Nediran Calendar

Here is the Nediran calendar, with holidays:

Months, Seasons

There are three seasons in the Nediran calendar: Inundation, Emergence, and Harvest. Inundation is the season of flooding in the Calazen river, which takes place November through February. Emergence is the season of planting and growth after the flooding, taking place from March to June. Harvest is then the season of maturation, harvest, and dryness, the season of July to October. The New Year is November 1st, marking the transition from dry to wet seasons.
Historically, each month in the calendar was tied to a traditional god and emperor. The names of these months shifted over the centuries and often between dynasties, as various ruling families sought to legitimize themselves by inserting their favored ancestors into the calendar. When the Nediran religion rose in the 900s ME, it reorganized and rebranded the calendar to break this cycle. Instead of each month being dedicated to a god, hero, or emperor, the Nedirans assigned each month to a different heavenly Virtue. Each Virtue was then worked into the holiday of that month, to better restructure the calendar and holiday year as a kind of moral affirmation and educational tool. This has proven extremely popular, as it has created a sense of moral logic and individual self-improvement tied to the festival year. The Virtues are:

• Impartiality: This is fairness, evenness of justice, and the spiritual equality of all souls in final judgement
• Introspection: This is mindfulness, mental restraint, self-awareness, and consideration of one's destined role
• Peace: This is calmness, patience, abstinence from unjust violence, and an awareness of other's perspectives
• Temperance: This is material restraint, moderation in desire and consumption
• Obedience: This is both a willingness to accept one's position in the world and a fulfillment of one's duty. This means obedience to laws, trustworthiness, and fulfillment of expectations or obligations
• Compassion: This is sociability, care, kindness, and the pursuit of the good of others. It is also mercy and forgiveness
• Vigilance: This is a refusal to blind onself to evil, watchfulness against evil, and determination in facing it
• Bravery: Bravery is courage and moral strength, a willingness to take risks and suffer pain to pursue the right thing
• Respect: This is reverence and care for the past, present, and future; a willingness to see the big picture and act accordingly
• Industry: This is a determination to work hard 
• Honesty: This is a desire to seek and speak the truth. This is not just a refusal to lie but also the pursuit of wisdom.
• Selflessness: This is charity and the willingness to sacrifice for the good of others

While each month and holiday now has that virtue theming, the old divine-month elements drip through in many of the holidays.
Each holiday has a virtue element, certain associated gods, and an emotional tone. There is also an elemental theming, associating each holiday with either Water, Earth, Sky, or Spirit. These four festival elements tie the holidays together spiritually and aesthetically. Water holidays are blue, earth is red, sky is white, spirit is black. Certain sicknesses, omens, or kinds of magic are associated with one of the four elements - and certain medicines and spells tend to be perceived as more powerful or effective on affiliated festival days. 

Holidays

Here is the holiday text from the calendar:

