Provener

Overview

Provener is a named hour and daily aut (ritual office) observed within the Mynster (clock-and-nave complex) that marks the community’s midday. At this time the great clock sounds and a small Provener team winds its mechanism by hand. During Apert (periodic opening), visitors may observe under the nave with oversight by the Ita. The winding rite is sometimes accompanied by the Hylaean Anathem.

Preceding Context

Accounts connect the midday observance to the ancient rite at the Temple of Orithena, which functioned as a vast camera obscura. There, a sun‑spot cast through an oculus moved across a gridded floor and, over the seasons, traced the analemma during the community’s midday ritual—described as the antecedent of what avout now celebrate as Provener. Within that complex, the Analemma (temple feature) is described as the place where generations of physiologerpriests (temple priests) celebrated Provener.

What Happens

• The bells sound through the Mynster and its precincts, signaling the hour.
• The bell signal is referred to as the “call to Provener.”
• A designated team performs the winding in the upper works of the clock.
• Within the math, people commonly use the named hour as a rendezvous marker (e.g., agreeing to meet “when they ring Provener”).
• Away from a formal clock tower, avout traveling under a Convox may keep the office using a simple timepiece and recitation.
• At Tredegarh, bells high on the Precipice ring the call to Provener; the local winding arrangement has not been described in detail.

Field observance and portability

• During an improvised encampment on a Sæcular (non‑mathic world) beach, avout erected a canvas cloister and mounted a digital alarm clock on a post; Provener was celebrated there in its ordinary form. This illustrates that the aut is portable and helps maintain a shared rhythm even outside a permanent Mynster.

Daily schedule and usage

• During the Convox at Tredegarh, speakers describe the day in periods anchored on Provener:
• ante Provener: work in Laboratorium;
• post Provener before evening messals: a period called Periklyne for mixing and exchanging results;
• after Messal: Lucub, when independent work and informal collaboration continue.
• In this usage, “ante Provener” and “post Provener” function as everyday time markers.

Aftermath/Consequences

• Provener typically marks the transition to the midday meal and confirms the clock’s proper winding for the remainder of the day.
• The shared cue provides practical coordination between intramuros and nearby extramuros listeners when timing matters.