Zeshem Calendar
The Zeshem calendar is used by followers of the Zesheko religion.
Weekdays in the Zeshem calendar have a traditional cycle of meanings. Each days is sorted between Market Day, Calm Days, and Rest Days. Market Days are weekdays when commerce is allowed. Not everywhere actually holds market every market day, but it is commonly a day of greater commercial traffic. Calm Days, meanwhile, are days when work is allowed but commerce is discouraged. Minor purchases may occur on calm days, though particularly ascetic and pious individuals may reject even petty exchanges this day. There is only one Rest Day, during which work and trade are discouraged. This is also not a firm rule but it is a commonly held custom.
April, Zamkaneb: Zamkaneb, or the Revival Festival, is the most important holiday of the Zeshem year. It is the start of the New Year as well as the holiday of spiritual rebirth and purification honoring the prophet Norinar. Zamkaneb starts with New Year's day, which is followed by three days of ritual preparation and prayer. Then comes the true festival of Zamkaneb on the fourth day after the New Year - this is known as Return Day.
New Year's Day is a relatively solemn day devoted to self examination, introspection, and meditation on the prior year. Priests and anointed women blow sacred horns made from traditional bronze or animal horn to mark each hour of the day, at which point all faithful must take a moment to pray and self-reflect. Maize is cooked and eaten this day, and some maize is sacrificed through fire to the God Alima. The story of the creation of the world is told this day.
The next day is the ritual day of mourning. Faithful abstain from pleasures and luxury and give offerings of tears and grief to Alima. The story of the birth of evil and the first war of the gods against it is told this day. At midnight this night, respected adults (chosen earlier this year) go in costume to the temple to sacrifice a yam to Alima on a wooden board carved in the shape of a person. This is a substitution sacrifice intended to appease the heavens and take the place of a young martyr of the people who would otherwise be taken by the enemy.
The next day is the ritual day of preparation. The faithful prepare their common spaces for the festival of Return Day and food preparation begins. Ritualized yam and grain pounding takes place in the public square, an ancient form of hand-milling accompanied by an ancient song. The highest-status community member, often the priest or a noble, dons a pure robe and tastes the first yam to bless everyone. The story of the plundering of Zeshema and the revelation of Norinar is told this day.
The next day is the ritual day of cleansing. Sacrifices of grain, alcohol, flesh, and salt are made to the gods; blood from an animal sacrifice is used to dot the bodies of the faithful in small amounts and then is washed away with sanctified water. Many Zeshem then wade into one of the sacred rivers before bathing themselves in cleansed water. An icon or idol of Norinar's corpse is brought out wearing a wooden mask and paraded as if in a funeral through the faithful. Isolated households sometimes even have their own tiny idols and masks. The story of the first Holy Empire is told now.
Then comes Return Day. No food is had in the morning, but in the afternoon a great feast is shared, with abundant food and drink. People often experience ecstatic visions. Work is avoided and all people avoid dirtying themselves. Clans, guilds, and lineages visit their sacred shrines and places and may hold their own additional rituals. Generally there is a sense of unity and it is considered unholy to pick fights or act against any other Zeshem this day. Priests may bar individuals or groups involved in vendettas from holy places on this day until they agree to a peace - this is a day of public reconciliation, when all old fights are to be left behind. Sacred dancers often don the masks of the icons of Norinar given funeral rites the day before; their dances are said to channel Norinar's ghost. This is also a day in which coming-of-age dances, or shadow dances, are held.
The day after Return Day is a great market, even if the weekday isn't a market day.
May, Antuveja: Antuveja is one of the three Face-Holidays of Alima, dedicated to Ozualo the Furious aspect of Alima. This is a day of hauntings, vengeance, reckonings, revelations, and spiritual danger. On this day and for two days prior, people must be sure to pray to Alima for forgiveness while washing and lighting prayer candles to avoid or minimize the wrath of the gods. During this period there is a taboo against insults against fellow faithful.