Season of Inundation

November, Tishalla's Night: Tishalla's Night, Tishal's Night, New Year, or Tishaglash, is the most famous and important holiday in the Nediran calendar. This is the most ancient and auspicious of holidays, dating back to when the ancient festival was attended by the Architects themselves in the early days of bronze. Given the God's notable attendance back in the early days of the empire, the holiday was immortalized as the start of the new year and holiest of days. Tishalla's Night is a time of revelry and controlled subversion. People wear masks and elaborate costumes, with an emphasis on spooky decorations or masks to frighten away evil. People often swap class and gender roles, adopting the costume of their social "opposites" - the rich dress poor, the poor dress rich, people dip into genders normally forbidden to them. People feast and drink and dance, lighting fireworks and decorating the streets with lanterns. Shells are a major part of this holiday: people wear seashells, decorate buildings with them, and throw them as sacrifices into rivers, reservoirs, and lakes. People celebrate this day not just for the fun of it, but as an act of hospitality and relationship-building with the Gods. This is the day when Gods walk among the people in disguise, after all.
Emperors and elites often patronize this day, distributing costumes and food among the masses. Laws around vice are loosened, though laws about violence and theft remain in force.
This is the Day of Impartiality and Justice. Later Nediran scholarship has re-interpreted the masks and costumes to be symbols of the universality of justice and the fundamental spiritual equality of all souls. On this day, places that bar people based on social status, gender, age, or wealth must open their doors - all people are made equal on this day. There are limits to this; manors and palaces usually just open certain wings to visitors, but are not mandated to open all places to all people. Some communities take on the mantle of justice for themselves, holding Jester's Courts to ritually enact justice through minor acts of community vigilantism for slights outside of the court system or too petty for it.
Tishalla's Night is a big day for prayer, magic, and revelry - and the next ten days are a cleanup and re-ordering period. Ten days after Tishalla's Night is the Day of Crowns, the day of imperial power when offerings are given to the crown and to the temples and food is shared. The Day of Crowns is supposedly the great emperor Esam the Great's birthday.
This day is spirit aligned.
December, Drujilgin: Drujilgin, also called Destined Night, is the Nediran winter solstice holiday celebrating Iponek the Night Owl, the wheel of fate, destiny, and the bond between soul and body (the Baogzem). This is a floating holiday always on the winter solstice. Drujilgin is a meditative, prayerful, and ultimately joyful day, when the community ensures that the balance and stability of the world is maintained. Ritual and prayer this day wards away disaster and helps ensure the coming of stable weather. Failure or disruption of this day is linked to increased exorcisms, or at least perceptions of possession or curses.
Statues and person-shaped stones are bound in ropes, chains, and string on a community and household level. This represents the reinforcement of the Baogzem: the force that binds the soul to the body in life and gives the soul consistent shape and sentience in death. The largest statue is typically placed near a reservoir or town center, where people dance around the bound statue. These circle dances wear large robes or dresses and often spin in circles, emphasizing the singular circular motion of the world. In well-sponsored towns and cities, these dancers can make truly grand displays in elaborate costumes, often dressed as Iponek the Owl of Night. These dancers often also give treats to children between performances, making this popular for little ones.
Once the statues are bound, a procession begins carrying the ashes of the solar solstice to sprinkle and distribute along the canals and reservoirs - part of a ritualized review of the water infrastructure. This serves a practical purpose, in sweeping major water systems in anticipation of major flooding to come this month. This procession also serves a ritual purpose in re-enacting and protecting the journey of the dead. At the end of this, sacrifices are made and burnt, with ashes collected for the summer solstice.
This is the Day of Introspection. On this day, people are encouraged to look inwards and consider their own lives, moral choices, and relationships. On this day leading up to the festival evening, people are encouraged to rest and are often given work leaves in employment.
