New Year's

The various countries of Mercuria have different ways of celebrating the start of a new year.

Brillante

It is a time of more frivolity than usual for the Brillantan. Wine flows freely, music sings out of every open window, and specially made outfits are common - New Year's is an important holiday to them indeed.

The trends differ from year to year, but generally these dresses and suits worn by the elites of Brillante mimic brocades of flowers, birds, metals and gems, or animals. It is considered passe to have the same theming as someone else at a party, so the young and fashionable often have a list (maintained by the hosts of the New Year's galas) of everyone's planned themes so that no attendees are both wearing a tiger dress or an orchid suit.

This tends to also put a lot of social stress upon the friendship groups, particularly if the host shows clear favoritism in either withholding approval on themes ("we are all going to be dressed like beautiful gems, but you all must be semi-precious or common"), or by the closeness of her friendships (denying a peacock theme for one attendee as he knows that a friend he is much closer to will most likely want that theme but has not yet submitted it).

Food, drinks, entertainment, and music often follow these same trends, and the decorations are sometimes extravagantly elaborate, transforming a ballroom into a living jungle with a caged elephant or a collared jaguar (either bought from a passing merchant or a polymorph spell cast upon a servant).

The parties can last for several hours, and are often hard fought for invitations to the most popular ones. It is also considered quite rude to skip one party to go to another. A sapphire suit would not do to attend a tea garden party.

Havre-Ordure

The people of Havre-Ordure do not spend much time out and about on the day of New Year's, as "entertainment" is often procured day-of, like a prized pig for the centerpiece of a feast.

But that does not mean they do not celebrate. Colonies gather together to indulge in the exotic and sumptuous meals and drinks they have saved for special occasions, and often sing songs together (not the instrumental, "intellectual" pieces of the Brillantan, but populist songs with catchy choruses that all are encouraged to sing along with).

The caves leading into the ruins of the undercity - those that are safe, anyways - will often be used to weigh fortunes. Anyone wanting to know what their future will hold is blindfolded and spun in a circle a number of times equal to their age before being sent into the caves. They must go until they feel it is a good place to stop, and reach down or feel along the walls to bring back a piece of stone or an abandoned tool, toy, clothing, book, or other remnant of the old city. It can then be interpreted from there.

Expectant parents will sometimes do this for their unborn child, and the fragment is kept in their nurseries as a reminder of who they will grow up to be.

Cactsia

The new year is seen as a time for affirmations and commitments, and while Cactsians feast the same as others, they see this as a solemn time.

In the days leading up to the new year, Cactsians bathe regularly, clean their homes and garments, and some even shave their heads. On Jundar 37, the last day of the old year, the Cactsians burn pyres. These pyres are fueled by mementos of times that the Cactsians are putting to rest.

The Solon commence one for the empire, while individual families hold their own pyres. This is considered an acceptable time for children who do not wish to wait for their birthdays in the upcoming year to burn their childhood toys (and their hair, which must be braided and completely shorn as a mark of their commitment) and declare themselves an adult in front of the eyes of the household, empire, and the gods.

These pyres are put out at sunrise on the first day of the new year, Venen 1, with the blood of a calf (ritualistically slaughtered by the head of the household) used to douse the flames. This calf is then prepared and cooked for a traditional afternoon feast that the servants and staff are invited to participate in - the new year reaffirms that ALL are part of the empire.

Finally, while the feast is being prepared, the Cactsians travel to meet those that they wish to swear loyalty to. Future spouses, generals, solons, deities, and masters of households are most common. It is seen as a sacred time to reaffirm commitments made.

Dopplefen

Bard troupes flood into Dopplefen around New Year's - and it's not hard to see why.

The last of the harvest has just been brought in, and the first frost has sent the world into hibernation. The villages and towns of Dopplefen breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that they have enough food stored for the winter. Now it is time to relax and celebrate.

Most Dopplers can sing a song or two, or knows how to wring emotion out of a scene, but they are not professionals - nor are they particularly interested in working to entertain an audience after they have just spent months tending to their fields. So instead they hiring traveling minstrel troupes to perform for the towns in their taverns and town squares.

Puppet shows, dramas, comedies, tragedies, myths and musical showcases all entertain the exhausted townsfolk as they relax after three seasons' hard labor.

