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Crimson Sacrifice Ritual
Ritualff2
Japanese name 紅贄祭
Romaji name Akaniesai
Other names N/A
Location(s) Minakami Village, Hellish Abyss
Participants Twins, The Remaining, Veiled Priests, Mourners
Frequency Every couple decades
Purpose To prevent The Repentance
Game Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

Fatal Frame II: Deep Crimson Butterfly

The two chosen children will be carried to heaven on the wings of a butterfly... A butterfly that will save this village.


The Crimson Sacrifice Ritual is the main ritual performed in All God’s Village in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly and Deep Crimson Butterfly. It involves Twin Shrine Maidens, or Alter Twins, where the older twin strangles the other to death.

In Folklorist’s Note 4, it discusses two different rituals during a festival. The regularly performed on being the “true” ritual, while there was a “hidden” ritual, which was only done in the event of the failed “true” ritual. Both occur infrequently, roughly every ten years and so, with the “hidden” ritual happening even more infrequent.

As the villagers believed twins were one soul separated into two entities, they believed the death of one twin would reunite the souls back to one body. The ritual required the “elder” twin (in All God’s Village, the twin born second was considered eldest), would strangle the “younger” twin. The powerful emotions and forceful act was usually enough to appease the Hellish Abyss, which prevented the Repentance, a long feared disaster.

Pre-Ritual[]

The villagers knew when it would be time to perform the ritual. The region would be plagued by failed crops and tremors would become more frequent. Once these events began to occur, the village would have the oldest set of twins available, in most cases around the age of fifteen, with few exceptions, and have them prepare for the ritual. They would move to the Kiryu and Tachibana houses, referred to as the “twin houses” because of their connection by a bridge and tunnel underground. The twins were separated, living in the two homes and would be purified.

The degree of isolation and separation is not specified, but it is implied that the twins do have regular contact with each other, since both Sae and Yae, and Itsuki and Mutsuki had communication prior to their rituals, and even met outsiders. There are also two sets of twins rooms in the Kiryu and Tachibana houses, containing double amenities which suggests the twins were kept together. While it's possible these rooms belonged to different sets of twins, who were not undergoing ritual preparation, the sacred ropes and altars in the rooms suggest the rooms were for ritualistic use, rather than daily use.

In preparation for the ritual, the twins are dressed in white kimonos, a mourning color in Japan. Both twins are dressed with the right side of the kimono tied over the left, as in the traditional way of dressing the dead. The cut scene showing Sae and Yae's initial meeting with Seijiro Makabe and Ryozo Munakata shows both twins dressed this way, well before the actual ritual took place, implying they used this dress during the entire preparation period.

Ritual[]

Crimsensacrfice

The younger twin strangling her older sister

Once the ritual went under way, inhabitants from the surrounding areas stayed home and would not be near the village. Villagers would gather to Misono hill, which the offering stone in the center was the opening to the Hellish Abyss. They would sing while the events took place.

Inside the Kurosawa House, the twins were led underground by the veiled priests to the ritual site. They were placed in a chamber filled with many candles, where they would pray together for the last time. Once this was complete, they were led directly into the chamber of the Hellish Abyss, there the younger twin would be placed on the stone tablet, the older twin over top of them and would begin to strangle them while the veiled priests struck their staffs in rhythm. Once the younger twin died, their body would be carried by the Mourners and tossed within the abyss, where a crimson butterfly would fly out and into the village for the villagers to see, concluding a successful ritual.

In rare cases, the twins would require assistance, such as the Kiryu twins, who were very young and did not have the physical strength to perform the act.

Post Ritual[]

The ritual was considered successful if the crimson butterfly appeared, signaling that the Abyss was "appeased" and would stop causing earthquakes and expelling toxic malice.

The ritual was believed to join the souls of the twins back into one being. Due to the concept of "shared pain," the living twin will be left with a red mark on their throat, mirroring the one from strangling their sibling, in the shape of a butterfly. Called  The Remaining, their duty is to then watch over the village, providing blessings and prosperity. A Remaining would be considered a divine being, akin to a God, straddling the worlds of the living and the dead and existing in both simultaneously. The dead twin would become a crimson butterfly, a spirit that acts as a guardian deity aiding the Remaining, and blessing the village.

In some cases, the remaining's hair may turn white, this is thought to be due to the shock of killing one's sibling. Afterwards, a Twin Deity Statue is erected in the village.

Only mentioned in Deep Crimson Butterfly, the Shadow Festival is held at the Kureha Shrine after the completion of the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual. During this event, hundreds of sky lanterns are released, representing the spirits of the sacrificed twins becoming butterflies. The festival gained in popularity and soon spread to nearby areas as a yearly festival held in late summer, possibly during Obon.

Failure[]

The ritual can fail in a variety of ways, and did, frequently. It is unclear if the Abyss is appeased by strong negative emotions, such as the extreme pain and suffering a Kusabi goes through, or if a lack of worldly attachments and willingness to die releases a great deal of pure energy, temporarily appeasing or sealing the Abyss.

If a Crimson Sacrifice results in failure, a new Crimson Sacrifice is carried out the next year, rather than in 10, with cutting ritual being carried out as a temporary appeasement method.

There are four failed rituals noted in the game;

  • The failure of an unknown set of twins, for unknown reasons, which required the ritual of Kiryu twins to be moved up, while they were still very young.
  • A pair of unnamed twins attempted to escape the ritual by running away. They were caught near the Kureha Shrine, ambushed, and killed.
  • The Tachibana twins. The twin's ritual is said to have failed because they loved each other too much. This may have meant there was no resentment or pain to appease the Abyss; their souls may have already been one, so no power could be gained from joining them; or, their love meant they had worldly attachments to each other, which prevented a successful sacrifice.
  • Sae's ritual failed, due to it being performed incorrectly. Her twin, Yae, had escaped the village. Unable to get her back, and desperate to appease the Abyss, Sae was taken to the Abyss and hanged from a torii gate by the Veiled Priests. Her dead body was then thrown into the Abyss by Mourners in the hopes it would be sufficient. Since she was killed alone, her soul was not reunited with Yae's

Too many failed rituals in a row resulted in the Repentance happening.

Alternate Ritual[]

An alternate ritual, known as the 'Twins' Ceremony' is performed by other villages in the mountain and is a non-fatal form of the Crimson Sacrifice. The twins are dressed in white and tied by a red cord, connecting them as 'one'. They then conduct a séance and in the end become 'deities'. The ceremony is briefly mentioned in a Folklore book that Miku finds in Fatal Frame III: The Tormented.

Known Sacrifices[]

While it is thought that many twins have been sacrificed over the years, (Due to the large amount of Crimson Butterflies in the village.) There are some known Sacrifices.

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