This day is sky aligned.
January: Chumnieg is Water Song day, which honors the power of life-giving water and the hymns of protection that were given to the Prophet Mazenha and her daughter Yena. This is a day of blessings and purification, when the community seeks to invoke divine protections for its water, community, and health. The community comes together this day to sing sacred hymns and give small sacrifices to the Heavens, mirroring the ancient hymns of protection the God Tishal/Tishalla once gave. The hymnal procession tours the community reservoirs and waterways, while priest place statues of the Gods on boats to tour settlements and farms. Many people carry blessed and decorated branches. In cities or places with well-established temples, a bronze icon of Tishalla is placed in a designated reservoir, often with fragile ribbons of prayer attached to be dissolved and consumed by the water. The copper icon will then be removed for Kiemonyin next month. If the river is flooding during this day, the festivals and ceremonies are delayed until it is safe - but this is considered an auspicious sign that warrants a feast.
On this day, prayers are given Eastward towards the Great Sea. East is the direction of change, endings, and destiny. These prayers are for protection in future endeavors and for anticipated events. These blessings are also towards the old or the dying, to bless their passing and plead for a forgiving judgment on their souls. Old, wounded, and sick people are given particular care this day.
This is the day of Peace. There is a strict ban on executions or corporal punishments this day, and all violence is strictly forbidden among the populace. Even animal sacrifices are not to be done this day, only vegetable ones. Vegetarian foods are common this day, given the reduced supply of meat as butchers often take the day off. Acts of emotional conflict or social violence, like insults or displays of rage, are considered unlucky and face social disapproval this day.
Gods and spirits of the waters are honored this day, particularly Tishalla-Shenon. In Calazen, the early emperors often are as well.
This is a Water-aligned holiday.
February: Kiemonyin is the Celebration of the Peaks or the Mountaintop Festival, which honors the abundance of the soil and the exaltation of the mountaintops. This day celebrates Ghavi and Jade's shared victories in the Adiran mountains (particularly their escape from their enemy Azetho), when prisms and humans were bonded together in valor and comradery. This is also the celebration of the first emperor of all prisms, Zethen. Through remembering these ancient lords of the earth, communities regenerate the fertility of the fields and prepare the soil for ploughing and planting next month. This is a day of restraint for many people, but this restraint is used to renew. On this day, people give prayer and thanks Westward, towards the Adiran mountains. It is from the West (particularly the dark place where the sun rests) that new souls and new life emerges. West is the direction of beginnings and renewals. Young children and expectant parents are blessed this day, as are those seeking to conceive.
People pound the earth this day with logs, sticks, stones, and hammers, often to the beat of drums. This calls the earth to awaken from its winter slumber and helps it drink up the four months of floodwater it was given. Wealthy patrons may commission sacred columns, often carved with community prayers, history, and decorated with vibrant art, to be raised in community centers this day. Old columns are cared to, repainted and repaired. In cities and major temples, a procession led by priests goes to dredge the bronze icon of Tishalla from the reservoir (placed last month during Chumnieg) and is then taken to the highest point in the area to a designated shrine. This is the procession to the Mountaintop - wherever the shrine is becomes the ceremonial peak, where the people may drink weak beer and dine on dishes with red bean paste and tubers. Blessed dirt is tossed over those seeking a blessing of the earth.
This is the Day of Temperance, so most people must avoid displays of gluttony, lust, or intoxication. The exception are miners, who are given leave to prepare their own feast underground where they often drink heavily and dance in costumes. They must do so in low areas, such as basements, caves, and other places away from the sky - they cannot emerge until sober. This exception and limited inversion makes the holiday very special for prism miners in the Adiras.
This is an Earth aligned holiday.

