All Light Day

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All Light Day is the celebration of the Summer Solstice on The Dancing Iles. As the Iles are above the arctic circle, there is in fact light almost all day. While many Dancing Iles traditions barrow from their fellow Fae in Faerie and Valdesa, this one appears to be completely unique to the region.

Lei and Colrina

The All Light Day rituals and celebrations are based around the story of the brothers Lei and Colrina. On the day that Lei was born, their father made a deal with a dragon  giving it rights to conscript both his sons for half their lives in exchange for the Dragon’s favour. The father did not tell anyone of this deal, and died shortly thereafter. Colrina and Lei grew very close throughout their childhood.
One day, however, the dragon returned to collect on the deal. At that time Lei was still a boy, and Colrina refused to let his younger brother be sent to war. Instead, Colrina tricked the Dragon into conscripting him twice, meaning he would spend the whole rest of his life at war.
When Colrina left, he promised Lei he would be back as soon as the war was done to finish teaching Lei a song. As the years wore on and a heartbroken Lei wallowed in his loneliness, the young man began to understand that his brother wasn’t coming back. In his grief, Lei made a plan to get his brother back: if he could stop the fighting for a time, then Colrina could come home and visit.
As such, Lei requested the aid of a local deity (which one varies from telling to telling) to stall out the fighting through various methods. However, due to the great distance between the brothers’ home and the battlefield, by the time Colrina got home the Dragon would have fixed the problem and called him back. As such, the brothers are only reunited for one day (the summer solstice) before they have to separate again.
Another popular version of this myth has Colrina dying in his first year of service to the Dragon, and then fighting his way out of the underworld to be with Lei on his birthday. Colrina then has to return to the underworld and fight his way back out the next year.

History

Celebrations of the Summer Solstice have existed throughout the northern hemisphere of Siv'ia about as long as there has been sentient life. Due to the two suns that shine in the north during the summer, this particular event is even more noticeable on Siv'ia than on Earth.
While the Heaven religion popular in Faerie assigns the main sun to Day and the second sun to Qei , the Dancing Iles assign Lei to the main one and Colrida to the smaller sun.
The celebrations of All Light Day on the Dancing Iles predates the Emberton Empire by several millennia. While the Dancing Iles has since been unified under one flag and name (several times over), the traditional celebration has stayed about the same.

Execution

The week leading up to the Solstice is very busy for families, as there is much preparation to be done. Everyone pitches in to create beautiful displays of flowers and wood and clay statues of Lei and Colrina. On the day before the Solstice, everyone works hard to create a massive feast.
On the day of the Solstice, everyone gets up at suns’ rise and a parade is held through the centre of the village and out to the statues. After the parade, the people spend the time between noon in silent ritual observance, mourning the time that Colrina spent away and the fact that he will have to leave again soon. At noon , the singing starts, symbolizing the tune Colrina promised to teach Lei when he returned. After the singing, the party begins! The villagers stay up all night feasting, dancing, and partying to celebrate the brothers’ reunion. At the beginning of the next day, offerings are placed at the statues to provide for Colrina as he goes back to war.

Primary Related Location

The Dancing Iles