Juran Celebrations of Endurance

A true dragon, one of the last of its kind on Waking Materia,
emits an lamentous cry, silhouetted against the dawn sky.

From this impossible victory came an eruption of joy that would become the first Feriatum Enduurum, celebrated by those who now realized, no matter how long the Night, Dawn will still arrive; no matter how deep the Darkness, Light will give answer. These are among the First Words of the Feriatum.

— Analects of the Galbraithian Church
Xandrine of Gale Delta

Known in their home language as the Feriatum Enduurum, the Juran Celebrations of Endurance are an ancient series of holidays and festivals, still practiced primarily in Jura during the first year of Spring of every Cycle. They are a cultural centrepiece of the Galbraithian Church, national religion of the Jurans. Scattered cousins of these practices endure throughout the Broken Empire, hearkening to a time where nearly the entire Quadrant submitted to Juran rule. Most have been secularized from their Galbraithian roots.

The Celebrations are widely though to be rooted in the conclusion of the The Dragon Wars, where with the help of another alien pantheon, Meranthic Civilization as we know it was able to weather, and ultimately overcome, the nigh-apocalyptic, true-draconic forces of God-Eater Otrinax. These events centralize belief in the ultimate invulnerability of the Human spirit, against even the most impossible odds, while lamenting those lost along the way.

Practices

Known for their explosions of emotion among a usually reserved populace, the Celebrations of Endurance sometimes swing wildly between rituals of unbridled joy over cheating death to solemn displays of mourning for those slain.

Falkor'atru, the first Dragon Knight of Tallarax.

The Feriatum Tallari

The centralmost figures in these Celebrations are the Dragon Knights of Tallarax: the heroic, semi-mythical order of dragon-slayers who would become icons of mortal spirit in the face of direst adversity. (The god behind the Order, Tallarax-Apsasu, is among other things a god of reticence, secrecy and quiet wisdom, and so portrayals of the Sphinx God tend to be more sparing despite their unparalleled involvement in Humanity's victory.) It is common during these festivals to fly the various heraldries of the Dragon Knights and reënact their victories through various media such as stage play and puppeteering. Some theatre troupes spare no expense in their portrayal of the dragons in particular, stretching the limits of Juran engineering to create lifelike replicas, with complex innards of pulley, cog and rope. Some are so lifelike they are sometimes whispered to be true Galateids.

Competition is fierce among actors to portray the preëminent Knight-Sage, Falkor'atru "The Wise", and his tragic last stand against the God-Eater. Portraying the First Dragon Knight in an elite Feriatum Tallari play is considered a peak achievement among Jura's troubadours.

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An ancient Juran lament for the dead, sung during Candlemas. "Through the glass window shynes the Sun," it intones in Middish Common, reinforcing the theme of Light returning to a sheltered people. It then blesses the wandering dead in Old Juran: "May your path be lit by foxfire. May your essence be warmed by the remembrance of those who linger."

The Feriatum Candelavra

Also important to the Celebrations are rituals of mourning for the untold millions — both mortal and ascendant — who died under draconic violence and oppression. Most iconic of these expressions of grief are the Feriatum Candelavra or the Candlemas Festivals. They are generally two-fold: members of a great procession will each light a candle, representing a soul lost to dragonfire, and proceed to cross the town singing carols of mourning & hope, sometimes door-by-door, summoning the rest of the townsfolk to join. When the procession nears full volume and the carols reach a fever pitch, the candles are then taken to sacred location and laid to rest. In some cultures this means finding a lake or stream, and laying the candles in small boats of folded paper or woven materials; in more arid areas, sites are chosen that have the finest view of the coming dawn.

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Aios, Overbeing of Light, Slayer of Monsters.

Outside Jura: The Feriatum Ex-Jura

Cousins of the Celebrations are also practiced in lingering pockets throughout the Broken Empire, who still practice "Juranisms" from when the entire Quadrant was under Juran rule. On the opposite continent of Gondara, variations of the Celebrations are most concentrated in, paradoxically, the Federated Tribes of Ket, who were arguably the most vicious in their guerilla wars against the Juran Empire. Proof that acts of celebration can survive otherwise drastic changes in culture.

To the majority of Gondarans, the Feriatum are regarded to be the one time of each Cycle the humourless Jurans "let their hair down" and have a proper party. Indeed, some traditions within the holiday can be downright bedlam compared to their often strict, Galbraithian lifestyles.

Variations of the Feriatum Candelavra are especially popular among the Jurans' former subjects, having transformed into a set of Aiosian and Ajoran religious practices with a particular focus on the defeat of Darkness by the forces of Light.