Holidays of Fastheld

Overview

Festivals are held on the third Fealty of the month. House Fairs are always organized by the given House, and held somewhere in that House's territory. (Where can vary, but it's always going to be held SOMEWHERE in their territory on the given date.) All holidays and fairs are open to Freelanders as well as Nobles, though there are often segregated events (a Nobles-only auction or joust, a Freelanders-only competition, etc.) No House is obligated to do anything for Ranger's Night, the Feast of the Charging Bull, the Raven Hunt, or the Feast of the Emperor...but they have been known to throw events anyway.

The List of Holidays

Whistlewind - Nillu Fair: Generally an indoor event, given both its content and the time of year in which it is celebrated, the Nillu Fair is most often nicknamed the Crafter's Fair; it is at this event that the greatest craftsmen offer up their finest works, or unveil special showpieces for auction. After the House's fee, the proceeds of many such auctions go to benefit charities. It is a fair for the artisan and the collector of rare and fine items.

Bleakdreary - Ranger's Night (Remembrance of Sirion Starkhorn): For anyone not a hunter or ranger, this feast is celebrated in exactly that manner - it's a huge feast of game animals, a gathering together of families both noble and freelander. The families of hunters and rangers will make much of those scions on this night - traditionally, if you've got a hunter or ranger in the family, they're the ones who bring in the meat for the feast. That said, they do no cooking - while their families gather and talk, or cook the great dinners, hunters and rangers will spend the day in a vigil that ends at sundown. (Whereupon they go to their families and get made much of.) On this one night there is neither a hunter nor a ranger that will lack a warm and welcoming fire, and those who lack a family of their own need only knock upon a door.

Stormclaw - Mikin Fair: Held most often just as the ground is thawing out and planting time looms on the horizon, the primary theme of the Mikin Fair is always fire and light - colored lanterns, colored flames, and a far more overtly religious feel than is seen at any other House Fair. The Mikin Fair is, always, a celebration of Light - but the specific form this takes often varies from year yo year.

Greening - Feast of the Charging Bull: Begun in remembrance of the Blademaster Ulfell Lomasa, the Feast of the Charging Bull is the time of year when fallen warriors are remembered, and the families of those lost are honored. Tales will be told of warriors past, of battles lost and won. Some villages, particularly in Lomasa lands, will hold small sporting contests - but weapons and tools are never a part of them. It is a time of year when tombs and graves of those who have fallen in Fastheld's defense are visited and tended, and spring flowers laid upon them.

Seedwarming - Wildcat Fair: The Kahar Fair tends to be a grand event, held outdoors. The theme of the fair tends to be somewhat boisterous, but never without thought - if jousts are held, they will be team against team rather than individual against individual, for example, or held in an open arena so that tactics as well as skill may be employed. Indeed, 'tactical skill' may well summarize the entire day, with honors going to the victorious quick thinkers and most effective strategies.

Kilning - Seamel Fair: It's all about the horseflesh, baby. The Seamel Fair showcases fine horses of a variety of breeds, and the riders who can make best use of a horse's abilities. Jumping, racing, marathons, horsemanship and mounted combat are the entire focus. Horses of rare ability may be sold or bought, and betting on the outcomes of the various contests is a common practice.

Huntsmoon - Lomasa fair: It's said by some that the Lomasa fair is just like the Wildcat fair, only without all that bothersome thinking that diminishes the fun. The day tends to be celebrated with tournaments of jousting and dueling with various weapons, wine tasting, and music are the usual fair fare here, and folk dancing is commonly perpetrated after a few tankards of ale.

Harvest - The Raven Hunt: The only celebration of something less than good, the Remembrance of Goram Zahir is both a dark and grim reminder of the price of treason, and a night of macabre fun. Known as "the day all Zahirs stay home", public celebrations have grown sporadic under the regime of the current Regent but have been known to involve the ritual 'execution' of straw effigies by whatever means the locals favor. On this day capital cases are open to the public, and many ravens are killed so that parts of their bodies (usually wings or claws) can be worn as a symbolic rejection of all that the Craven Raven represents. In Zahir lands, although the Raven Hunt is still celebrated, it tends to be a rather solemn day of prayer and remembrance. Everywhere else, masques and mockery tend to dominate the scene.

Lightfading - Raven Fair: It is said that the Raven Fair is held after the Raven Hunt either to remind the world that House Zahir is not going to hang under the shadow of the odd megalomaniac forever, or as a sop to Zahir pride after putting up with the Hunt. Regardless, the theme of the Raven Fair tends to be one of cunning; riddling contests are held, and crafts for sale or entered in competition tend to be intricate locks or puzzles. Masques may be held where prizes are given to those who most accurately guess the identities of other attendees, and so on. If the Lomasa fair is "the Wildcat fair without the thinking", then the Raven Fair is the Wildcat Fair without the fighting.

Shadowreach - Feast of the Emperor: Held in honor of the current Emperor, this is a realm-wide event both grand and personal. On a public scale, this is a time of awards and appreciation. On a family scale, it's one big universal birthday party, with exchanges of gifts between friends and family. Traditionally, longstanding debts or nonviolent crimes may be pardoned at this time. Regardless of when the Emperor's birthday actually is, this is the day on which the nation celebrates it.