Belltide Festival
A festival of flickering lights, deep shadows, and most importantly, the sound of bells.
History
Belltide was a major Raitharan holiday celebrating the wild hunt. The rich give away wealth and dressed themselves as paupers to avoid vengeance, and the souls of the dead were swept away to the spirit world. It was a time to clear ones conscience, confront and let go of mourning, and welcome the new year cleansed.
Observance
The more religious and ritual aspects have been more or less forgotten, and the holiday has been ostensibly re-assigned to Alteneia (though she sees little mention in it outside of her temples; the summer solstice/Valoran New Year remains her primary holiday). Mostly, people see it as a time to celebrate despite the dark, to give and receive gifts, and to enjoy a little time away from work.
Decorations include candles in every window, evergreen boughs, and silver (or tin, budget depending) bells hung from the eaves. Most shops and businesses close, and guild business is suspended for the day.
Many of the traditional holiday recipes are simply Raithsfall favorites being brought back to the table, though there are also juniper-flavored drinks and deserts, and the ever-popular Belltide Hunt cakes. Some people still stay up until dawn, no longer to see off the spirits of the dead but now to toast the sunrise for the light's return.
Hunt Cakes
These popular treats are dense and moist, made with milk and usually sweetened with honey. They are traditionally made very small, each cake just big enough for one person--like they might be wrapped up and taken along on a hunt.
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