The Festival of Christophorus - The Gretch Who Stole Christophorus

Excerpt from Esoteric Pilgrimage Destinations of the Gothic Sector, Volume 7, by Adept Matthias Laetorius.

"On the Eve of the Feast Day of Saint Christophorus, each precinct enacts the symbolic ritual of the ‘Gretch Who Stole Christophorus’. Sacred relics of Christophorus are taken from their shrines and given over to the costumed actor portraying the Gretch. The actor portraying the loathsome green monster makes a traditional display of the stolen relics, and leaves to find a hiding place. After thirty-nine and one half minutes pass, the precinct Ecclesiarch makes a show of investigating the reliquary, loudly declaring “Saint Christophorus's Day is ruined”. The eager children then race off to recover the 'stolen' relics."

"The children roam their district hunting for the hidden Gretch and his cache. Upon finding the nefarious character, they drive it away from the relics in a ferocious mock battle. The children are awarded special confections and printed tracts detailing the lives of Imperial Saints for their enthusiasm in recovering the relics. Although some claim that the Gretch tradition hails from ancient Terra, I have found through rigorous research that many millennia ago Ophatran Secundus was on the periphery of a large Orkish invasion, and it is my belief that the Gretch lives on as a cultural memory from that trying time.”