This is a day for scary stories and glimpses of the dead. Rituals throughout the day seek to ward off the evil eye and cleanse the body of curses. Many of these rituals focus on the hair, nails, and skin as places of curse connection. Clothes, wands, and amulets depicting eyes are commonly worn and used throughout, warding an eye with an eye. This eerie mood escalates over the day and reaches its apex at dusk. As the sun sets, the Roaring Feast acts as a final ward against curses. The Roaring Feast is a group meal (often involving seafood) that involves games and scary stories intended to ward off evil, but is most well known for its climax. At the crescendo of the action, effigies representing enemies of the faith are brought out - perhaps representing foreign invaders, disease, famine, locusts, or other evils - and set aflame. The revellers then howl, scream, and cheer together as they try to channel any evil energy focused on them towards the effigies.
It is said that curses made at night during Antuveja carry enhanced strength and potency, but are more likely to backfire if they oppose Alima's will.
June, Suminyeb: Suminyeb is one of the five river-goddess holidays, dedicated to Mother Sumija. This is a sacred day focused on abundance, fortune, royal power, authority, and righteous order. This is an overwhelmingly urban ceremony that tends to be more important in more politically central locations.
During Suminyeb, the faithful gather to sing and dance at cemeteries, temples, shrines, and palaces. In rural areas, the focus is often on infrastructure like bridges, dams, or reservoirs. Snacks are typically provided and many communities feast together. The most important part of this holiday is a ritualized oath of allegiance to the Zesheko religion and Zeshem empire - often done in song format. Elites (priests, royals, nobles, clan leaders) often sponsor and coordinate feasts for the people, who thank them and pledge loyalty in return. In families and communities, people organize and validate the chain of command in how they feast and dance. Emotionally the mood and focus here is on thanksgiving and gratitude. As people eat, they give thanks to the gods and ancestors for all they have.
In the capital complex of Kozmio, Suminyeb is a massive deal that attracts numerous pilgrims and tourists. In Kozmio, the revelry goes on for three days of royally sponsored dances, feasts, processions, and sacrifices. The Emperor leads this parade themselves wearing a funerary mask and clothes of a royal ancestor (often signalling a political message in which ancestor). Bards and musicians are paid to perform and sing royal songs and histories at every plaza and marketplace for the whole festival, all guests are given ample food and wine, and entertainers flock to compete and win the favor of the Emperor and Triumvirate.
July, Vikanyan: Vikanyan is one of the five river-goddess holidays, dedicated to Mother Vikaja. This is a sacred day focused on endurance, loss, pilgrimage, survival, and memory. Work is slowed on this day and there is a temporary taboo in place against eating milk, meat, cane sugar, or 'foreign' foods.
On this day, people gather to sings songs of exile and loss. Clans and neighborhoods gather together in the afternoon to share food and drink freely as they sing. Beggars and travelers go door to door singing the holy songs and are to be given food or gifts (such as money or clothing). At dusk, temples and shrines bring out two metal icons representing the two stolen rivers of the Stolen Coast, both bound in oil-covered ropes. These ropes are ritually burned as the gathered faithful pray for the end of the foreign occupations. While the ropes burn, youths may volunteer to undergo the 'Vikanyan ordeal': a ceremony in which they are blindfolded and placed in a circle surrounded by adults, who beat and flog them while the youth make a show of their self-control and faith in their prayer and song. Ordeal groves, where children undergo less violent ordeals, are cleaned on this day and many children choose to have their ordeals on Vikanyan.
This is an auspicious day for pilgrims, who flock to sacred shrines and waters on this day for their blessings. It is said that this is the anniversary of the Zeshem flight from the selkie invasion, when the stolen Zeshem returned to the faith, and will be the day when the Zeshem return the faith to their Northern riverlands. To honor this, it is considered good luck to erect huts and shacks outside of one's home to sleep in for the night; pilgrims are often welcome in this small temporary structures as well. No guest is to be turned away this day.
