mass The finest shigawire is classified as "mimmic film* It is monomolecular, normally only about a micron in diameter, and is prized among spies and secret couriers as an almost foolproof method for smuggling messages The only difficulty with minimic film is its unfailing tendency to cut through anything and everything-tec only safeguard is to make sure that all parts of the shigawire implant, whatever it might be contained in, move as a single unit Should one part move faster than another, the shigawire could easily cut through the container before it bent, which can be highly distressing when the container is the messenger's body SlAYTtOQ, FEAST OF (also, "Great Sharing," "Feast of Leto") Held decennially, this mytho-pohtrcaf festival reinforced the bond between the God Emperor and his Fish Speakers Of all the aspects of Fish Speaker service, this was the most sacred and important, it was, in Leto's words, the "one ritual" given mem As such, it was jealously guarded from outsiders-men, in particular-with occasional allowances made for the presence of a Duncan Idaho ghola whom it might please Leto to admit to the nte The religious aspects of Siaynoq far predated worship of die God Emperor Their roots can most clearly be seen in the Zensunm ritual of siayla, practiced by that cult of mystics in one form or another since their formation Siayla, roughly translatable as "Light of Truth," was held annually among the Zensunm, it was a gathering of all available sect members to discuss the progress made toward their religious goals during that year Originally, a siayla was conducted in the manner of a pre Orange Catholic Bible silent meeting, with members of the congregation each contributing as they saw fit As the Zensunm became more numerous, however and especially after their repeated forced migrations the ritual changed the bulk of die gathering would listen to their Sayyadina or Ulema hold forth on the subject What had been a participatory ritual eventually became a presided one After the Zensunm were transplanted to Arrakis there becoming Fremen the siayla changed again It became ' the sharing, ' the spice orgy m which doses of modified Water of Life gave the people a heightened sense of awareness of one another and strengthened their tribal bonds These changes were later to become the core of Siaynoq even to the ritual mgestion of melange, though m a greatly reduced dosage The first Siajnoq was held in 10576 aftei Leto n had announced his godhead but prior to the construction ot Onn, his Festival City and later site for the ritual Much of the ritual was firmly established and remained unchanged for over three thousand years The Lord Leto-originally under his own power, later on the Royal Cart-maneuvered himself to the center of his assembled Fish Speakers The women would then gather closely around him with those leaving ac tive service in the first rank, and declare their eternal loyalty and devotion to then-God Leto, m return, addressed them as his "brides and praised them for their courage and fidelity He gave his blessing to those continuing m active service to those who had become mothers and were leaving to join his priestesses or to work as full-time mothers until their children were older, and to the Fish Speakers offspring Great emphasis was placed on the special relationship the women maintained with the God Emperor The overall effect induced feelings of intense loyalty among the female military and fostered their feeling of superiority to more common subjects The next step of the ritual was the distnbu tion of wafers containing small doses of spice Each participant in Siaynoq from the babes in arms to the God Emperor himself, consumed part or all of a wafer, this ritual mgestion tied Siaynoq to the older Fremen ntual and was the reason for its being re SIAYNOQ 459 ferred to as the "Feast of Leto'' It should be noted, however, that there was no attempt to tie Siaynoq to the transubstantiative rite practiced earlier by the Orange Catholic Church, perhaps because that particular form of worship could be rendered less effective by the actual presence of the god After the wafers were eaten and the sense of affinity among the massed troops attained its highest point, Leto produced the cryskmfe which had belonged to Paul Muad'Dib Atreides and held it aloft for his Fish Speakers to venerate This moment, mote than any other in the ntual, touched the Fish Speakers' religious faith Much of what had preceded it could be interpreted as military boostensm.