Holidays
From InquisitionWiki
Here are Holidays.
Autumn's End Festival
(Autumn)
As the last fields are reaped, while there is still plentiful stores of fresh grain and meat, the citizens of the Kingdom cast out in a final gala celebration, giving thanks for their harvests. During this time weddings are performed, and children are christened.
In the villages and cities, it is during Autumn's End that the trade masters choose new apprentices. Also, the new turn of acolytes are passed to the Order, that they may begin their canonical studies.
Troubadours are said to tell their most epic tales during the Autumn's End festivals, regaling captive audiences with sagas of the time of the Consolidation, or stories of wayward mages brought to justice by the might of the Order.
The Calm
(Quintilus 16th)
Quintilis 16th marks an important day across all Lithmorran and Farin calendars. It is upon this day in the year 305 of the Lord that Queen Richael ab Harmon and Cameron de Montford were wed, uniting the two nations and blood lines together. During the preceding war, Cameron de Montford offered refuge for the Queen-to-be, securing her away from those that would see her harmed. Although Farin desired no part in war - enjoying their period of peace - they stepped in to help the woman. This decision led to the eventual coronation of the heir as Queen. Today, the 16th shall be remembered as the complete end of the war and the joining of Lithmore and Farin, known officially as "The Calm."
Chalice Rising
(Maritus 28th-31st)
Foremost among religious holidays, Chalice Rising Festival is a tribute to the Order of King Dav. It is held in conjunction with the Lithmorran Wine Festival, and begins with all members of a parish attending Mass. The festival itself lasts for four days; with each day passing the families exchange a gift, representative of each of the Declarations. The day is a day of celebration and joy, and concludes each night with the lighting of a Davite Candle. During the time of the festival, celebrants are restricted to a diet of bread, water and wine. The ceremony concludes on the fourth night with lighting of the central candle and a great feast. At this time, each family raises their Grand Chalice towards the nearest belltower, and the head of the household reiterates his or her oath to follow the Declarations of Dav.
The Chalice Rising festival is held on the last four days of the third month each year (Maritus), in recognition of the upcoming spring and growth of the land.
Actual days are 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st of Maritus.
En Passant
(Female's 16th) (Lithmorran/Farin)
Celebration of the coming of age for females, the ceremony which marks their passage from a child to a woman. Typically given within two weeks of the girl's 16th birthday, it is only after completion of this ceremony that the woman is considered eligible for marriage. The En Passant is celebrated with a large party, including all of the village inhabitants (or quarter, in cities), with the girl clad in her brightest and best woolen clothes. All attenders to the revelry traditionally present the new woman with a gift which will help her in her future years, either domestically or financially. It is said that this tradition actually began in Farin, and indeed is practiced there and in many of the larger cities of other Duchies.
Great Charalin Horse Races
(June 1st)
The Charalin peoples are proud of their horse stocks and have celebrated the swiftest of them since long before the days of the Consolidation. As they travel about, it is quite common for them to challenge the others they meet to a race with their fastest racing steed. This serves for each breeder to determine the strengths and weaknesses of their chosen racer and if it should participate in the Great Charalin Horse Races, held on the first day of the sixth month.
For the Great Races, the Charali migrate from all over the plains to a central location. Each family prepares a grand breakfast for their own group, and then offers to share about with the others nearby, resulting in one large scale breakfast buffet. While breakfasting, horses are registered to race, and more than one breeder has dropped an entry on seeing someone else who effectively outraced their horse before. The horses are then slated to race in heats and bets are typically made on the quiet as to how the fields will turn out.
The heats begin at noon, and the winning horse of each is then rested until following dinner that evening. This gives the gathered people time to socialize and party, share another meal with one another and comment on the days results thus far. Following the evening meal, the final race is held to determine the swiftest horse of the plains for the year. Upon the culmination of the final race, bets are paid up, and the celebrations continue well into the night. The crowds disperse at sunrise to go back to their wandering ways.
Hunting Festival
(Octobris 6th) (Lithmore)
The Festival of the Hunt is held in Lithmore on the sixth day of the eighth month. It is a day for the men of the kingdom, of all classes, to show off their hunting prowess, although more than one lady has been known to participate in the hunt and actually win. It arises from times long past where hunters were some of the primary food sources for the local people, and their capabilities to provide were highly regarded. It has since become a more formal and planned event, although still quite happily anticipated.
The licensed hunters gather outside the city gates at dawn. There is great pomp surrounding the initiation of the hunt with grandiose speeches and fanfares. They are then released to begin their hunt and try to bring down as many or as big of kills as possible until the sun reaches its apex in the sky. The game is collected by designated helpers who return the carcasses to the brightly colored pavilion for dressing and cooking near the city gates. While the hunters complete their circuits, the kills are catalogued by judges, the hart being considered the most noble of game, then turned over to be cooked on the numerous spits set up.
