Festival of Light

The Festival of Light is an annual holiday celebrated among the Northern Arm, which stems from the elves of the Kingdom of Laeryll. The holiday lasts from Marat 30 to Dorges 4 and is most lavishly celebrated in Prydisyrr, where the world's most renowned bards are invited to join in ten days of partying and feasting.

History

Origin

The tradition harks back to ancient times, when the elves only just entered the world and lived a fragile, endangered existence. Legend says that as the dark days came, gnolls and hobgoblins from the mountains would move into the territories that are now known as Qosid and Dathyll, hunting elves for sport and nourishment. One day, a young elf proposed to not hide from the oncoming threats, but instead loudly and brightly display their presence and courage. They set to work to create magical displays of light, musical instruments that carried sounds for miles across the forest and practiced intimidating songs they could sing during the nights.
When the enemies came, the elves made all the noise they could and the plan worked: unsure whether they could overcome the large crowd they were hearing, the predators retreated and left the elves alone. Each year, they would try again and each year, the elves would make more noise and display more light. In time, this tradition became a celebration in itself, known as the Festival of Lights. the elves fashioned masks, depicting the Bird Gods, and wore them to scare off any threats that dared come close.

Evolution

As the Kingdom of Laeryll evolved, so did the tradition. Certain elements from the old days, such as eating Fyllathysyke as the celebrations neared their end, remained in place. Some of the traditional dances to this day retain an intimidating display. Yet increasingly, the event became a celebration of elven culture itself and the moment when drama, poetry and music from the Laeryllian tradition were put on display.
Queen Galythiel was the first to close off the Festival with a speech in which she reflected on the past and future year, as a conscious attempt to emphasize the unity of the kingdom. Through the decades, this speech attracted foreign emissaries to Prydisyrr, in order to get an idea of where the kingdom, often opaque in its intentions, was headed and those foreign elites in turn received attention from would-be clients, whether from art, science or magic.

Outside of the Kingdom of Laeryll

As humans arrived on the Northern Arm, they absorbed elven culture to the extent they could perceive or understand it. The Festival of Light, for them, was a sensible closing to the harvest season. As humans see poorly in darkness, they embraced the tradition of light not as part of an intimidating display, but as a way to create comfort in otherwise inhospitable conditions. The humans brought their own songs and food to the tradition, but unbeknownst to them, several nursery rhymes and symbolism adopted by the humans refer to actual elven history.
The gnomes from the Labarean Empire did not celebrate the Festival of Light until their conquest of human lands brought the festivities to their attentions. These days, there are winter celebrations in Silimanis organized by gnomes that include aspects from the Festival of Light.

Observance

The Festival of Light is celebrated from Marat 30 to Dorges 4.