Featherfall

Featherfall is the second month of the year of the Fedheran calendar. The month receives its name from the fast and subsequent feast of Featherfall. It is probably the oldest tradition among humans as it remembers the struggles of the Dark Years and the joy of the Long Winter's end.
Featherfall begins 30 days after the celebration of New Light. The fasting lasts for 20 days. The feast begins on the 21st day and, depending on the celebrants, can last up to 5 days.

The Fast

The fasting is done on a meagre diet of water and flatbread, consumed once per day when the sun it at its zenith. All hunting and slaughter is forbidden during this time. No farming is allowed. The intention is to focus on your family and community. Storytelling and music are the main pastimes. In some places shadow-dances are known to take place. There is also a focus on handcrafts which have gone unfinished such as rope-making, basket-weaving, sewing and weaving, carving, or mending things that have been left in disrepair. Children are often given the task of dying feathers and using them to decorate bare bushes for the feast.

The Feast

At the feast of Featherfall, all the old stores of food are emptied in anticipation for the First Harvest which normally occurs in the Free Winds Cycle. Unlike other large feasts there is no ritual sacrifice. Most of the food consumed is salted and/or smoked meat and fish; vinagre pickled vegetables and honey-preserved fruits from the previous year; hard cheeses; vegetables and fruit which survive well in cold storage, such as winter squash, turnips and apples.

Where is it celebrated?

Featherfall is taken more seriously in Rhyd than Fedhera because of the practicality of fasting during a time when food is scarce.
Fasting is no longer commonly done voluntarily in the cities where the availability of food depends less on the season than the economy.
It is not commonly celebrated in Fidhern. It is mainly brought in thorugh emigration and celebrated in minority communities or individual family groups.