White Nights

The White Nights constitute a public festival celebrated in a variety of ways in most of the Eleven Cities. The festival was originally intended to venerate Hayan and is still organised and run by the Keepers of Light, the post-Wesmodian institution descended from Hayan's clerisy. Since the Wesmodian Reformation, however, the White Nights have been substantially emptied of numinous significance and are mostly observed as occasions of community cohesion and benevolence. Most observations of the Nights involve elements drawn from the local ritualistic tradition surrounding Hayan, however, making the occasions of great interest to thaumatologists, particularly those interested in protective or abjuration magic.
The central purpose of the rituals are to illuminate the darkness that takes place during the darker, colder moons of the year, thereby symbolising the capacity of the world to improve itself. This illumination is a significant public event, a major occasion for the performance of the music central to Hayanian ritual, and in some cities apparently the central purpose of the temple of Hayan.

Historical roots

The White Nights were celebrated at the changing of the seasons, a schedule referring to Hayan's capacity as a goddess of rebirth and beneficence. The summer solstice is marked as a time of mercy and plenty, the autumn equinox and winter solstices were observed as occasions on which a faith in the fundamental benevolence of the world was in need of reaffirmation, and the spring equinox as a celebration of that faith being vindicated. As large-scale public rituals, these celebrations will have taken considerable organisation and precise timing and it is not clear precisely how the clerics compiled their timetables, though in urban areas it seems likely that the clerics of other gods were consulted. The cult of Ynglyas, being obsessively concerned with measuring out the movements of stars and the lengths of days and nights, must surely have been given input in those cities where they were active. In rural areas it is likely that the priesthood of Dahan held some sway, given their similar focus on the cycle of the seasons. It has been noted, however, that there is actually very little evidence of Hayan being worshiped in rural areas and the observation of the White Nights in such areas may have been subsumed into the rather more demanding rituals of Dahan. Hayan, for example, has no recorded place in the mummery practiced seasonally in most rural areas, whereas most of the other gods, such as Ajqyod and even Maryas, certainly are.

Wesmodian Reformation

The notion that the clerisy of Ynglyas played a role in scheduling the White Nights is strengthened by the fact that in many communities the festival appears to have undergone something of a lacuna in the immediate post-Wesmodian era. Most urban communities relied upon the clerics of Ynglyas to predict the precise details of the waxing and waning of moons and the changes of years and seasons. With the withdrawal of popular (and monetary) support for the cult during the Wesmodian Reformation came several years of relative calendrical chaos as communities had to suddenly develop new methods of consensus on what moon or year it was; these decisions came only gradually and, as demonstrated by the various calendars followed by various cities to this day, were never universally standardised. In the wake of the Reformation, therefore, it was almost impossible to decide exactly when the rituals of Hayan should be practiced. In most cities, therefore, the dropping-off in the numinous significance of the rituals of Hayan was the result of practical difficulties as much as a withdrawal of public support.
In the absence of any such standardisation it was the Keepers of Light who began reassembling the rhythm of the public year, announcing that the rituals of Hayan would continue, as artistic and community events rather than numinous ones, on days and night set at the end of decent - and carefully codified - notice periods after the rising of certain stars over the horizon, specifically those traditionally associated with the change of the seasons. In doing so they assumed the responsibilities, formerly held by the defunct cult of Ynglyas, for keeping track of public calendars. Their approach was rather different and clearly far less involved than that of the cult they replaced, and they made no particular progress towards reconstructing the astrological or horological wisdom lost during the Reformation. The dedication of the Keepers to restoring some sort of normality and certainty to public life, however, probably contributed significantly to the moral authority of the cult in the following centuries.

Practices

The restoration of the rituals of Hayan in the post-Wesmodian era was not the result of any liaising between the various cults of the goddess in various different cities. As such each chapter of the Keepers practices the White Nights differently, and holds its own opinions (public or private) about the services observed in other cities. Whether these rituals all diverge from a common ancestor, or are variations on a theme, is a point of debate among thaumatologists; unlike the cults of Dahan or Ynglyas there appears to have been little international coordination within the pre-Wesmodian cult of Hayan and it is quite likely that these rituals were already fairly heterogeneous before the Reformation.

