Erulaitalë

One of the Three Prayers of Númenor, a solemn tradition in which the King or Queen would lead a procession of their people, clad in white, to the flattened peak of the Meneltarma, the Pillar of Heaven. At that high Hallow, a prayer would be offered to Eru Ilúvatar, the One. The Erulaitalë was the second of these three traditional prayers, held each year at Midsummer, in which the Ruler would offer up praise to Eru.

The tradition of the Three Prayers dated back to the earliest times of Númenor, but it did not persist through the entire history of the isle. The later Kings began to turn away from the Valar and from Eru, and the Three Prayers were neglected. Ar-Gimilzôr the twenty-third King abandoned the Hallow altogether, and so the Erulaitalë was discontinued after his accession in II 3102. It was reinstated by the Faithful King Tar-Palantir, but came to a final end when Ar-Pharazôn usurped the throne of Númenor.

It was said¹ that the tradition of the Three Prayers of Númenor arose in imitation of the Valar in the Blessed Realm, praising Eru from the Holy Mountain of the Taniquetil. We have no details of these traditions in Valinor, but it seems that there was an earlier Erulaitalë - or, at least, some equivalent prayer - preceding that of Númenor, and practised by the inhabitants of the Blessed Realm.