By the time the hunters have returned, a large portion of meat is already nearly finished cooking and being distributed amongst the crowds for consumption. Likewise, tables are usually set up with wide spreads of dates, breads, melons and fresh raw vegetables. The organs are reserved to give as gifts to any honored guest attendants, and some meat is given to the dogs who helped with the hunt. Then, once the meats are prepared and cooked, a feast with music and dancing begins, where the entire city comes out to celebrate full stomachs after a long day's hunt.
Kissing Festival
(Third week of harvest) (Wilhelm)
Held in the third week of harvest, it is the time wherein the citizens broach last year's kegs, and begin the fermentation of the new stock. The dawn of the festival is as old as the city itself, but it did not gain the name until some years after the Consolidation - when a local lady, in a state of drunkenness, moved from man to man, securing a kiss from each person she encountered. Not to be outdone, the other women of the village followed suit, and it continued on through subsequent harvestings. One of the foremost insults in Wilhelm stems from this festival - 'You could not even get kissed at the Kissing Festival' (man to man), or 'I would not even kiss you at the Kissing Festival' (woman to man), and 'You wont find me at the Kissing Festival' (man to woman [rare]) - and has been known to be the cause of quite a few fistfights and more in Wilhelm. Local midwives claim that nine months following the festival is their busiest season. Pregnancies soon after the Kissing Festival are looked upon with envy by other women, and the baby is considered to be one born in luck.
Lithmorran Wine Festival
(Maritus 28th) (Lithmore)
The Lithmorran Wine Festival is held annually, on the first day of the Realm's Chalice Rising Festival. This involves the ceremonial (by each head of household) broaching of the wine cask from the most recently fermented year.
During the Wine Festival, the citizens of Lithmore share their wines with their neighbors, and traditionally the Royal family broaches a cask of their best wine for the populace in the city square.
Wine Festival is held on the 28th day of Maritus (third month of the year) in the city of Lithmore. Many of the outlying township's citizens visit Lithmore around this time to partake in the celebration, as well as make their tributes during Chalice Rising.
Magebane
(Octobris, end) (Lithmorran)
During the peak of the Davite Consolidation, the Order declared Januarius a period of reflection on all it has achieved. Starting from the end of Octobris - during the yearly eclipse - holy rites and vigilant prayers are led by the Order to counteract the supposed increase in mage activities under this omen. This holiday is known as Magebane.
New Year
(Januarius 1st)
On the first day of the new year, the entire kingdom takes to the streets, even if a blizzard is underway, to visit their friends and family and wish them a blessed new year. Typically, each house sets out the best of what they can afford by way of hand held foods that are easily portable. The traditional offerings are nuts, dried fruits, the remaining pears, cookies and breads, as well as dried meat sticks. Warming drinks are also kept over the fire to chase the chill off of the company's travail into the cold.
In the larger cities of the kingdom, the highest ranked noble in the area will typically send out some selections of visiting foods and hot wassail to the city square for the populace to enjoy, as a token of hospitality for the new year. While the populace enjoys the meager offerings sent out, the nobility of the city are typically all gathered in the home of the new year's host, being regaled with fine foods, quality wine and musical entertainment.
The new year is welcomed by all people of all stations. It is considered a holy day by the church, and frequently the people talk of making fresh starts to go with the new year itself. The church endorses and encourages the view of coming clean and living a pure and holy life, and holds a special mass at sunrise for the faithful to come and avow their lives anew as Davites. Following mass, the confessionals are packed for hours, by people wishing to begin their new year with a clear conscience, before they begin their visits.
During the new year's festival, people of all ranks in the city not only greet family and friends, but also go door-to-door as neighbors. The rich hand out small gifts to the poor, and it has become an informal tradition to prove one's wealth by giving the most gifts. The Holy Order distributes a loaf of bread baked with a Chalice crest to every family in Lithmore for each new year's winter.
Richael's Birthday
(Quintilis 23rd)
In SC 298, on the 23rd day of Quintilis, the Princess of Lithmore celebrated her En Passant. With great joy, the Royal Family proclaimed her birthday a national holiday to be celebrated every year, and to pass down as a legacy to her own heirs when the time came. The King made much of his daughter's majority and sent vast supplies of wine, ale, baked goods, fruits, vegetables and dried meats, as well as clothing to the city square for the entire populace's enjoyment. In light of the strained time of plague and rationing at its occurrence, the gesture endeared the king in the eyes of the people. In the years following, similar gifts were sent to the city in celebration of her birthday, though never in quite as grand scale as her coming of age.
