Night of the Brightest Star

The streetlamps were snuffed. In the darkness, the candles scattered throughout the crowd glimmered like the stars that once shone on the city.

The Night of the Brightest Star is a Balihran festival that takes place in first Spring, honoring the stars that used to shine in the night sky.

Origins

The Night of the Brightest Star is an ancient festival, originating sometime before the Vanishing. In those days, it is said that the folk of the Balihr Heath often used the stars as tools for navigation in the rather homogenous landscape of heather and gorse. As such, they viewed the stars as their protectors, often choosing a specific constellation as their patron and spiritual guide. The Northern Triangle was one such constellation, and its northernmost star was said to be the brightest in the sky. The Triangle was one symbol of Althea, and was a popular choice for a guiding constellation.

Balihran folk often had small, personal celebrations when their guiding constellation came into view. Because the Triangle was frequently chosen, these personal celebrations grew into larger, more public celebrations until an official festival was declared.

After the Vanishing, the stars disappeared. The Night of the Brightest Star endured, now as a tribute to the loss of these guiding lights.

Traditions

The Night of the Brightest Star begins at twilight, when the first glimmer of starlight would once be seen. In settlements, booths line the streets selling food and trinkets. In Rosewick and larger towns, dance troupes put on traditional performances. These performances detail the story of Althea and her battles with the Abyss, emphasizing the creation of the stars and constellations. Other bards tell the stories of these ancient constellations, stories passed on for thousands of years even when the stars themselves did not persist.

In ancient times, folk would spend a few hours watching the stars move, praying to them for guidance and fortune. With the stars gone, some folk simply sit and watch the moon travel across the sky. At midnight, they gather in town squares and open places, gazing up at the night sky. In cities and towns, the streetlamps are snuffed to bathe the night in full darkness. Candles are passed around, and each person lights a candle, making a wish as they do so. Together, the candles mirror the night sky as it once stood, dotted with stars among the darkness. A prayer is said to the stars and to Althea, asking for another year of peace and good fortune.

Traditionally, festival foods served during the Night are sweet potato-flour cakes flavored with honey, lavender, and bilberries. Also served are roasted, seasoned vegetable skewers, spiced meats, and birch beer. Folk can buy heather and lavender-scented candles to light during the midnight vigil, small prayer scrolls to burn in the candle flames, and carved redwood and rose quartz trinkets for prayer.

The Vanishing

When the stars vanished, the people of Balihr fell into a panic. No longer were they able to navigate by the stars, and their guiding lights had been snuffed. The festival was not held for many years following the vanishing as the folk mourned the loss of the constellations, hoping desperately that it was temporary and the stars would shine once again in the night sky. As the years stretched on and folk realized that the stars would not return, they began to despair.

One village to the north, however, decided that the only way to honor the stars, once such a prominent part of their lives, would be to continue celebrating the Night of the Brightest Star. Although they could no longer tell the exact date when the brightest star would be directly overhead, the village elders estimated the date to be the 13th of first Spring. They called for the folk of the village to bring forth their knowledge about the Night and about the stories told then, so that the festival could be reborn. Although some traditions had been lost over the years of darkness, the spirit of the festival carried on. Word of this new celebration spread slowly across the heathland, until word finally reached Rosewick, where the masked Circle declared it to be an official festival once more.

In present day, much of the world believes that the stars are simply a myth. They consider the Night of the Brightest Star to be an outdated, pointless ceremony to celebrate something that was never real. However, in Balihr, the belief lives on, shining as brightly as the brightest star once shone. Balihrans believe that their faith in the stars and Althea will one day bring them back from wherever they have vanished to, and that their words of prayer are carried up with the smoke of the candles to that unknown place.