Season of Emergence

March: Gudluin is also called Washing Day or Godwash Day. This is the day of clay, water, and cleansing, when communities gather to cleanse themselves of spiritual impurities and curses. This day is seen as important for warding away misfortune and disease. Blessed riverboats travel waterways carrying prayers to all along the banks. In the temples and town centers, sacred items and statues are brought out to be washed and cleansed. Temples and public spaces are cleaned and repaired this day. Prayer and sacrifice this day is through labor and service, but it is respected and sacred labor.
The washing of the temples, altars, statues, and relics is seen as a way of washing and caretaking the Gods themselves.
In homes, families gather to clean their spaces and drive out pests. Particular emphasis is given on cleaning and praying to the hearth. Incense or other scented smokes are burned to cleanse the air. Pest-averse smoke is made and dishes are cooked with scents believed to scatter pests. Some people even scatter realgar (an arsenic compound) and drink realgar-laced wine (not lethal and usually to no effect, but can cause injury if improperly dosed). Common people are encouraged to work each other's yards and homes, helping their neighbors clean and purify. Neighbors traditionally give each other small gifts and share food this day.
Elites often parade freshly-cleaned statues and icons of emperors and royalty, to which people offer oaths of loyalty. It is not uncommon for elite clerks to do tax assessments on this day; this is a traditional day for counting livestock for tax purposes.
This is the Day of Obedience. Obedience in Nedira also means trustworthiness, dependability, commitment, and acceptance of the law. Breaking the law on this day comes with enhanced punishment.
This is a Water Aligned holiday
April: Zyenlin, or the Celestial Wedding, is a day of affirmation and blessing for all the ties that bind people together: familial, social, legal, romantic, and spiritual. This is a day that gives sacrifice to the poor, to the ancestors, and to the Gods to enrich both one's lives and to protect the planted crops. Through obligation, abundance. This is also Jade Atharzen's wedding day to Ghavi according to legend. Jade is given honor and praise, and so Jade gives her blessings to couples.
Zyenlin Day is for families and ancestors. Tombs are sweep, graves are maintained, and prayerful wishes are carved into pottery shards to be buried near temples. Other people write their wishes on paper and burn the paper at ceremonial flames in cemeteries. The tone of the daytime holiday is serious.
At dusk, the tone changes. Charity is given to the poor and food is shared by the community. In cities, the poorest people often march down the streets at dusk singing a song, asking for people to plant a seed of compassion through charity to be rewarded with good fortune. It is also here at dusk that elites are encouraged to announce their pardons of prisoners they feel should be offered mercy or second chances.
Zyenlin Night is for fun and free, the rewards of a day of obligation. Young couples court and dances are often held to encourage their meeting. People often play riddle games, and children are encouraged to play together in the street.
At night is when people bury or burn promises to the gods and ancestors. Those married in the last year are expected to burn or bury a promise of faithfulness at this time. Other people swear non-romantic promises.
This is the day of Compassion. Charity is encouraged, as is mercy. It is considered unlucky for anyone to act on grudges - it is considered lucky to forgive this day instead.
This is an Earth aligned holiday.
May: Albrakash is the Moon-dance Night, a day to court to blessings of the Lunar Pantheon while also warding away potential spirits of temptation or heresy. The day of Albrakash is mostly one of preparation, but it does have an additional ceremonial function. This is a day when officials of the kingdoms are supposed to visit towns, to receive the worries and complaints of all the common people regardless of status this day from dawn until dusk. They and their scribe-assistants are to write all of these down for formal ceremonial archiving and assessment.
The night of Albrakash is a night of revelry. Communities share food and drink, and sing and play music in great celebrations. Two people are chosen by the temple to take on the roles and costumes of the Two Moons: The Elder Moon Burmet and the Younger Moon Atbala. These two 'Moons' act as the masters of ceremonies, coordinating the music and entertainment of this day - while also often cracking jokes and telling stories. Ten other performers take on costumes of the Lunar Gods, to dance, sing, or storytell according to their role. Stories are told of all the Lunar Gods, placing them in order of reverence and goodness. There is an element of disorder and temptation through this - Hiku the Muse is seen as very powerful this night, and must be outperformed and placed in her proper ritual order to be made safe. People drink heavily and feast as well, often dancing on the line of disorder. Incense, fireworkers, and illusions are common this night.
A handful of ritual festival "Vigilants" keep the festivities in line and ritually ward of evil this night. The Vigilants are chosen by their community to abstain from intoxicants this night; people are to tempt them, but they are to refuse. The Vigilants do their own performances, frightening away evil and "keeping the order" when various performers might try to playfully subvert it (usually in-character). Some towns have this rehearsed, while others are more improvised. All people are to respect the Vigilants, no matter how drunk the reveler may be - to do otherwise is to sin.
One of the vigilants is to, at the start of the feast, take queries from people to the Lunar Gods. These queries are written down for the priest, to be collected for Baobuo in September.
This is the Day of Vigilance, when people are to recognize spiritual danger and move to correct it. Obviously, there is a certain level of temptation and disorder in the celebration to emphasize the Vigilance of the chosen ritualists, but the moral lesson is made fairly obvious.
This is a Spirit aligned holiday.
June: Rambabyin, or Sunhawk Day, is the summer solstice festival that marks the transition from Emergence (crop tending) to Harvest. This is also the day of blessing, fortitude, and destroying spiritual evil. People seek strength for themselves and call on the Gods to defeat evil. This is often a rather hot day, with fires burning and summer in force. Torches and fiery displays are common, culminating in the ritualized burning of effigies of wickedness - such as the Worm King, the Locust King, and the Serpent King. This effigy burning often takes place in the evening, as the final hurrah. The ash of sacrifices from winter solstice are thrown over these effigies, and the ashes of the effigies are themselves collected for use in the winter solstice.
The day itself is a day when people seek the strength and power of sunlight. Clothes, relics, books, and luxury items are often brought out to be cleansed through sun and sometimes incense.
Hero cults play a big role in local celebrations. Many Hero Cults bring out shrines and relics of various heroes, spirits, and emperors, host feasts, and display their strength. People often pay these cults for their blessings and for tokens of celestial favor. Martial cult in general is big this day. Garrisons in towns and cities often parade march. Settlements and temples may host show duels and contests of martial prowess.
This is the Day of Bravery, also linked to fortitude and determination. As such, people often show off their strength and fortitude - hence the many physical trials during a fairly hot month in the desert realm of Calazen. Everywhere in the Nediran world, cold or hot, people work to show off this day and competitions of prowess are common. Veterans are also given gifts and free food this day.
This is a sky-aligned holiday.