Summer Solstice
Across the kingdom, the longest day of the year is a highly anticipated event, occurring on the twenty-second day of the sixth month. It is around this time that the summer heat becomes greatest and the workdays long and weary. Therefore, a day off from labors to enjoy the holiday is much enjoyed by people of all stations. Summer Solstice is a celebration of all that is good in life: food, drink, family, friends, entertainment, and good health. The length of the day makes it ideal for celebrating so many blessings bestowed on all people regardless of class.
Breezy canopies are set up in city and village alike for the populace to cool off under. The traditional fare includes a wide array of summer fruits and vegetables, as well as honey sweetened treats and mead. In most areas, there is a competition to see who can concoct the best or most usual honeyed delicacy, as a celebration of the sweetness of life. There is also typically contests revolving around melon growth or seed spitting, and seeing fruit juice stained faces is a common sight everywhere. The celebrations begin at sunrise and continue until well past the late sun setting.
Spar Balancing
(Monthly) (Tubori Cities)
Among the seafaring folk of Tubor, great stock is placed in the dexterity and balance of its menfolk. Each month, the Tubori cities - or ships, if at sea - will hold a large competition wherein the participants must maintain their balance on the topmost spar of a ships forecastle. Whomever has the longest hang time is the winner, and earns the right to compete in the yearly Tubori Spar Balancing Showdown, held in the capital of the Duchy during springtime. While many are the Tubori men who will brag of holding one or another title in Spar Balancing, the act is truly much more difficult than the claim, and a true master spar balancer is a rarity.
Spring Awakening Festival
(Aprilis, week one)
Celebrated in the fourth month of each year, during the first week of the month, the Spring Awakening festival is, apart from Yule, the most anticipated event of the year. It is during this festival in which the newest fashions are unveiled, and everyone wears their finest. The festival begins on the first newmoon of the week, and ends on the following Moonbright, when Arien is at its fullest. It is said that a full harvest moon, at any time during this "week", is portentous of a good year, and a new harvest moon an ill omen. Common legend has it that the last time Arien was full and Circadnanoth new was during the great plague of SC 282.
In the more rural areas, further from the cities, the Spring Awakening is simply the time when the folk of the villages gather at the fields and work to till them, turning the soil and preparing for the plowing and planting to come. They move, from field to field, all working in unison on a single area until it is prepared. The cities, having no fields to till, celebrate Spring Awakening in a measure of fashion, fetes, and forgiveness. It is during this time that the clothiers hawk their finest wares, and the citizenry wear their finest. The laws of Sumptuary are still enforced, but with somewhat wider latitude than at other times of the year. In the Ducal Cities, the Duke or Duchess give freely from their larder on Midweek, allowing the commoners to dine like nobility for the day. Smaller cities are similarly served by their baronetcies.
Tradition holds that, on the culmination of Spring Awakening, the reigning Reeve of the area may grant clemency to one prisoner, providing that prisoner is not charged with a capital crime (treason, murder, or sumptuary). The lucky recipient's sentence is held in abeyance, and only reinstated if they again commit a crime within a year and a day after being freed.
The final celebration of the weeklong festival is the Moonbright Bonfire, held in the town squares, or before the Church in rural areas. During the Moonbright Bonfire, a straw mannequin, clad in attire reminiscent of the mages of old, is placed atop a pile of dry wood and, as the sun sets, the faggots are ignited. When possible, the Order uses a true victim rather than the mannequin. The burning is a sacrifice, to ask that there be a bountiful harvest, and to protect the citizenry from the users of Magic.
Turkey Calling Trials
(Late Autumn) (Talfore)
Held in late fall each year, the turkey calling trials of Talfore are a time wherein villagers each seek to emulate a turkey, trying to draw the attention - and therefore the prize - of the largest 'Tom' of the city. Contestants gather in a large circle, with the Tom in the center, and work to garner his charge. At its culmination, all adult turkeys are slaughtered, and a bakeoff is held, with all manner of turkey delights for participants and spectators alike.
Yule Festival
(Decembris 10th-14th)
The final celebration of the year, Yule marks the passage of the bleakest time of winter. While often banked in by massive amounts of snow, people have been known to clear the squares of their respective villages and cities, providing room for the turnout of celebrants.
Yule lasts for four days, and during this time all fireplaces are kept well banked against the surrounding chill. It is said to be bad luck for a fire to go out during Yule, so many cords of wood are set aside to prevent against that eventuality.
Yule is the favorite holiday of the children, because it is during this time that gifts are passed out. Many are toys, but they also get new clothing, and the older children are given tools to help in the trades they hope to follow as well.
The time of Yule lasts from the 10th through the 14th of the month of Decembris.
