Everlynn: Serenade of the Dark Lands ~Player Advice~

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The Seasons and Festivals

Here's a quick list for all of you about the seasons and celebrations here in the world of Everlynn: Serenade of the Dark Lands. This will become a page on the main site but for now it will remain here (Yes, all of these are borrowed. Since this is a world were many gods are worshiped it's technically pagan, therefore, I thought that pagan holidays would be fitting for this game).

However you, the player, chooses to interpret these holidays is up to you. You may add what you feel is fitting during the role play of these celebrations and seasons. I will try my best to post in the topic of the main room what season and what festival is being celebrated. If anyone has any suggestions please PM me and we'll discuss any changes that can be made.

Note: As far as I know, Serenade is being played on real time. The dates in parentheses are the dates that these celebrations will be held on. Instead of following the year according to what we know now, I will start in fall as it used to be in ancient times.

Festival of Remembrance
Festival only
Also known as the Feast of Apples, Ancestor Night, or the Feast of the Dead
(October 31-November 1)

This celebration begins at sunset and lasts through midnight of the next day and marks the beginning of winter. It is a festival of contrasts, of an ending and beginning. People look back over the past year and look forward to the future, leaving our past behind and resting from inner tasks and quests.

During this time, the boundary between the worlds is thin. At this time, the boundary between the Otherworld or Land of Shadows and our world is at its thinnest. This time of the year is not to be feared, and spirits of those past and those yet to be born are welcomed if they so choose to visit us. We should never call them back, however, for we do not know what is happening to them in their own world. All we can do is leaving a welcoming way open for them.

Yule
Season and festival
(Time of celebration:(Winter Solstice) December 20-23, can last until 6 January)

We celebrate the return of the Sun and contemplate our hopes and aspirations for the coming year. We hang lights, decorate the Yule Tree, bring in evergreens, burn a Yule log, give presents, sing, dance, and have a party.

Yule is a festival of contrasts as well and its rituals often begin with quiet contemplation in semi-darkness and end with bright candles, gifts, and celebrations. We welcome back the sun as the days begin to grow longer and restoring life and light back to the earth.

Imbolc
Festival only
Also known as Imbolg or Oimelc
(February 2)

This festival we celebrate the beginning of spring, the first stirrings of shoots in the earth, and the gradual dawning of the new light. At this time, we prepare ourselves for the new season. All of the evergreens are finally cleared away and the grounds are ritually swept in preparation of new beginnings.

Imbloc is what is known as the "fire festival," but it is the returning light that we celebrate rather than the Sun itself. Each day the Sun rises a little earlier, giving us a few more minutes of daylight.

Ostara
Festival and season
(Time of celebration:(Spring Equinox)March 20-23;)

This celebration makes the point in spring when the hours of light and dark are equal, thus it is a good time to balance the things we do in our lives. It is the time for exploring the countryside and for planting seeds and walking in the garden.

Beltane
Also known as Bealtaine, Bealtuinn, or Bhealtyainn
Festival only
(April 30; celebrations can last until 1 May)

A celebration of the beginning of summer. It is a time of music, dance, song, and the enjoyment of nature. We celebrate the earth's fertility and our own creativity. We try to make sure that our projects and opportunities are strongly growing.

Litha
Also known as Midsummer or Midsummer Solstice
Festival and season
(Time celebrated:(Summer Solstice) June 20-23)

It's a joyful time when we compare the abundance in nature with the abundance of grits that the gods offer us in our lives and give thanks for them. Warmth, friendship, passion, and love are very evident in these long summer days and it is also a time of forgetting past worries, healing relationships, and settling old differences.

One thing in particular that we recognize at Midsummer is that achievement brings change, either in outlook or circumstance, or both. Lithia is also tinged with sadness. It marks the beginning of the waning year as the sun prepares to sink in the sky.

Lammas
Also known as Lughnasadh, First Harvest, or First Fruits
Festival only
(Either the evening of 31 July or 1 August)

We celebrate the first harvest and because of this, Lammas is another outdoor festival. The harvesters are out reaping what was sown earlier in the year in abundance in preparation of the first harvest. The first sheaves of wheat cut are quickly dried and threshed, and the wheat ground into flour. Loaves are baked and used as ceremonial offerings to gives thanks for the harvest to come.

Games and fairs are held at this time and Athletics, trials of strength, and horse racing are included. Artists, craftsmen, and warriors come from all over the countryside in celebration of this festival.

Mabon
Festival and season
(Time celebrated: (Autumnal Equinox) September 20-23)

Mabon celebrates "harvest home" then end of the grain harvest. The fields are all cleared and in the garden most of the crops have come to an end. Only the apples, pears, and winter-hardy plants remain. This festival is usually celebrated indoors and celebrate the harvest, giving thanks, sharing, and healing.

Balance is what is most important about this festival. The balance of light and dark, life and death, summer and winter, and of celebrating gifts and clearing away the unwanted. The harvest of the grain symbolizes the balance between life and death. What has died will be reborn again.

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