Zim Veryn

An ancient celebration...

While it is unknown how old this holiday really is, most sages think it must have started being celebrated around the same time as Var Vesnat, another very popular holiday celebrated in Rumalia. Notably, while Var Vesnat retained its orginal meaning, which was to be a celebration of the coming spring, Zim Veryn did not.

...With an Altered meaning

Indeed, this holiday did not start as a simple celebration of the winter solstice, but more as a challenge to a God. Specificaly, Yhal, the Rumalian god of death. This is because Yhal is thought to be at the apex of his power during the winter. He is also said to use the cold as a weapon to snuff out any life careless enough to be left vulnurable to the cold. As a result, the celebrations were started by lighting up giant bonfires, around which people would dance and sing about Yhal being a coward and a fool, anything to show him that they weren't afraid of him. While some aspects of the original celebration do still exist, most notably the bonfires, the holiday itself is now much more focused on family and friends, and on the events of the past year, which traditionaly ends at the winter solstice in the region.

Much like Var Vesnat, this holiday is meant to be celebrated with friends and family. Feasts are held, more modest than for Var vesnat, climate obliges, but enough to satisfy guests. The most typical food eaten at Var vesnat is Svekh on bread.   The people are then lead to the town square, where large bonfires are lit. People dance with their loved ones around it, while musicians fill the air with music. It isn't uncommon for Elemental Mages to organise a show for the entertainement of the crowd, especialy in larger towns and cities.   Ice scultures are a more recent activity added to the celebrations, but they have become very popular. In Sazagar, a miniature replica of the Great Halse's palace is constructed out of ice in the city's central plaza, where people can enter and explore the ice building.

Zim Veryn is a multi-day celebration typicaly held betwen the 20th and 23rd day of december. The holiday lasts three days, with the second day of the festivities landing on the same day as the winter soltice, which varies between the 21th and the 22nd of december.