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Day 6. Pirate AU

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Day 7. New hairstyle

Religious Holidays

Each of the religious holidays reflects upon one of the Houses, the foundations of Taraxian religion (See "The Houses" for more information). These holidays last three days, and are celebrated throughout Olethyr.

Saceritu

Saceritu is the festival of the Celestial House that marks the beginning of Sura and the new year.

On the first day of Saceritu, a ritual is performed in the temple at Aeol, in which a large boar is sacrificed to the previous year's reigning god, and a special priest called a Sacerdori divines from the beast's entrails which of the gods is to reign over the new year. A group of riders then travel quickly across the land, spreading the news of the new reigning god.

The second day is filled with celebration, honoring the Celestial House and the new reigning god. People flock to the temples and give offerings to the gods.  In each city, a goat or smaller boar may be sacrificed to the new god as a symbol of welcome.

The third day of the festival is generally much quieter and is a day to be spent with family and  also marks the beginning of the growing season, and in many villages people come together to help plant the year's crops.

Temenritu

Temenritu is the festival of the Taraxian house, celebrated at the beginning of Aesta.

Temenritu has the least cohesive timeline of the three holidays, with each major region celebrating the holiday in their own way, as opposed to having days dedicated to the gods individually.

In Aeol, the highlight of the holiday is a series of trials. Any prisoner who has served in prison for three years is given a trial. The guilty are executed, and sometimes eaten, and the innocent are released from custody. This serves a double purpose of honoring Raed, and clearing room in Aeol's over-crowded prisons.

The people of the otherwise quiet region in and around Oreades celebrate the holiday with something a little more raucous- three days of wild drinking and partying. Orgies are not uncommon, especially among the Feledites. These parties are continuous throughout the entirety of the festival, with participants often going until they pass out from drunkenness or sheer exhaustion, and resuming activity as soon as they are once again coherent. Many see it as honoring Weald, who was known to be adept at making wine and spirits, and quite fond of revelry.

Pyresed, ever fond of tournaments, holds a mock tournament for the townspeople, an acknowledgement of Ell and his Valiant nature, and an open market where locals are encouraged to show off their best-crafted wares in honor of Weald's Skill.

Due to the nature of some festivities, children and elders typically celebrate in other ways. Common examples include the Elders telling children of the exploits of the Taraxian gods when they walked the land as mortals, of Ell's bravery and strength in battle, of Weald's cunning and his talent, and of Raed's fair judgement. Elders will also often teach older children the basics of their crafts. Goat races are also a popular amusement, especially among the younger children.

Lyttritu

Lyttritu is the festival of the Chthonic house, held at the beginning of Kelyph.

Lyttritu is overall divided into traditional and modern festivities. Traditional festivities are more solemn, and place their focus on warding off the bad fortune thought to be brought by the Chthonic gods and honoring those who have died.

Citizens who take the more traditional appproach to the holiday will place candles in the window sills and painting their doorframes with goat blood to ward off evil spirits and to keep ghosts from haunting the house for the next year. The second day is spent providing offerings and prayers to the gods and to ancestors. On the third day, citizens will craft small boats of paper fitted with a candle, and release them into the sea, so the ghosts and spirits of loved ones can find their way back to the afterlife. This practice is especially common in Oreades. Traditionalists in Aeol will place these boats in the river that runs through the city.

More modern practitioners tend to see the holiday as one for celebrating life through death. Modern festivities take on a lighter air, full of bright colors and light, They embrace the idea of change, and challenge the unknown, with braver celebrants even going to far to venture to the abandoned city of Tmesi, which is rumored to be haunted or cursed, and spending at least one night among the ruins. Offerings are still made to the gods and to ancestors, but with a more welcoming air, sometimes offerings are set up within the home, as if to invite good fortune and benevolent spirits to grace the household. These practices are especially common among the citizens of Pyresed, and the younger generations in Aeol.

Both traditional and modern practitioners will hold vigils in honor of Naht and remembrance of the lost Equitar race, usually on the evening of the second day. Especially in the larger regions, this is accompanied by the burning of Equitar effigies laid upon a pyre.

Harvest

Nepenth

Nepenth, held during the entire fourth week (roughly from the 18th to the 23rd) of Paryph, is a festival of the harvest.

The first two days of Nepenth are dedicated to harvesting and preserving the year's crops, with the very best portion set aside for offering to the gods. These offerings are gathered into a huge pyre, and lit on the morning of the third day, beginning the real celebration of Nepenth. This fire is kept burning throughout the remainder of the festival.

From the third day on, the cities become giant markets, where townspeople trade their harvested goods. Parents will give their children small bundles of whatever the family produced for the year, to trade in the market for sweets. However, not all shopkeepers will accept what a child is carrying, teaching children to trade with each other as well as adults. Many families will celebrate with a large meal, occasionally combining their efforts with friends and neighboring families for a massive feast

Especially in larger cities like Aeol, it's very common for children and adults alike to dress up in bright costumes for the celebrations. Troupes of dancers and acrobats in costumes depicting the gods and sometimes mythical creatures will parade through the cities, acting out scenes from popular stories in exchange for small offerings of money or food.

At the end of the festival, the pyres are allowed to die out, and the ash is collected and distributed among the townspeople, to fertilize their fields during the next planting season

A Bloody Mess

Pyryma

Pyryma is a relatively new holiday celebrated during the 27th of Aesta in Pyresed. It was created in the year 243 by Datura, who served as the Nuet at that time, to honor the Kyanre and attempt to further ingrain the Tagma doctrine into the people of Pyresed.

Pyryma "festivities" include a tournament, normally held solely within the Upper Tagma, open to all members of the Tagma and held for public viewing. They are seen as a promotional opportunity within the Tagma, and are also used to weed out weak and useless members. It was during the tournament in 264 that Datura was challenged and killed by Strych, who became his successor.

Another practice is for parents to bring their newborn children to Pyrex as a sacrifice to the Kyanre. The children are then handed off to the Tagma, and the majority of them are eaten. Those who seem to be the most aggressive, or those who appear to have intelligent tendencies are spared, and sent home to relieved parents, with guaranteed recruitment into the Tagma when they come of age. The wealthier citizens may opt out of this "sacrifice" only if they pay a percentage of their year's income.