harumeku'.)

Harumeku's association with young things and children is evident in many of the legends and myths surrounding her. Young children are said to be able to see Harumeku out of the corner of their eye. Many places that were sacred in olden times to Harumeku have been found by following where animals go to bear their young. Sacred Circles and former shrines which have crumbled tend to attract wild animals. It is thought that these animals sense Harumeku's touch and seek these sites out to safely give birth to their young.

Mythos portrays Harumeku as being romantically involved with Fuyuzora and Issui in a stable triad.

Rituals

In a rare instance where divination skills are used by clergy not dedicated to Tenteisei, one of the primary duties of Harumeku's priestesses is the divination of the true names of children on their first birthday. Records of all names are kept in her temples, carefully sealed and protected. For the past thousand years or so, her Head Archivist (the priestess in charge of name divinations and records) was a Tunyanniichuan blessed woman of unknown original race named Inkblot. However, Inkblot passed away from old age in late July of 2007 and was succeeded by Bluebell, a Tunyanniichuan blessed Naiad.