Holidays and Observances

A number of holidays are celebrated in Myrken Wood and surrounding countries. Many of these are celebrated regardless of religious persuasion.

Winter

• Winter Solstice occurs at the onset of winter. Feasts and religious services are held to calm the oncoming season, with prayers and offerings given so that long nights, diminished days, and bitter cold may be kind over the course of the following months.

• Yule is observed near the end of the final month of the year and consists specifically of feasts, various festivals, and gift-giving stretched over the course of several days. This holiday has been adopted in Myrken Wood and surrounding countries to inspire cheer, goodwill, and almsgiving, with the intent to brighten the depths of the dead season.

Spring

• Awakening may be celebrated in some areas, often coinciding with the first thaw. On this day, dances are regularly held in the company of friends and companions to celebrate the birth of a new spring. Regularly regarded as a time for new beginnings, some Awakening rituals involve sharing fresh bread and water from the melted snows between feuding parties, that past transgressions may be forgiven. Likewise, Awakening is seen as a time to embrace fertility and continued life; children are commonly conceived around this time of year.

Summer

• Summer Solstice is frequently observed near the middle of the sixth month. With the milder season gone, citizens feast and praise on this day to ask the sun its mercy in the summer months, often offering small sacrifices drawn from burgeoning crops to strengthen their prayers.

Autumn

• Autumn Harvest is celebrated near the end of the ninth month of the year in thanksgiving for great yeilds provided by crops. Customarily, this is a day of hard labor to commemorate the final harvests. Such tasks are punctuated with great gatherings during which much beer, as a product of abundant wheat, is consumed. On capable farmsteads, this ushers in a week-long marathon of brewing -- often accepted as a part of the holiday -- to make up for reduced stores.

• All-Hallows' Eve is occurs on the last day of the tenth month. Masquerades, balls, and dances are often held, and citizens are invited to fabricate costumes and disguises which demons, restless souls, and phantoms may find intimidating or frightening. In circles capable of magic, this night is often seen as a dangerous one, during which the realms of the living and the dead are closest in proximity to one another. In Myrken Wood, many celebrate this day with fervor while others avoid its festivities at all costs, depending upon religious edict.