Frelden Festival

On the Stildanian Calendar, one holiday stands above all others in the Uvaran religion. This is the Frelden Festival, the celebration of the spring equinox and the new year.
The Frelden Festival is a four-day holiday, with three days of buildup culminating in one day of intense worship and revelry - Freldenday. This is a coming-of-age ceremony, a New Year's festival, a religious devotion to Ustav, and a funerary feast all in one. 
Communities that typically worship apart often come together for Freldenday; cities of many temple parishes come together as one, and entire villages often travel for the day to neighboring villages to celebrate together. 

The Buildup

The first day is the day of preparation. Certain parts of this festival are almost certainly readied weeks or months in advance - families prepare special costumes for their children, and communities ready the decorations. But this is the day when all that starts to come together in an official way. Costumes are presented to those coming of age. Everyone takes stock of what they will bring. 
Markets are open on this first day, even when they aren't often open - this is a very commercial moment, where everyone scrambles to buy what they'll soon need or sell what they can before the towns enter full festival mode.
At the end of the first day, community elders gather in the temples to prepare any finishing touches. Initiates also gather there to affirm their participation and practice the sacred rites together.
The second day is the day of remembrance. It is a day of funerals and ancestor reverence. Many communities also give worship to local spirits this day. A major part of the second day are the Icons of the Dead - visual representations of every community member who died since the last Freldenday. The Icons are honored and taken to a central community space. 
All dead are honored this day, regardless of status. Dead who have poor surviving relatives or none at all must be honored by the wealthy of the town instead. To deny doing so is to put the entire town in spiritual danger of divine vengeance. The only exceptions are the Dishonored Dead, those found guilty of murder or some other terrible offense. These Dishonored Dead are not given Icons, but are instead cast out spiritually and exorcized the night of this day. 
The third day is the day of prayer. It is a solemn day devoted to Ustav and the tragedy of his absence. Many communities make this very literal; they make icons of Ustav (sometimes empty caskets, sometimes statues) that they parade through the settlement.
This is also a day of "finishing touches" and troubleshooting. Maypoles go up around the great fire pit. Tables and chairs get brought out. if the community is joining with another community, they prepare for the journey.

Frelden-day

On the day of the spring equinox, everything changes. Just after dawn, the children coming of age put on their costumes and gather in the temple; once the doors shut them in, they are to isolate themselves from the rest of society for the day. 
The community as a whole either travels to where they need to go, or finalizes the festival grounds. The fire of the New Year is lit. Food preparation begins. For the majority of the community, the fun doesn't really start until evening approaches - though there is plenty of prayer, chatting, and general fun. No business can be conducted this day, no debts are valid on this day, no one is to be denied food this day. Mundane life is paused. As the evening approaches, the atmosphere charges. Final eulogies for the fallen are said, and the Icons are moved from their previous community center to the festival grounds as their eulogies are spoken. Between eulogies, prayer gets intense.
Meanwhile, the youths sealed away are acting as initiates of Uvara. Led by the priest, they say the rites and practice their rituals. The initiates then bring in the sacrifices: typically one hog for however many people. These hogs, fattened over the last part of winter, are restrained and painted black and white. The initiates work together to dress and parade the hogs before the altars of the Gods. The hogs are invested with all of winter; they become vessels into which the community pours their Death. Before the shrine of Ustav, the hogs take on Ustav's death as well.
The different communities reach each other at some point, often around midday. The multiple youth groups and their pigs gather. The youths, when walking outside, travel with white or black sheets between them and any passersby, a ceremonial boundary designating them as spiritually within the spaces of life and death. 
Once gathered, the Icons are all brought close to the fire while the youths prepare nearby. The youths slaughter their pigs, the final realization of the death they took on. The youths each coat their hands in sacrificial blood, and then wash them clean with consecrated water. The pork is then cooked and cut into many small pieces. Fat is taken for the Gods and thrown into the fire by the priests. While the sacrificial pork roasts, the community begins to sing songs to the end of the death and the end of winter. The Icons of the Dead are burned in the sacred fire, along with the caskets or statues of dead Ustav. The children watch through their cloth screens. The fire builds and builds. 

Frelden-night

Once the tiny pork bites are ready, the flesh is brought out and given to everyone. To consumption of the flesh of conquered death is more ceremonial than physical sometimes; not all species can eat pork, and it is considered much more important to chew or place the meat in your mouth than to swallow it. 
As the pork is distributed, the presentation of the Initiates begins. The screens are brought down and the youths line up. Callers call out the names of each child, presenting them before the community. The child then runs towards the fire, leaping through it (sometimes, a safe path is made through two big fires to accommodate sickly children or starspawn who can't jump). The child emerges from the fire reborn as an adult. Each reborn child goes to a post placed in the ground to wait; there is often a martial aspect, with the youths standing at attention holding the posts as spears.
Once the fires are leapt through, the priests tell a dramatic rendition of Ustav's rebirth and the coming salvation of the Irunek. The community forms a circle. After it is done and Ustav is officially reborn, the youths pair up around the maypoles - who they pair up with is typically predetermined well in advance. The youths then dance while the community sings and chants. Once that is done, everyone goes to their seats again, with the youths taking their own seats at a previously empty table.
That is when the feasting begins and the drinking begins. Everyone lets loose. There is music, revelry, foolishness, and games. This can go one for a while.

Participants

The Priests: The local priests and their apprentices play a major role here. They bless and lead the rituals of the Initiates and the community; they tell the stories and lead the worship.
The Elders: The local elders play a role in organizing the festival. These elders typically form a council the day after the harvest festival of Kragintern to prepare for Frelden; the day after Frelden, they do so for next Kragintern. 
The Initiates: The initiates, youths who turned 17 since last Frelden, are the main actors in the drama of the festival. Sometimes, Uvaran converts are made to go through this initiation (but not the Dance of Youth at the end). Part of this is also education - making sure that the initiates know the basics of Uvaran religion and ritual.
The Silstrenfet: The Silstrenfet is a ritual position of fair importance. The Silstrenfet is the firekeeper, in charge of managing the festival flames, quickly reacting to any surprise fires, and protecting any youths who accidentally stumble into the fire during the leaps. The Silstrenfet guides the Icons of the Dead through town and sets the pace for the eulogies. They are also an representation of Silsta, Goddess of Death and Guidance. Each Frelden has its own traditions here, but some take this role very seriously as a spiritual embodiment of the Goddess. The Silstrenfet is sometimes chosen by the Elders, sometimes by the priests.
The Feastmasters: Basically chief chefs. Typically either elected by the community or chosen by the Elders council. Quite prestigious and often chosen from the community's highest status members. 
The Callers: The people who present the Initiates before they leap through the fire. Typically chosen by the Elders. An honorable position in the community. Basically they just announce the names, but it is still rather tiring work requiring a lot of yelling and remembering lists. 
The Freldenlords: An informal position only sometimes filled. Basically "patron of the feast" - someone who bankrolls the festival or somehow contributes some major boon to it (like a great quantity of beer or meat). Many communities lack Freldenlords, but urban communities almost always have them. There are no ritual roles for these patrons, just nicer chairs and seats of honor.

Primary Related Location

Stildane

Important Locations

• Trostev

Related Organizations

• Uvara

Related Ethnicities

• Hainish Culture