Baeir | New Year's Night
New Year's Night, or Baeir ("young year" in Elvish), is an important festival to the Astamer. While the dawn of a New Year can be an exciting excuse to party across much of the Known World, the Astamer take the time to reflect on their year. With ties to the god of the Sun Aenar, it is often considered a holy sun elf celebration and is one of the most important holidays of the year.
Observation
New Year's Night is an Astamer celebration, though its observance has spread through and been adopted by many other people and cultural groups across the world. In Astrellos, where there is a large population of Astamer, the holiday is observed my almost the entire city. Sedia and The Osmeni Empire in general see high rates of observation across their provinces.
Despite its name, it is observed on the entirety of the last day of the year. Practices and festivities often pick up more strongly in the evening, especially among the working class.
Religion and Spirituality
As the beginning of a new year dawns, the known world has travelled around the sun another time, making it a time to celebrate and thank Aenar. God of the sun, good fortune, luck and invention, Aenar is the patron god of the Astamer and this day of worship is considered essential to ensuring a fateful and fortunate new year.
The message and importance of New Year's Night encompasses the values of meaningful rest, family bonding and mindfulness.
Celebration
In the leadup to Baeir, participating households attend to a deep cleaning of the home and living space, as well as maintenance of any gardens. Oftentimes this includes renovating and decorating. It is important this is completed before the actual day.
All clocks must be removed by the morning of Baeir, as it is important to not allow the passing of time to bring anxiety or interrupt one's mindfulness during the day.
Decorations
Decorations vary, but commonly include:
- Decorations in warm colours. Gold, orange and red are common, as well as some warm-toned purples or pinks.
- Oil lamps and candles, in warm and comforting colours.
- Papercrafted suns and stars.
- Tapestries, sometimes specifically made and saved for Baeir. Artwork and tapestries often have the themes of suns, sunrises, and hawks or eagles.
- Shrines and offerings to Aenar, often in an offering bowl in an open window that sees the sky overnight.
Clothing
Many families have clothing specifically designed for New Year's Night. The clothes must be as comfortable as possible, tailored to the comfort of the individual. Choosing a new outfit or adjusting clothes should be done before the day to ensure you're comfortable. They should be socially appropriate, as they will be worn for the entire day. Often, they are dyed in warm and comfortable colours, and are sometimes embellished with gold thread with symbols of hawks or suns by those who are more wealthy.
Activities
New Year's Night celebrates the hard work put in during the year, and the single most important and sacred activity during the day is rest. Rest is sacred, and any heavy activity is forbidden. Family should be gathered together in one place, with many families alternating whose house the event is held.
Morning
Morning activities often involve a quiet breakfast with family (blood-related or chosen), often utilising bright seasonal fruits in a colourful spread. This is followed by light, mindful play or craft, though it is essential this is not strenuous or anything one could stretch to consider work. Common activities include flower arranging, kite flying (often hawk-shaped kites), cloudwatching and journalling.
During the morning, an offering is usually placed in a window for Aenar. A wooden, ceramic or gold bowl is placed in an open window that catches the morning light. A shallow pool of water is placed in the bowl, with offerings of precious stones, fruit slices, gold, spices, and manifestations written on paper. This water usually evaporates by the following morning, and the bowl can be taken back inside when the water is evaporated, symbolic of Aenar accepting the offering.
Clocks are taken down and put where they will not be seen, or are covered with cloth if this is impractical.
Afternoon and evening
The afternoon is often spent sleeping or resting, in preparation for the late night. Often this includes a communal nap in a common area such as a loungeroom or an outside balcony or shaded garden, enjoying the sun and having quiet conversations amongst each other.
Night
The night is the most important part of Baeir. It is traditional to stay up all night if feasible, but not expected. It is expected to stay up later than usual, however. The family or household is to spend the night together. This involves food, playing comforting music, burning candles and oil lamps and talking the night away. This usually occurs on a balcony, in a comfortable loungeroom, or on blankets out under the stars. It is customary to reflect on your achievements of the year, encourage your family and friends to chase their goals, and offer help to one another to ensure the whole group has options and goals open to them for the coming year.
The group stays up as late as they want, allowing natural tiredness to take them when they feel done with the day. Some families choose to again sleep communally in a living room or even out under the stars, falling asleep where they lay chatting. Many choose to stay up the entire night. In Sedia, it is customary to release a paper lantern at dawn if you've stayed up all night, creating a beau
Ribbon Gifting
Ribbon gifting is a common tradition, though is not practised by all families. During celebrations, the family will gather around for the ribbon gifting, usually in the morning or before beginning nighttime celebrations. Each person has several ribbons to gift to other people in the group. The ribbon symbolises a story shared with the other person, a favour remembered, or a precious memory. The ribbon is handed to the other person, and the memory is shared with the group, forming bonds and reminiscing. The colour of the ribbon is one that the gifter associates with the receiver, or associates with the memory or event tied to it. The ribbon is accepted by the receiver and is tied in the hair, around the wrist, or the neck.
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