Midsummer Fire Festival
The Midsummer Fire Festival is a rather unusual observance of the first day of summer and the summer solstice, with festivities running all throughout, growing more and more intense each day until the festival's end. Each day leading up to it getting more and more intense, more wild, all in the spirit of the fire god and summer. This is the biggest part of tourist season for the nation, with the highest traffic and with both locals and tourists alike constantly in a frenzy of celebrating until the solstice when it comes to a close at sundown
Execution
This festival is part of why Shanai is known as a 'party town' and among all their other festivals which many are also in this part of the year, it has a reputation for drinking, drugs, sex, and fighting,
legal or not. Fights between mana are incredibly common and considered part of the festival itself, and in the truest spirit of the festival for the winner to immediately be knocked down a few pegs by their peers. This is mostly restricted to the city, but these impromptu competitions are known for spreading to the beaches as well. Most fights during the festival are initiated by quite literally throwing fire at one another to get their attention and start a match (or other forms of mana, if they arent a fire user). as all people celebrating Vega's festivals and all people of Shanai are considered by Vega his children automatically, especially during his own festivals, its perfectly harmless and wont do any damage to them.
Other parts of the festival that don't involve nearly burning down the entire city include a heavy focus on food. Food is a massive part of Shanai's culture and that especially comes out in festivals. The people of Shanai pride themselves on traditional, filling dishes, and street food, all made from naturally growing things in the area. A lot of fried tropical fruit paired with boar and fish, tons of sea food, everything slathered in traditional sauces and tons of local spices. There's hundreds of different dishes and even if one were to stay the entire duration of the festival, it is extremely unlikely they would be able to try one of everything.
Participants
Any and all people living on or visiting the Shanin Islands are welcome to the festival, not just the native population or worshippers of Fire God Vega.
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