The Day of Fallen Moon Festival

Summary

      Among the many festivals on Solvan Prime, The Day of Fallen Moon Festival is by far the most widely celebrated and important. Dating back nearly a thousand years to the destruction of the world's moon and the Theocracy's founding, The Day of Fallen Moon Festival is a 10 day and night marathon of near non-stop parting.
      Adults can be found drinking to their heart's content or jacking themselves into simulations. Children are regaled with tales of the Supremacy Wars and the event that destroyed their world's moon. Most beloved though, are the elaborate dances, plays enacted, music. art and more. All across the world.
      Singers performing until they can no longer speak, painters unveiling new masterpieces, incredible coordination shown in city plazas for all to see as dozens of dancers in costumes enact popular plays. It is a week of art and remembrance for most, and one of celebration and vice for more.

The Days Five

      The first five days are generally loud and grandiose, filled with marketing and feasts and drink and more.

Day One, Sport and Family

      The first day begins with the Ring Race, as tiny one person spacecraft race along Solvan Prime's ring at incredible speeds. The explosions they set off as they chase the sun's rays awake nearly all those on the surface as they pass, and announces the Festival's beginning.
      It is a relatively peaceful festival day, spent with friends and family as they watch the day long race and share food and drink. The night heralding the beginnings of the drinking games. The lower sections of the world find themselves drinking for a pittance and those of higher station host quiet nights of drink and deal.

Day Two, Song and Dance

      The second day comes with the sound of music, as vast orchestras boom across the cities of the world. The wealthy and those in high governance put on private concerts, while those within the Depth Levels gather in mass choirs and ensembles. Great and complicated dancers put on shows for all while the music plays and the revelry begins.
      Many of the songs heard this day can be historical, such as the Balled of Sullivan by the Bard Eternal and the Eight Hymns of Man by the Union Church. Or more modern, like the ever popular Send Me To The Foundry by Jillia Henoi and Shatter Me by LudoVil II.
      Children of all walks can be heard singing together or alone, with many simply content to listen and play.
      These songs and many many more play all throughout the day and night and is even set as a popular day to release new albums. Those of The Union find themselves awaiting this day and the fifth especially for the new musical and simulative products put on offer.

Day Three, Remembrance

      Day three is different in that there is nothing to suddenly awaken those across Prime. Instead, the day is filled with absolute silence. All but the most essential work is forcibly closed, and those who can not help but speak in naught but quiet whispers find themselves shunned to their homes.
      It is a day of quiet contemplation and remembrance. For the fallen heroes who founded the Theocracy. Truly this day is for those hoarse of throat from the previous day's celebrations, but it also pairs well as the day to honour the dead founders of the Union, as well as any lost family and friends, may the stars guide them to peace.

Day Four, Feasts of Plenty

      The fourth day is met the smell of food. Over the night, vast tents and refectories are set up, where any who enter are met with buffets of incredible proportions. Restaurants, eateries, mobile food hotspots and more all reduce their prices, and a worldwide feast begins. Food is cheap, food is plentiful, and none go hungry this day. None starve this night.
      This night marks the rise of vermin however, as many pests grow fat upon discarded food and drink, and citizens are warned to properly dispose of all consumables, lest they find a hoard of Morrin Mice upon them the following month.

Day Five, Simulations and Escape

      The fifth day begins with groans as those who overindulged are found sick and bedridden. However, this is not all bad, as this marks the day of the Simulous. As the second day marked the day of music, so does the fifth as that of simulations. Many new simulation chips are released, and many more are put on sale. Those too gluttoned to move from their sheets find solace in the new digital worlds they may explore.
      For those of the Depth Levels - where the wealth needed for simulations is not commonly found - the peoples find themselves with different activities. Old games, from pre-union times, are dusted off and played anew. With controllers and wires and such heretical messages abound. Games of war and games of sillines aplenty.

The Mark Passes Half

"And so we see the setting sun upon this day of peace.
To come to days of hurt and more, where there is no release.
When people scream of grief and strife, to them it's all a curse.
The golden tops of polished thrones have marked themselves perverse.
Hear not the cries of those below, their pain you will not see.
Until the floors come tumbling down, and they will strike with glee."

— A poem graffitied all across the Depth and Middling Levels, causing civil unrest and replaced when erased.

The Closing Days

Day Six, Prayer and Learning

       Many do not in fact look forwards to the sixth day of The Day Fallen Moon Festival, for it is a day where all those, regardless of station, must attend the sermons of the Union Church. It is there they learn about the events that created the festival. It is there the youngest minds of The Union start their first day of weekly history lessons. And the older minds must sit through especially large and drawn out sermons.
       The mass goes well into the night, and by the time it is finished all the people want is but to sleep. This night is quiet, thankfully.

Day Seven, Gifts and Gambling

Day Eight, Art, Literature, Sculptures and More

Day Nine, The Moon Falls, Passage Opens

Day Ten, The Theocracy Rises, Passage Closes