Sarah
Sarah asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I have been reading and really enjoying the Penric novellas. What, if any, of earth's cultures and religious faiths did you use for ideas to flesh out the 5 God beliefs and rituals? I'm thinking especially of using special animals at a funeral to signal that the person's spirit had been taken up by his or her God, and which God.

Lois McMaster Bujold As far as I know, my use of the funeral animals is original, though animals do play parts in many real-world faiths.

(I am suddenly put in mind of that scene in The Rook, which I will not attempt to describe here, where two different theories of prognostication clash horribly. And hilariously, if one's sense of humor is sufficiently black. Can't remember which animal species was the one in play, alas. It might be time for a reread, now the sequel is out.)

Ta, L.

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