Andymalon

At the centre of Andymalon's temple of Hayan is a large beacon lantern made of Dyqamay silver. This lantern is lit on the autumn equinox using a particularly fine and clear oil, the precise nature of which is a closely-guarded secret of the local Keepers, and kept burning throughout autumn and winter before being extinguished, with climactic choral accompaniment, at dawn on the spring equinox. At the beginning of the White Nights a series of sixteen silver mirrors are positioned around the temple to reflect the light out of the building and throughout the surrounding streets of the city.
The placement of these mirrors takes place with great ceremony. Andymalon's choir sings a specific song as each one is put in place, with a female soloist leading the rest of the singers, while musicians play very precise measures on chimes and dulcimers. These performances are open to the public, and to have a family member chosen to serve in this choir is a great honour, particularly if she sings the solo parts. Another song is sung each dusk during the White Nights. The lyrics to these songs are in Old Zolian and therefore unintelligible to the average citizen, but not actually secret; anyone with enough education to follow the language will be able to understand them. The authorship of these songs is not known; the book from which these lyrics are sourced, the Haymel Yoloros of Andymalon is considered a great treasure and kept under lock and key in the treasury of the temple, usually available only to Keepers.

Chogyos

Chogyos begins the White Nights by lighting a bank of white and gold candles on an altar at the temple of Hayan at dusk on the autumn equinox. More white candles are added each night, with a larger gold candle each half-moon, until the winter solstice. Thereafter, in line with the light returning to the world in the form of longer days, the number of candles is gradually reduced, until the altar is bare at the time of the spring equinox.
As is usually the case in this temple of Hayan there is music playing, and small choirs - usually of three or four singers - sing songs relating to the mythology of Hayan. These songs are often traditional although the city's Keepers occasionally indulge their creativity by writing new ones. The music is unusual in that it is played on strummed lyres and flutes rather than the percussion instruments that predominate in Hayanian music in most other cities.

Dypholyos

As befits a city that began as a colony of Pholyos, Dypholyos marks its White Nights by the lighting of well-made, white, cylindrical candles, which are arranged in a series of different star-like patterns every night between the autumn and winter equinoxes.
The movement of these candles is made to the sound of a choir singing hymns to Hayan. The precise songs sung vary from year to year, and indeed from night to night, during the festival, depending on the preferences of the individual Keeper put in charge of convening and conducting the choir. Some are drawn from the Hamel Yoloros, while others are imported from Pholyos or Dyqamay. Very few are of domestic origin, however; unlike in Pholyos there is no real domestic culture of musical composition. Dulcimers and bells are used to accompany the choir, and unusually those who play them are regarded with equal respect to the singers.

Dyqamay

Dyqamay's temple of Hayan, like that of Andymalon, is built around a large silver lantern which is lit with great ceremony every sundown between the first new moon after the autumn equinox until the last one before the spring equinox. The reasons for this abbreviated festival - the shortest of any city - are unclear, though the tradition is rigidly observed. Unlike that found in Andymalon, the lantern is elaborately molded with depictions of Hayan in the course of her mythological adventures. These depictions show Hayan as a small girl, leading most thaumatologists to agree it is of post-Wesmodian make. The spot where the smith's hallmark should be is blank, and shows signs of having been filed smooth, so the lantern was almost certainly of attributed manufacture, but has been rendered anonymous - a potentially highly significant act in a city where silversmithing is such a prestigious craft.
Some time before dawn on each new moon during the festival the Keepers of the temple lead a choir in a procession which leaves the temple and travels towards the spot on the horizon where the moon would have risen. After travelling a certain distance the procession turns deosil and traverses as close to a circular path as the layout of the city allows until it has completed the circle, at which point it returns to the temple. Throughout this procession the choristers sing a complex round of songs decided upon in advance by the Keepers. These songs, which are accompanied only by the rhythmic striking of a bell used to keep the marchers in step, are typically of local composition; the temple hosts a thriving culture of composition. Hymns sung in the temple on a more regular basis are accompanied with chimes and dulcimers as is typical of those composed in honour of Hayan.

