December Event - Candlelight Revelry

[pumpkinhollow]

Candlelight Revelry

The Longest Nights

{ CONTENT WARNINGS: grief, especially in a winter/December context, exclusive to Mourner's Night. All others should be mostly cw free! }

It is always interesting to consider that across many cultures, and indeed across many universes, there is something that is shared across numerous groups of people from many, many different backgrounds, and that is the concept of winter holidays. Not every culture has them, of course, and they vary in importance, involvement, reason, and length pretty wildly. But it's fun to think about the fact that all kinds of humanoids all across time and space looked at that bleak stretch of time between the end of November to the beginning of March and thought to themselves, "we should put some kind of party in there so we don't all lose our minds." The people of the Emerald Isles, of which Marrow Isle is one, are much the same in this regard.

Since its inception, Pumpkin Hollow has celebrated the two main winter holidays common among the various nations across Northern Leviathan, which are Mourner's Night and Givingstide. Additionally, it's become a bit of a new tradition in Pumpkin Hollow to join in offworlder celebrations, such as Hanukkah, Solstice, and Christmas--- often with more being added each year as newcomers arrive with their own traditions! And somehow, each year, it seems as though for a few weeks all of the evils take a rest as well. Is it because this time of year is simply too sacred for them to create trouble and pain? Or is it because the weavers of this world are too busy booking family dinners, plane flights, and road trips to subject their little toys to more horrors? It is one of the great mysteries of the universe, isn't it?

Anyway, here's wishing you a cozy, restful, blissful holiday season, regardless of your traditions. May this next year be just as full of adventure and fun, with far less trials and tribulations. (For the players. The characters should continue to endure the torment nexus, of course.)

Local Customs

MOURNER'S NIGHT | December 10th

Nightfall comes early this time of year, so it isn't too long of a wait for the sky to grow fully dark. Dressed in mourning clothes and warm coats, the people of the town gather in little clusters in the streets, in near silence. Lanternbearers dressed like undertakers carry tall posts with blazing lanterns hanging from them, faces painted like skulls. There hasn't been a true and final death in Pumpkin Hollow for years now, but that doesn't stop the people here from holding their annual vigil for those that were lost before the barrier.

The lanternbearers guide the groups through town, converging on Main Street, where they are awaited by a long-bodied black carriage drawn by black horses with white skeleton-markings painted on them. A hearse. In the driver's seat, a woman in a tight black dress and a mistletoe-patterned black veil, which gives only the smallest glimpses of her pale hair. It's Fever, acting in the role of Mortanne.

Very few words are exchanged as this procession makes its way through the cold to Fall's Promise Cemetery, where by the light of candles and lanterns alone, Reverend Clayton retells the story of Mortanne's final kindness. Those who pass away are met where they find their end by a horse-drawn hearse, where they ride with Death and recount their life until they reach their destination--- the afterlife they've earned. A mournful hymn is sung that seems to make the sky itself ache, and then…

Silence.

Stay at the candle light vigil for as long as you want. Remember those who you lost back home, honor those who passed away before you arrived but whose influence you still feel every day, or simply pay respects to yourself. You died to be here, after all. And then, when the cold starts biting too much to bear, part ways, and find your way home with a candle in hand. You will surely be left with much to think about.

Those who gravitate towards the outskirts, however, or linger after most have gone, may spy another woman in a black dress and veil. For a moment, it would be easy to mistake her as Fever--- the resemblance is striking. But then you see much longer, stark white hair spilling out of the bottom of the veil, and feel a gaze meet yours that feels like it's calling you home.

GIVINGSTIDE | December 22nd

Ah, Givingstide! After the somber observance of Mourner's Night, you only have to wait eleven days to have some proper winter-themed fun!

Held on the day after the longest night of the year, this holiday is a "thank goodness, we made it" tradition that celebrates the beginning of the sun's return and the first step in the journey towards spring. All across numerous countries in Concorde's Northern Hemisphere, communities gather in large communal spaces to eat, drink, and be warm together while exchanging gifts. And for Pumpkin Hollow, that takes place in the Oak & Iron, the beloved tavern where most spend their first nights on the island.

A massive feast is held, where the tavern itself, local restaurants, and amateur chefs collaborate to create a menu of warming, hearty dishes. Soups and stews, pasta, roasted meat, bread, root vegetable dishes, and sweets galore are served alongside hot cider, cocoa, coffee, tea, mulled wine, and mead. Paper horses and snowflakes line the walls, and boughs of pine and holly create beds for skulls on tables and above the fireplace. A miniature sleigh is set up in the center of the room, piled high with gifts that everyone placed in it upon their arrival. Once everyone has gotten their food, the mayor and Dahlia take turns plucking parcels from the pile and reading off who they are for so as to hand them out. Although some do prefer to give the gifts directly. (The mayor, for once, looks relaxed.)

