Aldin Calendar

Days of the Week: Sun Day • Moon Day • Star Day • Vine Day • Tale Day • Hearth Day

• Each month has 30 days, five weeks of six days each.

Selenar

• 1st: Midwinter Night (Winter Solstice). The longest night is celebrated by extinguishing all fires in the home save one, which it nurtured in a vigil throughout the night.
  • Midwinter Ball: At the Royal Palace in Aldis, the Queen throws a great ball, with a central massive beeswax and gold candle that is sanctified on Midsummer Day for the purpose. The only lights are candles lit from this central candle, and after a certain hour they are allowed to gutter and go out. Then, as the sun rises, the Sovereign lights a single candle from the central one, and nobles light theirs from that one, and on and on, to all palace staff, who then venture out into the streets, where Aldis locals wait with their own candles, to light them from one anothers' flame, carrying it home. Most communities have a similar tradition, with their local noble or elders standing in for the Sovereign.
  • Midwinter Feast: Those outside of the Palace have their own feasting traditions, at a table set with a large central candle likewise blessed at Midsummer. This is permitted to go out just before dawn, when a designated representative of the household ventures out to the dawn candlelight passing at the Palace or other center of community. Gifts are given at the dawning of the new light.

Felarion

• 8th: Feast Day of Felisar.

Gaeleth

• 17th: Feast Day of Gaelenir.

Braneth

• 1st: The Feast of Braniel (Spring Equinox). The arrival of spring is celebrated during this equinox. There are many traditions associated with it.
  • The Green Man and the Maypole: Celebrating the union of Braniel as the Greenbeard and his beloved dancer-god Hiathas, gardeners and plant-shapers craft great standing men wrought of vines and woven plants, around which dancers adorned with flowers cavort. Bards sing tales of the Singer-in-the-Stars and his beloved, Hiathas.
  • New Beginnings: This day of the year is the traditional start to school years and the theater season, and many minstrels depart on their travels, which stretch to the following winter.
  • The Day of Love: This is considered the preeminent day of love. It is thought that romances that are begun on this day are particularly lucky, and many new romances started at later parts of the year may wait to be consummated until this day.
• First Full Moon after Spring Equinox: Hart Day. This day celebrates the appearance of the Golden Hart to Queen Seltha and the founding of Aldis. It is a day of celebrating the kingdom itself as well as the Sovereign, though many who have complaints about either often use this day to stage those objections as well.

Hiathon

• 1st: Feast Day of Hiathas.

Atholon

• 16th: Feast Day of Athne.

Maurenel

• 1st: Midsummer Day (Summer Solstice). A feast day in celebration of Maurenna and her consort Leonoth, and their gifts to the world: agriculture, marriage, and family.
  • Marriage Customs: Many marriages are performed in the mornings of Midsummer Day, both first marriages and vow renewals.
  • Midwinter Candles: At noon on the day of the highest sun, Aldinfolk have the finest candles they can afford blessed for the upcoming Midwinter. Such candles are usually wrapped carefully and put away, to be lit at sunset on Midwinter Eve.
  • Midsummer Bonfires: Twin bonfires are lit, one for Maurenna and one for Leonoth, and begarlanded livestock are led between them as a purification and blessing for fertility. Once the livestock have all been led through, couples hoping to have children often pass between the bonfires then.
  • Midsummer Feast: Once everyone has passed through the bonfires, there is dancing until the bonfires have collapsed into beds of coals. Great iron spits are placed over them and meat cooked over them. The feasting, singing, and dancing goes long into the night.
  • Midsummer Bowers: The last tradition of the day involves couples sneaking off together to consummate their love in woodland or bedroom bowers, decorated with greenery and flowers, and provisioned with drink and treats. Newly weds have these bowers made for them, while those in established relationships take turns building bowers for one another. The custom is to light a slender torch from the last of the bonfires as the couple venture off together - on this night, no one stops and bothers folk traveling in intimate groups, led by a single torch.

Leonar

• 6th: Feast Day of Leonoth.

Auloreth

• 13th: Feast Day of Aulora.

Anwanar

• 1st: The Feast of Anwaren (Autumn Equinox). This festival celebrates the turning of the seasons toward winter, and celebrate with the Feast of the Dead.
  • Feast of the Dead: Lavish feasts are had on the equinox, set with figures made of dried leaves, winter gourds, scraps of cloth, and painted stones. One figure is made for every member of the family that has died since last Feast of Anwaren and given seats at the table, while another effigy depicting Anwaren herself is set as the centerpiece of the table.
    • The meal opens with a prayer to Anwaren, to care for those who passed that year, and then the rest of the meal is eaten in total silence. After everyone is finished, the effigys are taken into the garden, a local field, or even just a box filled with soil in some cities, and they are buried there. Over the rest of the month of Anwanar, loved ones place notes, flowers, and tokens of love on the so-called Equinox Plot in memoriam.
    • Afterwards, the rest of the meal is taken, with stories of loved ones past, and finally closing with the story of Anwaren's death at the end of autumn and her rebirth when comes spring.

Goion

• 3rd: Feast Day of Goia.
• 30th: Gravihain Eve. Jack o'lanterns are placed on the Equinox Plot to scare off creatures of Shadow.
  • Door Mumming: Children frequently dress up as frightening creatures of Shadow and are given shiny coins or treats in brightly colored bits of paper, a cultural reminder that things of Shadow must flee before the light.
  • Gravihain Masques: Many cities host public masquerade revels, and some nobles or other wealthy folk host similar balls.