The actual day of New Year's means little to the Dopplers. They celebrate the start of the new year whenever the first frost comes (regardless of what their calendar says), and take five days off to welcome the cold season in.

After that, everyone tightens their belts and holds off on indulgent feasts until the spring.

Karasi

Fireworks are the name of the game for Karasans!

The inventors of gunpowder love nothing more than to show new, wondrous ways to use their brilliant creation. In fact, for the inventionally-minded Karasans, it has become a bit of a competition.

It is not unusual to see many different fireworks displays, all warring to be the best and brightest in the country - though this leads sometimes to shortcuts or chances taken.

In the weeks leading up to New Year's, explosions and fires are common, and these mishaps are not contained to the days before New Year's.

Clerics and other arcane spellcasters prepare spell scrolls with create water and mundane dogooders keep buckets of water by their doors, ready to run out at a moments' notice when an errant spark from one of these competitive displays lights a building on fire.

But these fantabulous, dazzling lights are not just contained to the sky - children often make small sparklers at school as part of their mechanics classes, and will use them throughout the night as a flashy source of light while they run through the city streets or chase their friends around their courtyards.

The Islands of Atropae

The first month of the new year is named after Venebri, goddess of dusk and hidden places, but that is not who the Atropaens honor with their new year festivities.

The arcanely-inclined islanders instead choose to celebrate Rochambeau with the Lantern Festival.

Bought or made by the citizens, dozens and dozens of lanterns with multi-hued flames hang on windows, off of long hooks carried over shoulders, or carried by hand. These flames themselves are colored by the glass of the globe of the lantern itself, the wicks, the oil, or by small minor illusions.

The participants of the festival often imitate the goddess's dress: light, flowing materials made of muslin and gauze - though unlike Rochambeau they are not dyed all the colors of the rainbow. In fact, they are mostly white or other light colors. But during the March of Lights (a city-wide parade of celebrants), the participants are attacked with packed pigment balls that explode on impact; soaked by buckets of dye from those hanging from upper story windows; or even have their own forms changed with illusions to different animals and people.

Most of the lanterns used during the Lantern Festival are too heavy to be used in sky lantern releases, but some cities will have those as well. Other common sky displays include releasing fireflies, butterflies, or fireworks.

Valsáth

Valsáth did not celebrate New Year's in the winter traditionally, but as the isolated mountain people began to have more contact with the outside world they have reluctantly moved a few of their customs to match the calendar of the other Mercurian countries.

Mostly, what has ended up happening is that they have moved their winter customs from "during the winter" or "before the first snowfall" to Jundar 37 and Venen 1.

The most prominent of these is a hunting competition meant to exemplify age and experience vs. youth and vitality.

Those who aspire to be hunters within the community are sent out at dawn to bring back the largest, most deadly beast that they can find - but each is outfitted according to their age.

The youngest (the young adolescents) are dressed in leather armor with winter clothes, food, and a bow and arrow and hunting knife. They are also allowed to work in groups or paired, while the adults are not.

The adults who currently work to feed the villages and are in peak condition are given no supplies, but sent out into the wilderness on their own with only the clothes on their back.

The elders, however, are not even allowed that, and must go out into the mountains with neither food nor weapons nor even cold to protect them. It is expected that their age and wisdom will be enough to allow them to survive for one day in the wilderness and give them a fighting chance against their prey.

It is a contest of survival, strength, stamina, and wits - for it is hardly ever the one with the sharpest knife that returns to win.

All who come back with kills are honored for their contribution, and the meat is quickly prepared and stored for communal use during the wintertime - the claws, teeth, pelts, and other goods are given to the family of the hunter for their own use.

The one who comes back with the largest kill, however, has their prey prepared by the village elder. Its meat is consumed in a village meal that night under the stars, and its other goods are made into clothing and jewelry for the victor, blessed by the elder. These champions are called Night Hunters, and thought to be blessed by Rishar, the White Bear - the hunter Urðr.

Night baths in the freezing cold mountain pools with surfaces as still as glass are also common. The reflective nature of such bodies of water allows them to show a perfect mirror of the stars above and are thought to allow the Urðr to speak of futures, fortunes, or (for younger members of the community) deliver them an offer to follow a patron spirit.