With all the gifts passed out, songs are sung and instruments played in groups while others dance or sit by the fire. Some will go out to play in the snow, and by the end of the night, more than a dozen snowmen will have popped up outside the tavern. Others still will remain inside, basking in the warmth of being among their community. Children play with toys, adults laugh, desserts are overindulged in, and all is well.

OFFWORLD TRADITIONS

Winter Holidays from Around the Universe

The interfaith space within the Temple of Sacred Roots stays busy this time of year! Since most local traditions are celebrated outside the temple, many of the main areas are offered to the pursuit of offworld religious observances for much of December.

Hanukkah is up first among the larger celebrations, running from December 14th through the 22nd this year. The island's Jewish population consists primarily of Anzu, Lev/Lyubov, and Zivia, though they'll warmly invite friends and family to join in on the festivities.

Christmas, of course, is on December 25th, though the preceding evening is also a busy time. Despite being a Pumpkin Hollow native, Dahlia Leeds has partners who observe the holiday, as well as a gaggle of young housemates and a television who are all very enthusiastic about Christmas. As such, she's made the decision to host a fairly well-appointed and cozy Christmas Eve party in her home (though she largely allows Radar and the teenagers to select the guest list). Dress in your Christmas best and have dinner at Leeds Estate before proceeding to the Temple for midnight mass! Non-partygoers are invited to attend the ceremony by candlelight as well, as usual. Christmas Day celebrations vary by household!

But for those who don't have anything in particular to do on the afternoon of the 25th, a recent town addition is also hosting a celebration for the Feast of the Winter Star from her own home world. Those who signed up can participate in the "secret gift exchange" organized by Haley. But you don't need to be in the exchange to come and have fun! Light and decorate a holiday tree in the snow, enjoy a potluck with friends new and old, and enjoy some stargazing afterwards--- it's a perfect way to cap off the day, whether you're incorporating it into your own holiday or just there to have a nice time.

Other holidays celebrated throughout the month are:

• Saturnalia on the 17th, celebrated by Gaeta
• Winter's Crest on the 20th, celebrated by Cassandra
• Dongzhi on the 21st, celebrated by Shen Qingqiu alongside his found family
• Mittvinter on the 21st, celebrated by Hector, Capochin, Godpoke, Patty, and their found family and close friends
• The Birth of Hathor on the 23rd, celebrated by Marik
• The Winter Solstice celebration on the 25th, celebrated by Sorceress and Wizard
• and Gyftmas on the 25th, celebrated by Mettaton and Papyrus

And of course there's New Years Eve on the 31st, celebrated by both locals and a majority of offworlders! Share some holiday cheer with your friends from all across the multiverse and take some time to get to know how your neighbor spends the season this year, and cap this year off with a wonderful, festive bang!

Happy Holidays!

Comments

[abhorrently]

When everyone else has departed, or at least made indications to leave, Fever still remains. All the candles she set up need to be collected and taken away, uprooted from the ground and gently blown out before going into a box. She could leave them to burn all night, but that's hardly fair when they only have one devoted groundskeeper, and he was kind enough to attend. And there's something meditative about the action, almost fitting that for how many lives she extinguished, she has to snuff out all of these. A spell would handle this more swiftly, but no - it needs to be her hands, her hard work. Tonight, she lets the corpses cling to her. Tomorrow, she will laugh and rejoice in living. But that is tomorrow, and this is the present.

Seeing Shen Qingqiu remaining, she looks up at him - she cannot make herself smile right now, but the urge to cry has passed.

"Do you wish to still hold vigil?"

She can wait until he's done to finish with the rest.

[xiaoxiuya]

"Oh, um, no," he finally says, struggling a little with the question. A vigil, out here? As if he was kneeling before an ancestral shrine? No, he doesn't think Shen Jiu deserves that -- but it still takes him a moment to wrestle with the question. "No, thank you. I simply wondered whether you would like some assistance?"

There are quite a lot of candles, after all. And Shen Qingqiu knows better than to judge a young woman solely based on physical appearances, truly he does! But surely it's still polite to ask.

[abhorrently]

"In truth, if you're offering, I'd appreciate it. The sooner I get these packed away, the less we have to worry about wax potentially getting anywhere we don't want it."

Capable or not, it still helps - it's getting colder out here, and she's not immune to that, even if this outfit offers some protection.

"And...thank you for coming tonight."

[xiaoxiuya]

At first, Shen Qingqiu's only response is a somewhat uncomfortable smile, as he bows his head and begins to gather up the candles. After a few minutes of that, however, he finally murmurs, "Thank you as well, for setting this up. And for showing us what to do..."

He hangs his head for a moment, his arms full of half-melted candles. "It was...difficult. But I think it was also long overdue."

