Festivities

A merry day in Ironhurst.

Festivals within Galudon have grown organically over the centuries. Within the city of Ironhurst itself celebrations have evolved to include not only many important historical dates, but also the acknowledgement of the tenets and mainstays of Galudonian society.

Official Celebrations

The festivals and celebrations listed here are the approved days of rest and revelry approved by the Parliament. These may change as the whims of government do. For each celebration, all members and classes of society are encouraged to take part. Galudonian culture believes that those who reject society's celebrations and achievements are not able to truly help shape the future - as they will be out of touch of what the people want.

Verticordia Day

Date

First week of February

Meaning

The Festival of Changing Hearts

Celebrations

A celebration of love, this festival was originated by one of Ironhurst’s most famous madames, Charlaine Martin. A suitor would bring more and more coin to her door, but she would still turn him away, saying she had money aplenty, but wished for something more. In desperate desire to achieve his goals, he brought her presents in a parade, showcasing luxurious bedding, new clothes, jewelry, and musical instruments. Still, she told him no and turned her face from his gifts. At his wit’s end, he came to her one morning, and knelt before her, pleading with her for a sign on what would please her. At seeing his humility, something no one else had offered her, she flung open her door and took him as her lover. He was so elated, that every year she was alive, he paraded gifts before her, allowing her to choose her favorite in celebration.

In honor of a changed heart, potential sweethearts assemble a “parade” of gifts that their chosen may like. These gifts can become quite ostentacious, but the artisans who create the most beautiful pieces are usually lauded and become quite popular. Once the sweetheart has chosen something they like, it is traditional for the pleading lover to be allowed inside, where they spend the day and night together while a red lantern burns in the window.

Spurned lovers who did not please their sweethearts traditionally gather at pubs and drink, where later on that night they move through the streets in masks with torches, hollering and shouting jovial insults at the windows of the pleased lovers to disrupt the intimate festivities.

The Polebreaker Festival

Date

Usually the middle of March

Meaning

Galudon celebrates when the ice melts along riverways, allowing for the best trade season to begin.

Celebrations

Early in the morning, as the ice sounds the cracking shots while the sun rises, boat crews race to the water with long sticks to break up the ice and allow passage upriver. The younger men on the crews move through the streets with bells to let the city know that the ice has melted, and to prepare for the Polebreaker Festival. Seven days after the ice has melted, the day will dawn with an air of festivity. The long poles that have broken the ice are festooned with flowers and ribbons that boat crews will carry down to docks and riverways. Citizens decorate their pleasure boats, and travel up and down rivers, showing off their designs as well as their new spring clothing. Parties are held on the riverfront; eating, drinking, and dancing all day long. Yachts for the very rich will hold parties that start with champagne and end with it, well into the night. Ironhurst generally shuts up shops on that day, a rarity, but the general mood of the city is to celebrate the good weather and production ahead. And they do so by drinking excessively, gambling, dancing, and eating the last of the winter stores.

Liberation Night

Date

First week of May

Meaning

Eiruks celebrate the week they officially won independence from the dwarves.

Celebrations

The Eiruks have a night long festival that starts with a solemn procession towards a body of water, where leaders within the community throw rocks into the water - the action representing sinking the collar of the mines beneath the surface and drowning their slavery under the calm waters and open air. Skipping rocks is a common pastime at this festival. After the symbolic drowning of their slavery, there is a large feast. Eiruks will compete with each other to bring the most ostentatious and rich dishes and entertainment - another signal to the outside world that Eiruks are no longer held to a lower status. There is dancing and song, revelries that grow more lush and elaborate as the night goes on. At dawn, all Eiruks will go back to the water where the stone was sunk and lay candles at the water's edge in remembrance of their ancestors and the sacrifices that allowed them to enjoy the night before.

The Ironhurst Cup

Date

First week of June

Meaning

An ending to the official racing season.

Celebrations

The biggest horse race of the season. Racing season starts in April, with smaller races taking place every week up until the Ironhurst Cup. Horses are bred for it, many breeders making their fortunes on the horses that end up placing. The Ironhurst Cup is the most prestigous race, with races for other thoroughbreds taking place in the afternoon, and the main race for three-year-old horses taking place just before supper. After the race, most of the city stays to drink and mingle, with many people hosting parties at their own homes or rented places the rest of the evening.

