The Spirit Month

"The Hallowing comes and goes. Yet, father and mother don't return"
"Not everyone returns brother. Besides, its been only six years. Maybe they will come in a few more"
"I doubt i'd be alive by then" Hans laughed. He still fondly remembered the time he spent with his family during the month of the spirits. Visiting graveyards, telling and writing scary stories. And to think that now they were all dead. The fact that he would join them one day was a comforting consolation
A conversation between Hans Christian Danielsen and his brother during the spirit month

The Dead Return by Dark Indigo

In the harvest month, which usually falls right at the boundary of autumn and winter in both the hemispheres of Elladia, a strange phenomenon happens. As the month of harvest approaches, the boundary between the realm of the living and that of the dead weaken, in some places completely shattering as the dead rise up. This grows stronger until the last day of the month, when the event reaches a climatic point and many of the dead rise up from their graves
This is the Spirit Month. Also known as the hallowing, it is a time of great celebration for the peoples of the world. Many go to pay their respects to the dead. At the same time, people have to be vigilant. With good spirits comes malevolent ones too, ones that twist, torment and murder. People see horrifying visions and often when walking through the forest, one may not make it out alive. The situation is made a bit better by the fact that many of the dead spirits are warriors who are more than willing to help guard travellers pass through and make them happy in the month of the dead
In the end, the spirit month is a beautiful time to be in general. If one is lucky, one can even find their dead relative and talk to them with a bit of magic or with the help of a spiritseer. Though this carries many risks, the happiness it brings to people is immense. The dead are remembered and though death is usually seen as a reminder of grimness, it is not such in the Spirit month where the dead are celebrated for their achievements in life

Manifestation

The manifestation of the spirit month happens in a number of ways. Whilst it is different for every place, there are a few traits common to them all

The Return of the Dead

The Wrathmen of Vadran by Austen Mengler

The most prominient feature of the spirit month is that many of the people who have died return in some way or another. Some wander as spirits and wraiths, scarcely able to interact with the physical world. Others are more powerful, being able to interact physically with their surroundings. But the majority remain wraiths, or mindless walking corpses unable to comprehend any emotions. In such a case, if a family encounters some of their loved ones, they are quick to grant them a release from this torment through the usage of fire and weaponry
A small minority of spirits are stronger however. Not only are they able to readily interact with the rest of the world, they have strange powers which are tied to their condition. Some can take the souls of others for a temporary time, whilst others can raise the dead who haven't risen yet. During this time, the power of necromancers increases tremendously as well and thus, rogue necromancers are a thorn in the foot for many nations during these times.

Signs of the dead

"Before the dead arise, there's always a sign. How did they come about so quickly this year?"
"The signs have always been here brother. We were just too blind to see it"
Maximillian Christiansen and his uncle, whilst inside an ancient catacomb

The Graveyard by Michael Plura

The spirits don't come without a few telltale signs. As the days grow darker and the time of the spirit month draws closer, the signs become stronger and stronger. Strange noises from graveyards, the moons turning all red, the sun glowing in an eerie crimson colour are all signs of the spirits heralding their arrival.
The signs are vastly different from place to place, but they have things in common too, which is mostly them being related to the dead and other necrotic topics. These signs grow stronger and stronger and climax at the hallowing day, when the spirits rise up from their graves and walk the earth. They linger on for a few days before slowly fading away, as the first snows of winter blanket the lands

Localization

A dark land

The event happens all around Elladia, from the most remote to the most densely populated places. There are many variations from place to place however. A few studies have shown that the effects of the event are more pronounced in areas where there is less human and argonite habitation. This may be one of the reasons why swamps, mountains, polar regions and other places where scarcely few people live tend to have more sightings of the dead than those with more people
Another factor that affects the spirit month is the number of dead people. Whilst cities are usually more populated, it also means that more people die there and more have to be interred in graves. Where the dead are aplenty, the spirits are too. The effects of this are mostly restricted to the graveyards and their surrounding regions but in

Type

Metaphysical, Supernatural