[abhorrently]

"I'll let you in on a secret. I was making most of that up while I went along."

If she'd seemed like any sort of authority, it was all in the voice, the posture, and the clothes. Improvising was the only real way she could get through it - but having the advice of different friends in her ear also helped.

"But when you say overdue..."

She looks at him, and even through the veil, there's a sense that she wants him to continue. It's not like she didn't bare her own soul to the group, leading with her own sins and ending with who she was.

[xiaoxiuya]

"Well, you gave me words where I had none, so I'm grateful." Perhaps he could have come up with something on his own, but...This has always been something he's tried not to think about. Just another horrifying thing that's happened to him that he can't affect or change, so why dwell?

It never occurred to him that, perhaps in some small way, he could try to heal it.

Fever's leading silence gives him pause, for a moment, looking up at the cold, twinkling stars with a deep sigh. "Blessed Mortanne isn't the only being that can call souls between universes," he finally says quietly. "Some of them aren't nearly so benevolent as her."

[abhorrently]

"...this I know personally."

She isn't sure how much he knows about the day that so many of them showed up on Marrow Isle's shores. Fleeing a collapsing prison, a vengeful being gone mad, feeding off their suffering. And others have been torn from the world more than once. But she doesn't know Shen Qingqiu's story - won't pretend to.

"You were displaced?"

What a simple word for it, for the utter removal from one's entire life.

[xiaoxiuya]

"Oh right, the boat dimension, with its endless ocean and mad captain...forgive an old man's poor memory." He smiles at her slightly before nodding. "Yes, although my captor was less...embodied than yours. In truth there are many questions that I simply don't know the knowledge to answer, but in practical terms what happened was this: a human body, one native to that world, was left unoccupied...and I was forced to take its owners place."

His smile by this point is looking distinctly pained. "Believe it or not, I'd been a completely normal person before that. We don't even have magic or, or deities in my native world. At least not ones you can actually see and talk to, like the Mothers..."

[abhorrently]

Unoccupied. His talk about Shen Jiu being replaced, which is a different word than died. And what she knows of corpses being given spirits to walk around with, and those from realms without magic still running into barriers when they found worlds with, and the idea of the face you see in the mirror suddenly so drastically changing. He had memories, and his name, but would the flesh be his own?

Bound to the shadow of someone he'll never meet, whose misdeeds would dog him despite him not having personally moved his hand to commit them. The full, overwhelming horror of it is not the same as her own, but elements rhyme to form a complete chord. She looks at him, and she does not smile. The candles they haven't gotten yet throw the shadows of their faces into deep contrast. And for a moment, they can wait.

All she does, instead of saying anything - for how lacking words are, how vast the concept and how little that terrible chord can be voiced - is extend her hand to lay it on his upper arm. Touch sometimes says enough when words fail her.

[xiaoxiuya]

The smile falling from his face, Shen Qingqiu likewise lowers his gaze, as uncomfortable with Fever's touch as he is...well, touched by it.

"It hasn't been so bad since I got here," he finally says quietly, and pats her arm. Not dismissing her comfort, but trying in some small way to acknowledge it and return it in kind. "We all play a role to some degree or another, but here I get to choose what parts I take. And...I am happy here." From the corner of his eye he catches sight of his dear boyfriends, waiting for him by the gate. His smile, this time, is very warm, and very real. "Happier than I ever dared imagine."

Remembering himself, he gives Fever a concerned look. "But what about you, dear? Will you be all right?" Tonight? In general? For the rest of her life? Let's start with option A and work our way down the list, shall we?

[abhorrently]

Her eyes follow his gaze and see the two by the gate, and she nods in understanding. This place did offer chances that didn't exist elsewhere. Changes that needed to take place, sometimes only possible by distance. If coming here means he gets to be happy - that he can tailor his role to himself instead of tailoring himself to the role - then she's glad, genuinely so. That must be why he was brought here, if he was ever questioning why it had to happen.

At the question, Fever tries to smile. She manages, but there's still something distant in her gaze. It's been cathartic, but tiring to carry tonight off. The vigil, the carrying of grief for others, and now the funeral - emotionally, it all takes a toll.

"I'll be fine. When this is all over, I'm going to head home and draw a hot bath."

It's a simple comfort, but one she'll find joy in after a chilly night.

[xiaoxiuya]

"Good idea," he agrees. "Maybe call up a friend too? Maybe I'm just being too nosy, but...this seems a very poor night to be alone."

[abhorrently]

"I've got one who'll make sure that's not the case."

Her eyes flick past him, looking back for where she knows Pyotr is waiting. The thought of companionship being for the best had occurred to her earlier, and she had decided to just ask him if he could wait for her. All the more reason to get this put away - to be able to rest somewhere safe.

"But I appreciate your concern. This isn't a night I'd want to be alone."