Yvel's Day

There is a tradition that Illen participate in once a year called Yvel's Day.

Since the Illen are half the size of most of the other races, they use this representation of cultural folktale in order to teach their children several important lessons.

The trees are intended to represent the taller races. Being as small as they are, it is important to be able to navigate a world where there are so many others that are much larger. Especially when there is danger nearby to catch them.
Finding an their parents teaches the younger children that their parents have a responsibility to watch out for them and to care for them.
The community coming together to battle Yvel's minions and rescue the "captured" children is to show the them that they will be cared for by the community as a whole and that the young can go to any adult illen for aid.

Execution

Adults and children from all the illen families in a village hike into the woods until they come upon a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing is a small hut with barred windows and a door that locks. The children are all told that the adults have to go into the woods to gather firewood. The older children then hide inside the hut, putting on scary masks. The younger children start hearing growls and beastly noises coming from inside the hut. Some of the remaining adults, grandparents or those with very young children, let the younger children know that Yvel's minions have come to take them away and that they must find their parents! The younger children shriek in mock terror and run into the woods as the older children burst forth from the hut chasing them. The goal is for the young children to find their parents before Yvel's minions (the older children) can catch them. If the younger children find their parents, they are considered safe and can return to the clearing as a family. If Yvel's minions catch the younger children before they find their own parents, they are "captured" and taken back to the hut in the middle of the clearing and "imprisoned". Once all the young children are either caught by Yvel, or found by their parents, everyone comes back to the clearning. In the clearing, all the parents and "safe" children-those that found their parents in the woods-do battle with Yvel's minions-the older children. Once the minions are all defeated, the children in the hut are all released and rescued. All the masks are removed, and then there is a large feast in the middle of the clearing that goes all night. Yvel's hut is actuallly burned down to create a fire for warmth and light during the night.

Components and tools

The hut in the center of the clearing, which is built in the weeks before the annual festival.

Participants

Adults - hide in the woods on the false assumption that they are "gathering firewood", then "rescue" the younger children captured by Yvel's minions
Older children - play the role of Yvel's minions hiding in the hut in the middle of the clearing, wearing masks, and chasing the younger children
Younger children - the innocents that are chased by Yvel's minions and must search for the adults

Observance

This happens annually in the Spring

History

The history of Yvel's day has changed over the centuries.

Yvel's day has been played out in crowded city markets where younger children are chased through the market by the elder children while they search out the booths where their parents are selling wares. It has been played in villages, amongst huts and hovels when forests were not close by. After the Planar Pirate Wars, when hundreds of millions died, a very dark version began where children played in a cemetary, finding safety when they found the grave markers of their ancestors. In modern times, however, Yvel's day has lost much of its original significance. Since many illen live in large cities now amongst the larger races, parents teach their children these lessons in other ways. It's known more widely as a mere children's game, often called Yvel, Yvel's run, Yvel's catch, or simply catch. It's played wherever children gather, and has even been picked up and adopted by children of other races.

Yvel
— A cruel god of the Illen.

Parents tell their children that if they don't behave, Yvel will snatch them up and hide them in the darkest regions of the world.