#event: Yeon Nen. Wild Hunt

[kadeu]

WINTER FESTIVITIES; 12/21 — 01/01

Yeon Nen is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. The first day of Kadeu’s twelve-day winter festival is the longest night of the year and is known as Itari Sol. On this night, citizens of Kadeu celebrate the start of the waxing year as from this day forward, the days become longer.

The Wild Hunt is the first event of the Winter Festival and starts in the early morning hours of Monday 21 December and lasts until the sun sets and Itari Sol begins. At that point, a small closing ceremony for the Hunt will be held in The Joker before families gather together to release red paper boats into the night sky. This ceremonial event is meant to symbolize sending the hardships and trials of the previous year into the ether to allow for the new experiences and opportunities of the new year.

This symbolization, especially this year, will be a common theme. Red will be seen both in homes and along the streets as citizens and business owners alike hang paper crafts and lanterns to rid themselves of the austerity of 2020. Silver and Gold will also make frequent appearances as they are meant to beckon good fortune and prosperity into people’s lives. Fires will burn day and night in more traditional homes and businesses as their owners hope to keep malignant spirits from afflicting their upcoming year. Fires that burn out before the year ends are commonly seen as an ill omen, especially when it comes to businesses. 

The night of December 26th, the halfway point between Itari Sol and New Years Day is treated as a dedicated day for Families and Loved Ones. This is not a day for new relationships but rather a day to spend with blood relatives, old friends, life partners, and neighbors. Small gifts are sometimes exchanged on this day but the most important tradition is that of the feast. Extended families gather to cook with one another during the day, trade stories, and then feast together at night. It is also common practice to exchange specially-made dishes with neighbors to promote friendly relations during the new year. 

While this is a wide-spread practice with lowrankers and all those in Club territory, this tradition sometimes manifests differently in other territories. Diamonds and Hearts, especially those of high rank, tend to dine with their co-workers or important business partners while Spades gather in the mess halls to spend the day with their faction-mates.

The Yeon Nen festival ends on New Years Day with the exchanging of red envelopes or tao hongbao. These envelopes are traditionally filled with money and given from the older generation to the younger generation or from employer to employee. The amount of money is always even as odd numbers are associated with funerals and weddings. This is a game of sorts in Heart territory as the exchange of money is always a touchy subject. Certain amounts (especially large amounts) are often seen as insults or an overtly deliberate display of superior wealth. 

Employers who wish to avoid giving tao hongbao have been known to give employees, especially household employees, gifts of clothing. More often than not, this is an old jacket that used to belong to the head of household. This is an especially common practice in Diamond territory.

Symbolism: Rebirth of the Sun, The longest night of the year, The Winter Solstice, Introspection, Planning for the Future

Symbols: crackling fireplaces, evergreen boughs or wreaths, holly, mistletoe hung in doorways, gold pillar candles, baskets of clove studded fruit, a simmering pot of wassail, poinsettias

Colors: Red, green, gold, white, silver

Herbs: Bayberry, blessed thistle, evergreen, frankincense, holly, laurel, mistletoe, oak, pine, sage, yellow cedar

Traditional Foods: cookies and caraway cakes soaked in cider,  candied fruits in dark liquors, stuffed meat pies, open-air roasted pork and lamb, ginger tea, spiced warming cider, wassail, or lamb's wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg, roasted apples)

Incense: Pine, cedar, bayberry, cinnamon, peppermint

Stones: Rubies, bloodstones, garnets, emeralds, diamonds

OOC INFORMATION;

Below is a list of open locations your muse can visit during the winter festival. Alongside these event-instances, we will also be releasing two events for highrankers and two events for lowrankers during the holiday season! Feel free to send the main questions or use the event-discussion channel on discord.

Toy Drive; The Joker. Hosted by the Deck yearly, this toy-drive is a charity event that collects toys or money and then gives them out to those in need. They have a large station set up in the center of the Joker and they also have smaller drop-off locations at certain businesses around town.

Ice Rink; The Arena. Hosted every year in the Spade Arena, the Ice Rink is a popular destination for both couples and families. Skates that strap onto the wearers’ shoes are available for rent at the price of two coppers and mugs of warm cider and cocoa (both virgin and spiked) are available for three and five coppers respectively per mug. Singers put on live performances at all hours as this limited-instance is hosted 24/7 during Yeon Nen.

Ornament Crafting; The Forge. Wood ornament painting and more advanced ornament crafting events are available for a small fee in Club Territory. Only certain blacksmiths are taking part in these events, as not all of them picked up the wood-carving skill or have the desire to work with the public. This limited-instance is hosted daily from 1000 — 1800 during Yeon Nen.

Zoolights; The Academy. Academy mages in training have set up a winding walk around the Academy where patrons can see uniquely shaped manalights that look like animals! Some of the art pieces are available for purchase but otherwise, this event is free and mostly used to showcase Academy talents. Singers put on live performances during operating hours 1800 — 0500 every night of Yeon Nen.

Winter Marketplace; The Circle. A place for citizens to pick up gifts for their loved ones. This marketplace is centered between the circle six casinos and is always lively. Singers put on live performances during operating hours 0900 — 0000 every night of Yeon Nen.

[generalkwon]

@its-max-okay

21 December 2020; Midday Yeon Nen; The Wild Hunt

With the feast neatly wrapped, Jihoon was free. Platitudes had been exchanged, tensions had been danced around, and a gloriously welcome nothing had happened. Unexpected and frankly alarming given the way the rest of the year had gone, the General’s plan was to leave before anyone got any ideas. Besides, with this many drunken hunters about paired with the corruption, he doubted he’d be able to hunt anything of note. So, why bother?

He sent today’s squires to go disassemble the tent he’d been using. The rest of the Spade tents would remain up for the hunters participating in the Wild Hunt but the Spellsword wanted to make it clear he was no longer present. His early departure would no doubt insult the few who he hadn’t spoken to yet, but at this point if he hadn’t spoken to them they probably didn’t matter. 

Adjusting the sword on his hip, Jihoon scanned the crowd of Spade Facecards preparing to head out on the hunt. Without any direction from him, they’d fallen into pairs and groups of friends who worked together regularly. He smiled to himself, proud of the unity that demonstrated; he should really look into hosting an event for his people to relax. Perhaps during the new year. When his eyes landed on Maxine the smile softened fractionally. Of course she was headed out on the hunt. He made his way over to her, nodding his head in greeting to the soldiers he passed until he was beside the healer.

“How does your group look? Ready for the hunt?”