Calendar
The current calendar of Terre is based on the one used by the Forgotten Empire, starting on approximately the date of their ancestor’s ascension to Terre through the Shattered Gate, denoted as Ascendant Calendar (AC). The beginning of a year is in fact the summer solstice of Terre - the day when Helios is at its zenith and Fire dominates over the elements.
There are eight months in a single year, in the following order: Yondar, Ertos, Santra, Silour, Vupen, Lylix, Quivea, Helind.
The current calendar day is Vupen 7th, AC 1412.
Several festivals and holidays happen on an annual basis, following the Ascendant Calendar. Most holidays are celebrated across all of Terre, due to their shared origin, dating back to imperial days, but some holidays are observed only in specific regions as well.
The Festival of Fire
Celebrated all across Terre on Yondar 1st of each calendar year, the Festival of Fire marks the start of a new year across Terre. The Ascendant Calendar is dated so that the beginning of a new year is summer solstice of Terre, when Elemental Fire is at its prime, so that tieflings can most reliable pierce the veil separating Terre from the Nether during the Ascension.
Each region and culture have different festivities to celebrate the Festival of Fire, but common between all of them is the lighting of fireworks as the calendar date crosses from Helind 30th, the Eve of Fire, to Yondar 1st of the next year. Many regions, including the Divine Glorian Empire, Maltross, and Okeanos, keeps the tradition of ceremonial burning, of paper talismans or wicker-mans, to symbolize the removal of bad fortune or past regrets and mistakes.
Youalitzli (Carnival of the Night)
A festival celebrated amongst Yharnic tribals and followers of Xbeltz’aloc on Helind 13th of each year. The entirety of the jungles of Yharn is enshrouded in a caliginous gloom from dawn to dusk, blocking out even the dim sunlight that manages to penetrate through layers and layers of canopy. The Nocturne Parade is active throughout the entire day, making traversing the jungle extremely dangerous.
The tribes hold ceremonial feasts and conduct ritual sacrifices to appease Xbeltz’aloc, in return for his blessing and protection. In the deep jungles, humanoid sacrifice are still in practice, where unfortunate prisoners and slaves are killed, flayed, or bloodletted as part of the ritual; For those who observe residing in parts of Terre where such gruesome sacrifices are outlawed or impractical, animals are used in place of humanoids.
Harvest Sunset
A night festival hosted yearly on Santra 25th to commemorate the end of the harvest season, and to celebrate a good harvest. Rural villages across Terre, mostly in the Divine Glorian Empire and Astartia, where agriculture plays a prominent role, will host night markets for residents and travellers alike, with excess food, produce, games, and commerce for trade and sale. Harvest Sunset is often dedicated to Astarte, goddess of twilight, who holds domain over agriculture and furtility.
Hoshihara, a hilltop village in Astartia, is famous for its night market. Every Harvest Sunset, the night sky around Hoshihara is illuminated by blue and violet starlight, attracting visitors across Terre, and the merchants and traders that follow in their footsteps. Legends say that the hill Hoshihara sits on is the altar to Astarte, who blesses this divine land with such miraculous boon one night each year.
Victory Day
A commemorative festival celebrating the anniversary of the Forgotten Empire’s retreat from Shattered Gate on Vupen 2nd, AC 954. The Throne of the Ascendant’s retreat into Okeanos marks (the beginning of) the end of the Tide of Steel, when most regions and factions of Terre earned their respective independence from the Empire’s crumbling rule towards the end of imperial times. While each region established their regime at different times, the retreat is recognized across Terre as the most significant event.
A common form of celebration, in particular in Verza, Maltross, and the Divine Glorian Empire, is military parades, hosted at capitols or fortress settlements, for the kingdoms and empires to exhibit their military power to their citizens and enemies.
Greenblossom
A festival celebrated around Viridian Grove in Verza on Lylix 19th every five years, ending on 1 or 6. The Viridian Grove, a Great Fairy Oak, blossoms every five years around that date, and to druids of the Verzae Legion holds special, divine meanings, signaling the start of spring and the victory of life.
Druids of the Verzae Legion, worshippers of nature, and wood-elves in general converges within Viridian Grove on a pilgrimage to the druidic leylines. A celebration is held on Lylix 19th by the Legion.
Baywatch Day
Coastal settlements around Clearwater Bay, mostly Astartian cities and villages, celebrate annually on Vupen 23rd as residents gather around vantage points along the coastline from daybreak to watch over the frozen-over ocean, searching for sightings of migrating oceanic animals. Sightings of whales, orcas, or sea leviathans breaking through the thinning sea ice are considered good fortune and omens for the upcoming spring, as well as a good year ahead for sowing and harvest.
The Grand Bazaar
Maltrossian tribal caravans convene around Gurbesu Hyip, an oasis in central Maltross, annually on Silour 2nd, to host the Grand Bazaar, a reunion and celebration of the past year. Caravaneers will feast, dance, trade for resources to prepare for the upcoming winter, and host an assortment of competitions, including archery, horse wizardry, cart racing, sharpshooting, and others, some with prizes, some for fun and glory. The Grand Bazaar is also a place for young adults to meet and mingle and get to know each other, in hope of finding a partner, the love of their life, get picked up by another caravan, or form a group to roam Maltross together.
Springcoming
Maltrossian tradition requires young unmarried Maltrossians who have joined other caravans from their parents to return home around early spring in the beginning of Lylix to provide aid for the first five years of their departure. These times are marked by bittersweet reunions and celebrations, and sees individual travels across the region increased many fold.
Venerable elder caravaneers who have retired from labors sometimes travel to join their childrens and families to celebrate Springcoming as well.
Leymune
Every year on the night of Ertos 30th, from sunset to sunrise on the next day, Legionnaires of the Verzae Legion settle down and engage in meditation, in an effort to commune with the Leylines of Terre. The Leylines are streams of soul energy, from which lives are born, and to which they return on death. Legionnaires, as well as many druidic practitioners seeks to strengthen their attunement to the Leylines and to receive wisdoms and guidance from their ancestors.
The meditation is not to be interrupted unless under urgent circumstances, as ordered by a Captain or higher-ranked legionnaire, or the highest ranking legionnaire available in the regiment or encampment. Legionnaires on guard duty on the night are exempt from meditation. The effect of bonding with the Leylines helps alleviate fatigue and exhaustion, and allows non-elven legionnaires to enter conscious trance similar to elves.
Schmiedefeier (Celebration of the Forge)
Dwarves of Unterbergstadt under the Hollunberg mountains celebrate dwarven craftsmanship and artistry on Yondar 11th during Schmiedefeier. The forges in the forge district on the lower layers are extinguished on Yondar 4th, after the celebration of the Festival of Fire, and throughout the next week are repaired, cleaned, and maintained, to prepare for the next year’s service. On Schmiedefeier, the lava channels throughout Underbergstadt are refilled, and lava stream flows down the vertical structures of the city, a spectacle to behold for its inhabitants.