Animal Ball

Animal Ball is a characteristical social event in the Republic of Guntreland, rooted in the popularity of moralistic fables amongst the Republicans. Participants of the event dress up as animals, symbols of natural virtues and vices; in these costumes they not only celebrate their civic liberty with a merry dance, but also tell each other fables with deep moral lessons. This fashion also suits the egalitarianism of humans, werewolves and vampires, because under these masks their physical differences are less recognizable. In some quarts and municipalities participation in the event is forbidden to non-citizens (foreigners).

Animal Ball and the Republican Calendar

As in the Republican calendar every day of the year is dedicated to one animal, plant or useful object, this often has a reflection on the Animal Ball that takes place on a certain day. When an animal's day is celebrated, the greatest attention is often shown to the citizen in the costume of that animal and to the fables that tell about its adventures. In the case of a day when a plant or an useful object is celebrated, that plant or object is usually placed in a place of honor in the room where the ball is held, and it is tried to be mentioned in the fables that are retold on the occasion.

Animal Ball as a birthday celebration

Wanting to emphasize their complete commitment to the Republican morality and encourage themselves and their friends to the greatest possible revolutionary fervor, many citizens decided to celebrate their birthday (or, in the case of naturalized citizens, their civil birthday, i.e. the anniversary of their admission to Guntrelandite citizenship, a life event which is, according to the Republican ideology, more important than their physical birth) by organizing an Animal ball in their home.

...now in the former halls of nobles and royal people and in the salons of rich citizens we see citizens disguised as foxes, wolves, bears and other beasts leading discussions and rejoicing to the sounds of instrumental music. Animal balls like this happen in many Republican cities, and by what these people in costumes are doing we can also conclude of which club orientations their organizer and guests are: where this human menagerie - most often with the sounds of revolutionary songs - discusses laws and constitutional principles justifying them with eternal principles of natural virtue, where the owl wisely analyzes and apologizes various articles of the Republican Code and where the lion and the bear threaten world tyranny with their solemn speeches, behind it is a Henscherenite club; on the other hand, where with the best wine these animals compliment each other, pour jokes and enjoy "brilliant conversations", where this is no different from an old-fashioned aristocratic masked ball (in which the masks had almost no other purposes than providing high society figures with a formal justification for free behavior and dialogues that would otherwise be considered inappropriate for their rank and situation), we can almost say with certainty that Masdenite voters are behind animal masks.

— Franz Braucht, "Pictures from the Age of Revolutions"