Season of Harvest

July, Zetefyin: Zetefyin is the Day of Cat Heaven, a day that honors both the heavens and the creatures of the wind such as birds, cats, and predators. Prayer and sacrifices are given to the spirits of the wind such as Riodem the Wind Huntress, to keep away destructive storms while bringing good weather. It is also a day of destruction, when the winds marshal the hunters and predators of the world to find and destroy evil. Communities give sacrifice to both avoid the wrath of destruction and call upon it to eliminate pests, bad spirits, and enemies. This is a day of warding and protection rituals, against predators, pests, poisons, and diseases. There are firm martial elements to this day, with martial parades and veterans marches. Archery is associated with this day, and archery contests are common. Hunts are common the night before and on this day, and victorious hunters are paraded as bringing good fortune in their sacrifices.
Rituals of warding and protection are many on this day. People wear perfumes or place flowers around their communities, to designate themselves as good-seeming so predators skip over them. Kite-flying is a common ritual this day when possible, where people fly prayers to both win good fortune and ward spirits of destruction away from targeting them. Ribbons and banners are similarly placed around residences, to give messages to invisible things on the wind. Communities often stab and attack pinned poisonous bugs or images of vermin, to attract hunting spirits towards those things.
As a day of predators and hunting beasts, dogs are shown, well-fed, and raced this day. Cats are given sacrifice as well, and often dance in public in the evening.
As a movement towards harvest, sunflowers are cut and used as decoration. A priest ceremonially cuts wheat to begin the evening feast. Through this feast, energy is gathered to prepare for harvesting the main cereals next month.
This is the day of respect and reverence. Elders are given first pick of the food and special treatment. Impoliteness may be legally punishable in some places on this day.
This day is sky aligned.
August, Balasin: Balasin is the Divine Birthday, celebrating the demigod emperor Ghavi and the sorcerous powers of God that infuse all the world. This day calls on the power of the river, the rain, the sudracos, and the Blood of God to give all people strength and insight. This is the first harvest festival, celebrating the initial cereal harvest. Hero cults march and celebrate this day, gathering donations in exchange for blessings as they tour. Many of these cults carry statues or icons of emperors, heroes, and lesser divinities to bless commonfolk. Imperial temples often carry out icons of the reigning emperor and favored prior emperors as well for sacrifice and blessings. Paper or cloth crocodile/sudraco floats or costume-banners are brought through towns and villages, and sometimes people dance using these costumes.
Water is a central component of the festivities, as statues are brought to them and often washed. Along rivers, royal flotillas of kings and heroes are floated along flower-covered barges to 'tour the realm'. Dragon boats are raced along rivers.
Fertility and power are tied together in displays of magic and abundance. Fruit and flower displays are prominent. Magicians are encouraged to join parades and feasts with magical displays of power. Fireworks are common as well. In royal centers, great feasts and displays are made to ensure the conception of royal and noble heirs. Commoners often hold lively courtship dances for youths.
This is the Day of Industry. Hard work is celebrated on this day, and those deemed lazy or who fail to contribute to the community are shamed.
This day is water aligned
September, Baobuo: Baobuo is Soul's Arrival Day, when the gates of creation, death, and oblivion are laid open. New spirits, old ancestors, and odd spirits lurk close to the material realm this day. This is a day of order, power, and mystery, when people are to keep close to ritual to avoid supernatural harm. Correct behavior on this day channels this mysterious power into renewal.
