The parish is the geographic region that your village can be found in on the world map. There will over time, be other players there along with resources that can be collected with scouts and where enemies will appear from time to time. In the center of the region is the parish capital, you can click on the capital to select it, view it, trade with it or send it resources. Clicking on the Parish icon on the interface will also bring up a view of the parish capital and what has been built there.