Berry and Bush Day

Date

Second week of July

Meaning

A celebration of Galudon's natural resources.

Celebrations

A day where the city heads into the woods to gather wild fruits and greenery. Picnics take place, with fireworks over the city at night. People venture out with baskets to collect wild strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and even the occasional dreamberry patch and feast to their heart’s content. Drinks and alchemy are imbibed while picnicking, and the city takes a holiday during the heat of the summer to enjoy the outdoors and the natural resources of their home.

Founding Day

Date

August 15th

Meaning

The day Ironhurst was officially founded.

Celebrations

The leader of government splits a log - symbolically recreating the beginning of the city’s infrastructure. The leader usually reads a speech from the royal court at Parliament which outlines the focus of the government over the upcoming year. The city then enjoys music, dancing, and feasting.

Celebration of Innovation

Date

Third week of September

Meaning

A day in which Ironhurst celebrates its scientific and engineering communities. This is an important festival as it encourages investment to develop and improve technology each year.

Celebrations

The Science and Engineering festival is celebrated by holding a showcase of this year's latest developments and several competitions in different categories for science and engineering. Awards are given, scholarships and fellowships awarded, and new and upcoming inventors and engineers are introduced to investors.

Embernight

Date

Last week of October

Meaning

An autumn festival that celebrates the harvest.

Celebrations

An unusually pastoral festival, this is the feast for the farmers, grocers, and cooks that feed the city. During the autumn season pumpkins, cornstalks, and other seasonal decorations are found on every porch and doorway in town. As dusk falls, bonfires are lit to encircle the city. Feast tables are set up nearby, and the city celebrates, classes mingling together to share food and stories of past ancestors. It is customary to stay at the fire until the wood turns to embers, then people put one piece of the bonfire’s ember into a bowl to light the fire for the next year. Those who light their homefires from Embernight’s bonfires are said to bring good luck and good fortune in the year to come.

Another tradition for Embernight is the baking of pies. These pies may be humble or extravagant, but households bake them in miniature or grand sizes for exchange with neighbors, friends, employees and employers, or other meaningful people in their lives. Professional bakers often make them by the hundred, and artists may create sugar flowers or other decorations to enhance them for people that wish to impress. The day after, many people display the number of pies in their open windows, and spend the next weeks enjoying the bounty of the friendships they’ve made over the last year.

Ancestor's Honor Days

Date

Second week in November

Meaning

A time when society remembers those who came before, and their accomplishments and contributions to Galudonian society.

Celebrations

Many begin by going to clean the graves of those who have passed, laying flowers and candles at the resting places of people they’ve admired as well as their family members. Those who recently have passed are given blue candles, symbolizing the passage from life, while others have white the years following. Memorials are often printed in newspapers as well as new biographies are often published around this time. Suppers and balls are given where people dress like famous people of the past, often in masquerade form.

Candlemas

Date

Last week of December

Meaning

A celebration of the hard work of the year, especially towards those in the mining profession.

Celebrations

Winter greenery is hung around the lintels and fireplaces in Galudon as a reminder of the society in which Galudonians have created from the wilderness. Mistletoe is especially popular, as it is tradition for couples to kiss when found under it. Candles are lit in every window, lights hung as a salute to the tireless miners who bring up coal to keep houses warm and lit even in the darkest nights. Decorations such as baubles, swags of color, and ribbon are hung, sometimes to very grand effect, in people’s homes and places of work.

Feasts are given nightly, family hosting each other, employers, friends, and sometimes whole neighborhoods in joyous celebration of the work ethic of Galudon and the labors of the year. Gifts are exchanged with loved ones, with very expensive gifts in high demand to make an impression for the forthcoming year.

On the final night of the year, people gather together in magnificent feasts, usually many courses and fine drink, and party until midnight. It is a local legend that whomever you spend the turn of midnight with shall be a great influence in the upcoming year.

It is considered bad form for someone to not join in the merriment of Candlemas - as someone who cannot enjoy the finer things society has created is often looked on as someone who cannot answer to society’s needs.

Figures of Candlemas can be found HERE