Day of Yellow

Public holiday celebrated by the Grand Artanat Empire that commemorates the birthday of the emperor of the empire.

The Day of Yellow is a significant celebration where workers are given several days off before and after the event. However, the date will change depending on the birthday of the current emperor, so if they die or are removed from power somehow the Day of Yellow will change when a new emperor is elected. It is one of the most anticipated public holidays of the GAE.

The Day of Yellow is celebrated in many different ways by different people. There are often military parades but many places will hold various celebrations like offering more types of food from various other cultures. Others will hold target practice events, sometimes as a competition or a tournament. Sometimes, prizes can be won from this. Other places might hold gaming, sporting or even board game competitions. There is probably something for everyone. It is usually run by and for Ukztlakat, but the celebration can also be run and enjoyed by other species, as long as they understand what the day is about and how to celebrate it. Individual birthdays of the people of the GAE are also celebrated.

The day is named such because yellow is the primary national colour of the GAE and an artanat icon. It shows one's dedication to the empire in a similar way as waving the flag around. Many items and structures are sometimes decorated in yellow, as well as featuring yellow light shows and a firework display that happens at the time of emperor birth. The largest firework display is normally held on Runagat, the ukztlakat home planet and also the planet with the single highest cost of living, so the population of Runagat is almost entirely rich individuals.

The celebration day began with one particularly early emperor who had a lot of influence even for a GAE emperor. Even within the government no one could challenge them because the overwheming majority of the government lined up with his wishes. Many laws changed under his rule and he even had a large impact on the GAE culture itself. This emperor lived during the late Scronala System expansion and exploration era, from a few years before FTL travel became truly commonplace. At this time, GAE FTL existed but was quite slow, so while they had colonies in various systems beyond Scronala, these were not  yet close to deveoped like Scronalan system coloines were. As such, the ukztlakat were still considered a pre-FTL faction...

The holiday also has a number of mascots closely associated with the holiday. The most famous of these is the Yaro, which is a large creature which originated in ukztlakat folklore, usually covered in fur and living in very cold, snowing regions. The Yaro often resembles a large ball of fluff with 6 legs and a large head. This is mostly closely associated with the Day of Yellow because of another emperor who lived shortly after the original one that established the Day of Yellow. This other emperor was fascinated by folklore and wanted to make yaros related to the Day of Yellow. Since then, several other emperors also added various mascots, and now there is a large amount of variety.