Orna-Des
Orna-Des (Zean: Golden Moon) is a festival celebrated in central Zea. It is organized during the first full moon of the summer, when it is the closest to the surface and the biggest in the sky. This night, exposure to moonlight is believed to enhance fertility and bestow blessings on people trying for a child.
The main element of each Golden Moon festival is the dance. It begins with the couples planning to have children dancing in pairs around a bonfire. While the music may vary, the clothes they wear are very distinctive. Both male and female costumes are made from yellow fabric and inlaid with many small panels of yellow glass and crystal. They are infused with sefia to augment the moonlight's effect. The costumes are usually very simple, tight fitting and covering most of the body, as function is more important than form. After the first dance, the onlookers can join in and the festival’s form starts to divert from an established course. Common traditions include gathered parents and grandparents blessing the young couples, a variety of fortunetelling rituals, often love-oriented, and athletic contests. Less frequently, farmers bring their champion breeding animals, also draped in yellow, to the festival, though it is seen as bad taste in some regions.
The festival’s effectiveness is hard to question. Couples taking part in the Golden Moon festival conceive and carry children to term much easier. Some Erwy families tried to organize the festival on Dain, with good results. They were often criticized for belief in foreign rituals by their communities, but data from the First Glass Hospital clearly indicates that the celestial light indeed has unique supernatural properties.
History and demographics
The Golden Moon is most common in the rural communities in the middle of the continent. The major tribes don’t hold official observances of the occasion, though many Nata-Got (Zean: People of the Spider) attend gatherings outside of the capital, always keen on propagating their Gift to the next generation. The origin of the festival is largely lost to history, but it doesn’t seem to predate the discovery of sefia (around 8th century BU).Celebrations
The main element of each Golden Moon festival is the dance. It begins with the couples planning to have children dancing in pairs around a bonfire. While the music may vary, the clothes they wear are very distinctive. Both male and female costumes are made from yellow fabric and inlaid with many small panels of yellow glass and crystal. They are infused with sefia to augment the moonlight's effect. The costumes are usually very simple, tight fitting and covering most of the body, as function is more important than form. After the first dance, the onlookers can join in and the festival’s form starts to divert from an established course. Common traditions include gathered parents and grandparents blessing the young couples, a variety of fortunetelling rituals, often love-oriented, and athletic contests. Less frequently, farmers bring their champion breeding animals, also draped in yellow, to the festival, though it is seen as bad taste in some regions.
Effectiveness
The festival’s effectiveness is hard to question. Couples taking part in the Golden Moon festival conceive and carry children to term much easier. Some Erwy families tried to organize the festival on Dain, with good results. They were often criticized for belief in foreign rituals by their communities, but data from the First Glass Hospital clearly indicates that the celestial light indeed has unique supernatural properties.
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