Hive City Chandler's Festival
While best known for its honey and related products - including the (in)famous Bee's Lantern - Hive City produces all sorts of apiary products. Wax, whether in a pure state or after chemical alteration, appears in a wide variety of consumer products, and Hive City is one of the Manifold Sky's major producers of beeswax. This industry dates back to Old Voxelian times, where chandlers gradually replaced their rushlight-maker forebearers with the rise of apiculture in the Voxelian territories. The Hive City Chandler's Festival celebrates this heritage and heralds the approach of winter.
Execution
Even in Hive City, dedicated chandler's shops are almost extinct; instead, local housewares shops stock locally-produced candles in large quanities during the Chandler's Festival. Candles designed for sale during the holiday are oversized, ornately hand-sculpted, and often feature bright red patterns or images intermixed with the natural off-white of the wax. Large manufacturers and mom-and-pop operations alike open stalls along Main Street to sell decorative tapers, and the street lamps are topped with decorative enclosed candelabras calling back to a previous time when electric lighting hadn't been invented yet.
Large shipments of candles in all shapes and sizes are shipped out of Hive City by manufacturers in the period leading up to the Chandler's Festival. This reflects classical market trends, where candles became more popular during the dark, snowy months of winter, but persists into the present day due to the formation of a festive tradition around the practice. As such, most Voxelians outside of Hive City aren't aware that the Festival itself starts the day before the weekend and tend to decorate on Begu-i.
Observance
The Chandler's Festival is held every Ikseldun from Gakuni 19 to Taka-i 21. The candles purchased or produced during this time are meant to be burnt throughout the winter, providing warmth and light in the family home when both are in short supply. Once celebrated throughout the Voxelian territories, the tradition is beginning to lose its original significance for those outside Hive City itself, becoming more of a passive observance in which candles are purchased as seasonal houseware.
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