How exactly does the Harvest Goddess religion work? (Lore)

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What religion would you join?

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JayDucky03
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I was just wondering if there's any official lore about this, or unofficial, or even theories! I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts. Based on ToTT it seems like it runs similarly to Christian religions, based on how weddings work and how the church looks. Is there any other info you guys could give me? I thought it could be a fun discussion.
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Blue Rose
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Post  Posted:

Its heavily Shinto-based with some western aesthetics sprinkled on top.
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Robinstar
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It's really a strange and confusing mix of religions. Just about everything about the Harvest Goddess(es) is strange and confusing. I'll probably give you more questions than answers.

First of all, there's the crosses. Those... wouldn't really have a meaning here, so I tend to stare pretty hard at the big one behind Maria in GBC. As far as I know, no one's been killed on one of those here.

There's the fact that in most games, the entire town/village/wherever worships only the Harvest Goddess and no one else even though not everyone is involved with farming. So it makes her seem like the only « Harvest Goddess », but it's been made rather clear that she isn't. Everyone is obsessed with the goddess that has to do with your work. It's not too strange, but it stands out to me.

A couple of games add in more characters similar to the Goddess, but they just raise more questions. Especially since the witches and Inari are treated differently from the goddess, adding more stuff to the religion mix. The there's the Harvest King, so yet another farm based « Harvest Goddess »...

A "boss" has been mentioned a couple of times before by both the Goddess and, if I recall, Inari. So, are they they same boss? Maybe. Maybe not. It sort of seems like the Harvest King is the Goddess' boss, but it's not entirely clear, at least not that I remember. Maybe this "boss" is his boss too. ...I wanna see this "boss".

Then there's the part that just drives me to insanity. There's so many different Harvest Goddesses. They even have different names, so it's not just appearance changes. And not a whole lot of time passes between all of the games, and some are happening around the same time. So there's just that many goddesses for farming, probably all obeying the same "boss". ...Unless the boss differs too... So far there has been the Original Goddess, Classic Goddess (Gaia, which is who we're most familiar with), Dessie, the unnamed one in Save the Homeland, Mariel, Sephia, and Marina. 7 Goddesses. A couple of them sharing the same locations, which leads me to believe there are a couple alternate universes going on. It's also possible that Original and Gaia are the same, but it's hard to believe when you consider both the appearance and personality change.

Then there's the two different Witch Princesses and, I assume, two different Harvest Kings. So far we've just had the one Witchkin/Witchie. You know, assuming they're the same. And just one Wizard, and one Vixeni (Inari). It's no secret that there's multiple vixeni. No idea if the kappa should be counted. Kinda miss that creep.

The only Harvest King we get to see makes me wonder what the "classic" version would look like. Same for the Wizard. And even older versions of all the magical characters to match the Original Goddess would've been fascinating.

Speaking of the Original Goddess, I like how she also doubled as the fairy from that story about the golden axe. I always had a thing for that story. I miss that too.
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JayDucky03
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Post  Posted:

I'm imagining some sort of secret society of deities now. :lol: (I guess Dessie, Witchie, and Inari kind of already are.)
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Getaris
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They worship her. She mostly just lets them be.

From the experiences in the games, the goddess seems fairly indifferent to the religious people (ministers, nuns, etc). She's more in touch with people who actually work the land.
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Mikodesu
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I'm also curious if anyone can decipher any of the references in the series. I've always sort of assumed it was just a cliche pagan "Mother Gaia" sort of thing - at least until 3oT. In that case the general idea would be rather than worship the townspeople consider the old religion more like close-held traditions? 3oT does seem to venerate their gods a bit more. I can't remember anyone really talking about the goddess so much before then.

Not to say there couldn't be Shinto references most Westerners wouldn't get - sort of like in LoZ: Majora's Mask. If anyone knows what those are I'd be curious to read it.

The Christian bits I think are just to keep the ever popular church wedding available.
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copernicusmaximus
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Post  Posted:

It's hard to boil it down without keeping it down to one game, because there are different goddesses and different ways the townspeople practice the "religion."

I remember finding it very sad that there was no goddess in the gamecube games, even though there were sprites. It was another piece of sadness and desolation that the gamecube games already had plenty of, haha. (You could argue Mineral Town Goddess's "domain" extended to Forget-me-Not Valley, especially considering the DS games, but...still.)

Overall the fact that you are one of the only ones able to actually SEE the goddess and sprites confirms for me that the goddesses care most about people who respect and work with the land. The Vixeni and Witches probably have their own preferences.

I wouldn't consider the Wizard from AP to really 100% fit in here. He's magical, and able to at least hear/sense the goddess, but not a revered deity. Plus the townsfolk can see him, yeah? On that note, ANB Witch Princess...other people could see her too, yeah? She probably just let that happen, though.
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Anonymous Fish

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In the SNES game, there were multiple gods iirc. I don't know if that was a shoddy translation or Early Installment Weridness, though. I remember the Harvest Goddess being the Goddess of the Land and the characters acting as if she was one of many gods, but they prioritized her due to the fact they were a farming village. This concept of other gods didn't get referenced again until the Harvest « Harvest Goddess » in AP.

I always assumed the Harvest Goddess was a regional « Harvest Goddess » and there are multiple goddesses for various towns, thus explaining the different incarnations. I have no clue whether people know she's an actual being or not, though. I know the protagonist is called out for being able to see the Goddess and the Sprites.
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Getaris
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Post  Posted:

I guess the fact Dessie is a thing confirms the fact that there's more than one harvest goddess in-universe.
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[quote="Getaris"]I guess the fact Dessie is a thing confirms the fact that there's more than one harvest goddess in-universe.[/quote]

I'm pretty certain there's a HM multiverse, however I doubt that all the games take place in separate universes. Thus this has been canon for a while. There's no way the BTN, MM, and AP Goddesses are all the same individual.
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