August, Nuvznun: The Nuvznun Carnival is one of the three Face-Holidays of Alima, dedicated to Ozima the Laughing. This is a day of laughter, plenty, indulgence, good cheer, and comradery. On this day and two days prior, work is slowed and all luxuries are to be dedicated to the gods and spirits in prayers of thanksgiving. Preparation for the coming festivities builds over these two prior days, contributing to the work slows.
Costumes are worn on this day, which range from historical to funny to macabre. Temples bring out icons of Ozima the Laughing, the joyful and mocking avatar of Alima, as do many markets. Kissing the hand of this icon is said to bring about good fortune, but also invites a comedic spin to one's death. Comedy magic is seen as auspicious during this festival and is often rewarded with coin and free drinks.
This is a day of games and music. For much of the day, the carnival is like a market with more of a focus on entertainment; people are still cooking, working, and selling goods in anticipation of the late-afternoon fun. And then the revelry begins. The afternoon carnival is a time of feasting, drinking, comedy, and performance. For some it is a time of children's games and innocent fun, while for others it is a romantic time with a courted partner. Sugary treats abound and the beer flows steady.
September, Tivyin: Tivyin is one of the five river-goddess holidays, dedicated to Mother Tivija. This is a sacred day focused on purity, control, strength, and maturation.
Tivyin begins with the ceremonial lighting of five fires at every time. Many homes and buildings light five candles as well. These lights represent the five mother goddesses and the five mother-rivers. These temple lights are tended to and cared for. Over the day, groups of faithful (chosen well ahead of time and often veterans or aspiring soldiers) lead a procession between the temple flames and the sacred sites of the surrounding landscape while beating together animal horns, spears, or bronze rods. In big cities, these leaders often are hand-picked soldiers who train in acrobatic dances that are incorporated. Processions also visit cemeteries, administrative centers, markets, wells, springs, and other sites of import.
Great importance is placed on bathing and washing on this day. The laundry-workers of towns often gather to wash clothes on Tivyin and are rewarded with food and tribute by the community their work cleansing cloth of vermin. Special powders are sometimes used for this day's wash to make the cleaning especially effective. In private homes, people wash and clean their sleeping and eating areas.
People gather in the afternoon for coming of age ceremonies, known as shadow dances (though these can also be performed on New Year's). Often communities also host archery, dueling, wrestling, or boxing contests as well. Mask-makers hide themselves away on this day and are supplied for lavish feasts and secret rituals.
Veterans often wear badges and sashes to mark their status this day, and are to be treated with reverence. Veterans are often given lavish hospitality and may even receive free goods or discounts this day.
At the end of the day, the faithful must carefully wash themselves - often mixing perfume into the water - while praying for forgiveness and purification. In this way people seek to wash away their wrongdoing.
October has no major festival
November, Suselen: Suselen is one of the five river-goddess holidays, dedicated to Mother Susiljo. This is a sacred day focused on innocence, protection, fertility, nature, and abundance. This is a lighthearted holiday that is popular among children.
In the morning, temples and towns put up catfish banners and ribbons along major entrances and thoroughfares; many shops and farms do this as well. People also begin putting up decorated lanterns on the pathways to shrines, temples, and holy places. Many settlements put up displays of dolls, which are dressed carefully as emperors, priests, warriors, and nobles.
Families often give young children dolls this day. These are passed down within families and some can be quite ornate. Other families pass down gifts of toy weapons or outfits for their coming of age ceremony (the 'shadow dance'). Children's games are hosted and sweet treats are sold at discount. Young adults have their own games ranging from sports to rhyming games. Youth are to be given time from work, ranging from young children to people in their mid-20s. Taking time to rest and frolic on this day is actually seen as a way to become more fertile, meaning that older people may also relax and play games if they wish to concieve. Water is sprinkled over fields, livestock, and gardens with prayer and song as well, so that the soil and plants and beasts may rest and frolic and grow abundant.