Halumay

The temple of Hayan at Halumay announces the onset of winter by lighting ten white beeswax candles (sourced from apiaries outside the city, paid for by anonymous public subscription) at dusk on the autumn equinox. These candles are typically two to three feet high and molded into the shapes of young girls and women, always modestly dressed and smiling. The light shed by these candles is said to stand as benevolent replacements for the light lost during the long winter nights, these candles are arranged in a star-like pattern around the edges of the congregational space in the temple, thus surrounding the congregation with protective light. The Keepers keep these candles burning from dusk until dawn each night, and alter their placement of these candles each morning in a series of patterns, the precise significance of which is confidential to the order.There are, it is claimed, enough permutations of these patterns that the precise arrangement of light in the temple is never the same twice until the spring equinox, when the White Nights end.
Songs are also sung in the temple of Halumay on a timetable decided by individual Keepers each year. The Hayamian music found in the city is unusual in that it is exclusively sung by soloists; the Keepers regard the southern traditions of choral or collective singing as peculiar and unhelpful. Halumay's singers confine themselves to a specific collection of pre-Wesmodian hymns written in Northern Old Zolian although the Keepers do an interesting job of varying performances from year to year with differing arrangements of accompaniment with dulcimers, cymbals, zithers and drums.

Loros

The temple of Hayan at Loros lacks any means of large-scale illumination, a point that some in other cities attribute to the city's reputation as a kleptocracy - any valuable lantern would immediately be stolen, or so goes the joke. In fact, the architecture of the temple clearly once incorporated a large lantern such as those found in Andmalon and Dyqamay, although the implement itself is lost. The Keepers of the temple make do, keeping the building lit most nights throughout the year with an assemblage of some of the best lanterns in the city. Over the course of autumn and winter these lanterns are moved night by night in a series of patterns resembling those used in Halumay and Pholyos.
There are no choirs in Loros, although the general population often chime in with cheerful music and songs of various kinds, not all of them drawn from any sort of Hayanian liturgy. The atmosphere of the White Nights in this city is rather more relaxed than in most other places.

Pholyos

Pholyos illuminates its temple during the White Nights in the same way as Halumay, with large white candles. These candles are straightforwardly and rigidly cylindrical, however; the Halumayan practice of molding them into the shapes of children and watching these effigies melt over the course of winter is whispered about as abhorrent.
Pholyos's Hayanian choristers are highly organised and practice regularly throughout the year. They sing particular songs - accompanied or not - depending on the tastes and practices of the Keeper appointed as the temple's music master. Most of these are drawn from the traditions of Andymalon and Dyqamay, though local Keepers do indulge their creativity by composing new songs of their own. 

Ramoros

Like those in Dyqamay and Andymalon, the temple of Hayan at Ramoros is lit by a large beacon lantern made of silver. This implement is said to be of Dyqamay manufacture, though assayers from the Commercial guilds of that city have repeatedly examined the lantern and denied the claim. The lantern is etched extensively with depictions of stars and asterisms and is kept lit from dusk until dawn on every new moon of the year. On the new moons between the autumn and spring equinoxes mirrors are placed throughout the temple, as in Andymalon, and ritualistically shifted throughout the night to create a  series of complex patterns of rays of light. 
The movement of the mirrors is undertaken in ritual silence broken only by the recitation of an unaccompanied female singer intoning a different, very precise song for each movement; for there to be any mistake in this incantation is widely (though not entirely seriously) regarded as a portent of disaster. The identity of the singer is concealed by a white veil, which is removed only at the end of the festival. This singer is chosen in a series of private auditions undertaken over the course of autumn each year and, assuming she has performed her role without mishap, is afforded a position of high honour in the community thereafter. Of her twelve songs, four are found in the Andymalonian Haymal Yoloros, another four in a local pre-Wesmodian book entitled The Book of Ramoros and four are not written down anywhere, instead being taught by oral tradition. Any member of the congregation is free to memorise whatever lyrics they wish, though to be found taking notes is grounds for expulsion from the ritual.