Faiastol (FAY-uh-stohl)

A lone horseman toiled along the Hollowtrail through the Throatmoors, on the last leg of his journey before arriving in Featherknell. He'd hoped to reach his destination by nightfall, but the winds had been against him, and he had been waylaid by swamp ghouls the day before. He had decided to push on, to make it to civilization during the night rather than have to sleep under the ravens again.
The swamps reeked of decay, and as if in a parody of humor, the air had shifted to a crosswind, so that his nostrils were assailed by the scents of the marsh. Above him, pink Faia shone brilliantly, and in the northern sky, Nale, a fiery orange, was coming into view above the dark, shadowy mass of the Crownwood. He guessed it was about time.
With a mumble of assent, he stopped his horse and dismounted. He reached into one of several sadlebags, drawing out a small packet of parchment, and an intricately crafted wire frame. Expanding the parchment into a tube, he fit it over the frame.
Finally, he drew out a tiny scroll, inserting it into a slot in the center of the frame. He had written it nearly two weeks ahead of time, and it was slightly crumpled, but still readable. Its lettering was obscured as a result of being rolled into a scroll, but he knew the words by heart.

Cold, on this final Fadingseve,

May the White Wolf be ever merciful,

May she never, like others, leave

The Bloodless Land, Our Promised Land

Uttering words in a forgotten language and passing his fingertips over each other, flicking in the direction of the parchment, the scroll ignited into a small flame. He held the lantern up, where the rising heat and the gentle cross breeze pulled it up and out. He watched the lantern for only a few seconds, a single light shining over a dying land.
He remounted and began his journey through the Promised Land once more.

Faiastol is a celestial event, where Faia, the South Star, first appears in the night sky in autumn, directly across from Nale, the North Star, which rises for the last time before being obscured until the warmer seasons. [1] On Faiastol, it is generally expected that both stars take their two more extreme colors: a nearly red pink for Faia, and a fiery yellow for Nale.
[1] (see: Cosmology)

Traditions

While most similar events are celebrated by specific racial or ethnic groups, Faiastol is generally recognized in some manner by nearly every race, in nearly every corner of Ravengrin. The most common form of this recognition is as a pseudo-festival.
Unlike other festivals, Faiastol is far less celebratory, with a much more grave, grim significance. This celebration marks the beginning of the Fading, and is generally dedicated to Sanda-Rizs, that she may be merciful on the people of the land during the coming hardships of Ravengrin's winter.
The barest tradition of recognition of this event is to remain wakeful into the late hours, and in the timeframe where Nale and Faia are brightest, to burn a prayer to Sanda-Rizs, often in the form of a floating lantern.

The Courage Festival by TomTC

In human, dragonborn, and sometimes dwarven lands, this event is often taken to further lengths of placation, involving more ritualistic sacrifice of appropriate materials: fragrant leaves, beautiful flowers, incense woods, and other such substances. Mass prayer burnings are also common. Eitridean families, or sometimes entire villages, also usually have some type of large meal event.
Elven recognition of the event is both mystical and scholarly. Wood Elven Star Readers say that it is on Faiastol that the heavens are most easily read for prophecy of events. High Elven sages believe - and often experiment, each year - that Faiastol is a night of heightened magic - and heightened Decay.

Notable Happenings

There is one very important ocurrance of Faiastol in Ravengrin's history. The last day of the Ashen War, when the Last Fire burned, was on Faiastol. It is said that that night, the surviving militaries - both human, elven, and orc - all burned prayers according to tradition, in lanterns that were lit with a torch from the embers of the Pyre itself.