People perform purifying ceremonies, burn incense, and paint images of the newly dead. People carry sacrifices to altars and food to the communal feast in ceremonial baskets, which mirror Tishalla-Ritsabitalla's basket of souls. People often carry masks with robes on staffs or poles, to represent the Masked One. Unlike on Tishalla's Night, no one who is not a Masked One impersonator or clown is allowed to wear a mask this day. Clowns and jesters are encouraged to mask up and dance in ritual forms to please the Masked One and distract wandering spirits.
Temples and elites give luxurious crown-hats to lower-status dancers and performers, who dance around as the feast is prepared. The feast is often elite-subsidized and priests often bring out a painted statue of Tishalla to preside over the feast. Priests attending Tishalla answer questions given by the community - performing as if spontaneously hearing answers to hidden questions and desires from the statue itself. In actuality, everyone knows that these questions are given ahead of time to be given to the Gods for consideration. Many such questions are gathered on Albrakash in May, but many others are given throughout the year. These questions are then put in a lottery and asked to The Lunar Pantheon via The Divine Contact . Everyone acts as if this is a spontaneous and magical event, though, and kids in particular are encouraged to bask in the mystery and majesty of it.
Sages, scholars, and mages are given particular credit this day at the feast.
Each family sends someone from the feast with food and drink to eat and sleep in the family's tomb or at a family graveyard, to appease the spirits of the familial dead. Food is burnt at an altar to feed the kinless dead.
This is the day of Honesty, when lies are forbidden. Many realms make lies legally punishable this day. Censorship laws are often loosened or lifted - critiques of the state or powerful people must not be punished this day as long as they are true. Granted, most such critiques are hard to prove in court, so there are limits to this freedom.
This day is spirit aligned.
October, Besthanash: Besthenash is All-Fixing Day, a day of cooperation, repair, mending, and community marking the start of the holiday week leading up to Tishalla's Night. As the name suggests, this is a day of cleaning, repair, and cooperation. Craftspeople spend the day helping in exchange for a feast in their honor. Guilds organize feasts, cooperation, and sacrifices to Mearza, Goddess of Crafts. This is also a day of omen-reading, particularly in the clouds - clouds are made by Mearza.
Merchants donate to charity this day, and are compelled to help host and organize beggar's feasts for the poorest and least fortunate. Gifts are often given to those who faced great misfortune in the last year; those of wealth often exchange gifts with each other as well.
This is a day of cleaning spaces, especially public spaces. It is also a fortuitous day for haircuts. Competitions are often held for best produce, animals, and crafts. On this day, people dig fire pits for dancing and prayer - these will be used again in Tishalla's Night. Over the next week, people will prepare decorations, food, and costumes for the big event - and minor prayers and rituals will mark the days in anticipation.
This is the day of Charity, when charitable giving is encouraged. Stinginess on this day is sinful, while giving attracts blessings.
This day is earth aligned.

Movable Holidays

Chabien: Chabien, or Flood Blessing Day, is a holiday immediately after the first day of great rain and flooding of the Inundation Season. On this day, people give thanks to the gods, sing hymns of protection to ensure that the water shall not overwhelm their reservoirs, and often set out paper boats on the new water. This day is popular in the Empire of Calazen but less common in other realms.
Kembienin: Kembienin, or Royal Blessings Day, is a unique holiday that celebrates a long-reigning monarch's birthday. Kembienin is only celebrated if a royal has reigned for thirty years, and it is a joyous celebration of stability and consistency. Kembienin represents the durability of the realm and a ritual affirmation that no civil wars will occur.