New Year's Birth
This is a major festival in the world of the d20 campaign I run for some friends. It occurs on the first day of spring, and is a fertility celebration, along with a time for new beginnings, renewal of hope, rebirth, and general celebrations. The outline below shows how it is celebrated at the barracks where the characters are posted.
Mother's Air, Spring First, 1833
Spring Rites
The morning of the New Year's Birth is generally taken up by the religious observances. These begin at dawn, and generally run through almost to mid-day.
Plowing
Dawn sees each family out at a small plot of field outside the city with a simple plow. They have eaten nothing yet this day, and the entire family takes turns dragging and guiding the plow through the rough earth. When the small plot has been properly aerated, the family stops for a drink of water. The first libation is poured on the earth, and the family drinks their fill.
Each squad on the Wall has their own plot outside the Ring town, and they send a delegation to tend it. Many other groupings of people who are not related by family also share a plot outside the town. For example, the Cathedral of Builders tends a large field surrounded by a fieldstone wall, and each member has a small plot within the field.
Fertilizing
The local cathedral blesses a large cart of manure, and distributes it (for a small contribution) to the families who are participating in the ceremonies. Many of the participants mix a drop of blood from each member of the family into the manure before spreading it on their plots. Again, each member of the family participates in spreading and hoeing in the manure, even the youngest members.
Planting
The families plant corn in their plot, along with small tokens of their hopes for the next year. These are often little stones inscribed with wishes, small poppets of sick friends and relatives, or little carvings of things hoped for. As each of these wishes goes into the ground with a piece of seed corn, the planter offers a little prayer to the Mother and the Saint most closely related to the wish.
Blessing
After the plots have been seeded, the priests of the local cathedral come by and invoke the blessing of the Mother and Father on the corn and the people who planted it. After the blessing has been performed, the families generally go home for a large lunch.
Lunch
The barracks mess is preparing a special menu for lunch: cornmeal griddle cakes, maple syrup, boiled goose eggs, venison sausage, bacon, stewed peaches, baked apples with cinnamon and raisins, roast chicken in honey glaze, barley porridge, fried potatoes and onions, beef ribs in a tomato-molasses sauce, fresh herb bread with garlic butter, and several types of cheese. Watered wine and beer are set out in large casks. The meal is laid on as a buffet, and is replenished throughout the day until midnight.
Of course, every inn and tavern in town is laying on a New Year's Birth spread, at various prices. The new spring beer is also traditionally drawn on this day, and that produces a strong tradition of pub-crawling and heavy drinking throughout the day.
Afternoon
The rest of the day is not nearly as regimented as the morning. Generally, celebrants do whatever they enjoy through the day, and there is more than enough going on to satisfy even the most jaded partier.
Wall Duty
Except for those who have pulled punishment duty, the soldiers on the Wall have reduced duty shifts. Of course, morning and early afternoon shifts are the most desirable, as the big parties don't start until later in the day.
Celebratory Rites
An hour after noon (time for the clergy to have a good lunch), the Cathedral of the Builders conducts a service in honour of the New Year's Birth. It is a standard celebratory rite, focusing on the invocation of the Mother, and prayers for safety and prosperity in the next year. The service lasts about an hour, and is well attended by the detachment and the locals.
Games
A variety of contests, competitions, and games are held in the afternoon. They differ wildly in level of organization, structure, prizes, and legality, although the local watch is generally pretty lax about prosecuting non-destructive crimes committed during the celebration. Some highlights:
Archery Contest
This contest is open to all comers. There is a primary elimination round held in groups of 10 to determine 5 competitors to advance to the finals. The finals are held around dinnertime, with each competitor taking three shots. The lowest score is eliminated, and the remaining competitors shoot again. This continues until only two competitors remain, and then they each get a single shot at twice the distance to determine the winner. The prize is ten crowns and a quiver of twelve masterwork arrows, as well as an award scroll.
Prizefights
There are a number of prizefights held in various locations throughout the Ring Town. The biggest one is the Military Invitational, where each of the ten units of the company is eligible to put up a competitor. The local watch and the Cathedral also put up competitors, and the Cathedral competitor, trained in Roician unarmed combat techniques, is the odds-on favourite to win. The tournament works in a tree structure, and the winner collects a purse of 100 crowns and an award scroll.
Spike Ball
Many groups use Spike Ball as a way to defend their honour or seek redress for slights done to them during the year. Rivalry between units or squads, for example, is often impetus for a challenge to a Spike Ball game, which is treated almost as a duel. Most games are simple pick-up affairs, with little besides honour at stake, although wagers and side bets are not uncommon.
Races
Various local establishments sponsor footraces and horse races. House Proenyth sponsors a large horse race that generally sees close to twenty serious entries, and runs cross-country over five miles. The prize is a set of custom saddle and harness, made to the winner's specification, and an award scroll. Adras Arms and Armour sponsors the largest footrace, which runs half a mile along the top of the Wall. It has roughly twenty serious entries, as well. The prize for this race is 50 crowns and an award scroll.
Parties
The celebrations during the afternoon are fairly low key, as the real serious partying only gets going after nightfall. Still, all the local taverns have drawn their new spring beer and ale, which leads to groups making the rounds and sampling the various brews. Gaining the reputation for the best spring beer of the year is money in the bank for the establishment that gets it, so most places put their best foot forward, and do their best to sway people's opinion.
Evening
After the sun sets, there are a variety of more passive amusements for the celebrants. Most events last long into the night, and some can get pretty rowdy.
Recital
At sunset, the Lorehold students and masters put on a recital on the steps of the Cathedral of the Builders. This generally lasts until the beginning of the fireworks display, and features some fine renditions by the masters, especially.
Fireworks
Tutelary Adeptus Minor of the Knowledge of the Hidden Power Ibilabard produces a grand fireworks display two hours after sunset. He stands on the top of the Wall, and, using a wand of pyrotechnics and a wand of silent image, he puts on a display lasting about two hours. It is an impressive mix of standard fireworks and massive animated scenes out of Exemplary Lives. It is, of course, the highlight of the festivities for the local children.
Parties
After the fireworks, the Ring Town degenerates into a massive street party. Most inns and taverns stay open all night, with their doors open and people passing in and out, refilling their drinks and grabbing food. Many private citizens also open their doors, especially to the Wall troops, and the various units traditionally make a number of circuits through the town, indulging themselves in the hospitality of the town.
The Next Morning
Regular duties resume the next day, and there is usually little patience for those with hangovers. Breakfast is leftovers from the huge buffet the day before, some cold, some reheated. The local watch and the local residents spend the morning cleaning up the mess, and there are always a few soldiers on punishment duty taking over all the worst jobs.