In the evening is the mother's feast, which is made from nuts, fruits, berries, honey, fish, and other "natural" foraged foods. This is followed by a series of dances. The Lover's dance is for courting youths. The Child's dance is intended to build cross-class unity. In the capital and in the city of Polikitza, virgin girls of royal blood lead elaborate water ceremonies intended to bring favorable weather and pure waters.
December has no major festival
January, Hamanyan: Hamanyan is one of the five river-goddess holidays, dedicated to Mother Hamaja. This is a sacred day focused on self-discipline, purity, healing, medicine, and the removal of poisons from the body and soul. Worshippers fast during the daytime hours of Hamanyan, eating only a dawn breakfast and a large dusk supper. During the day, worshippers prioritize rest and prayer. Work is slowed or stopped. Many worshippers clean their homes and surrounding areas this day, removing fire hazards, cleansing vermin, cleansing the air with incense, and washing common spaces.
Three times on Hamanyan, people gather together to chant hymns to Mother Hamaja. At the end of each, bells, gongs, and horns are played to drive away wicked spirits. Each hymnal period, the faithful are to focus their minds on something they will restrain themselves from or improve themselves by doing in the coming year. It is believed that it brings blessings to fulfill this promise and bad luck to break it.
At dusk, the Zeshem gather with families and/or neighbors to eat a 'medicinal feast' of traditional foods carefully prepared to balance the body and remove sickness.
February has no major festival
March, Izkeja: Izkeja is one of the three Face-Holidays of Alima, dedicated to Ozara the Crying God. This is also called Martyr's Day. This a day of mourning and wishes, dedicated not only to grieving what was lost but to drawing on that loss to manifest hope. For this day and two days prior, the faithful are forbidden from eating any meat, drinking alcohol, having sex, or otherwise engaging in luxuries. This taboo is particularly strong on the day proper and breaking it is said to invite curses. That said, people can engage in a "luxury" if it is required for their job or role - those engaged in soldiery or hard labor can have some meat, as a notable example.
On this day, Zeshem families clean the graves and shrines of their ancestors and the graveyards of their communities. The community gathers in the late afternoon to sing a song of common loss remembering the history of persecution and exploitation the ancient Zeshem faced. Performances or story readings dedicated to that historical loss are often done. At the end of this, the people chant the names of all community members who died that year, linking their sacrifice and loss to the great chain of Zeshem who died freeing their people. Open grief is encouraged at this time, often as dusk falls: people are encouraged to wail, cry, and scream.
Once night has fallen, people gather for the feast of memory - also known as the feast of wishes. This is a bittersweet supper in which neighbors share their food and drink and the taboo on luxuries is lifted. The faithful write down their wish or make marks on pieces of wood that signify their wish, and then burn their communal wishes in a central fire along with sacrifices to Alima.
During the day and night, the Pale Guard of Zeshema is treated with particular reverence; members of the Guard are treated like great elites for the feast.
Weeks and Year
- Ekwanun (Monday) is a calm day
- Lunun is a market day
- Kiufen is a calm day
- Tuben is a market day
- Purun is a calm day
- Amzen is a market day
- Algen is the rest day
- The Five Water Mother Holidays, which celebrate the patron goddesses of the Greater Zeshem Riverlands. The Five Mothers are the greatest of the nature spirits. The River Holidays are tied into Zeshem history and culture, celebrating both the survival of old struggles and aspirations for new glory. These are in June, July, September, November, and January
- The Three Face Holidays, which celebrate certain aspects of the great god Alima - chief of the Zeshem pantheon. These are in May, March, and August.
- The Revival Festival is the most important Zeshem holiday and new year. This celebrates the central moment of Zeshem mythology, the miraculous resurrection of the prophet Norinar.
Comments