Candlenights

Candlenights is an eight day winter festival celebrated in Elador. It commemorates the story of a winter in the time before the Seal, especially cold and difficult, when a community was cut off from supplies. Eventually, they had only enough candles and wood to light and warm their communal space for one more night, but miraculously, the fires did not go out even when the morning came. The candles and hearths stayed lit seven more days until a storm broke and more supplies reached them. Some accounts say that Merope herself was living in this community during these events, or just prior, and blessed their hearths and candles to repay them for their hospitality; some families do invoke and honor her in their celebrations, while others take a more secular approach. Even the smallest villages set up a menorah in the center of town and gather together on each night to share food and song. The last night is always Silver Day, and community governments dispense a week's fuel to everyone in the community; it is customary for those who have enough to decline their share and give it to others who have need.