6 Medieval-Gonzo Holidays

The people of Lefort keep track of the year by the seasons. Each season -- Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring -- has 91 days. Between Winter and Spring is the Lost Day, the 365th day of the year, also known as the mark of the New Year. Poems tell of a battle between Madeera and Memnon, where Madeera sacrificed the 365th day to bring order to the rest of the seasons.

1. Midsummer

Villagers celebrating Midsummer in the village of Harmony

The 45th day of Summer. A secular celebration of light, warmth, and love. It's customary for people to wear pastel colors and make sun tapestries, sheets of canvas painted entirely white that reflect the sun's light. 

Demon Kings, like Sabet and King Lauren, have twisted the holiday into less wholesome directions, hosting pleasure festivals and naked parades that take up the entire wilderness of Boar Valley. 

The king of Sowden has been trying to quell these demons by sending violent militia to "deal with them." For the past few years Midsummer is a strange contradiction of a holiday. Peace-loving celebrators and orgy-attenders fight back against the half-orc armies of Sowden, all within one chaotic day.


2. Madeera's Pilgrimage

The 90th day of Summer. A religious journey taken only by the most devout believers. The written Covenant has become a household object of Her followers within the city of Madonis. Hymns of the written Covenant detail the day Madeera wrote the laws of reality into her flesh. 

Pilgrims travel from the holy city to Rupture in a perilous journey that mimics the myths of Madeera. In the entrance of Rupture lives a magical tattoo master of the Six Poke tradition who will give the long line of pilgrims a tattoo imbued with divine power.


3. Geddevast, or Shune's Feast

The 45th day of Autumn. A religious festival celebrated publicly and secretly. Geddevast marks Gede's harvest, a day where farmers, fishers, and other workers take the day off to don handmade costumes, drink, and dine late into the night. 

Shune's Feast is considered profane by the church's of Madeera and St. Terragnis. The 45th day of Autumn is the strongest magnifier of magic, a day where witches gather and warlocks scheme in hiding. The celebrators of Shune's Feast also don folk costumes and dance wildly across the Holy Land, but for altogether more sinister reasons. 


4. Midwinter, or St, Terragnis' Day

The village of Birkeholt in Winter

The 45th day of Winter. A secular and religious holiday depending on the celebrator. The Gods of Lefort aren't entities that provably alter reality. They're figures depicted through stories and myths, passed down from generation to generation. 

One such story is the ascendence of St. Terragnis, a lawful human who was chosen by Madeera to become a God in Her court on the 45th day of Winter. Priests of St. Terragnis and Madeera have holy powers, but it's socially contended whether they're some natural spiritual force similar to wizards and witches, or granted by divine beings.

To the secular audience of Lefort, Midwinter is a time of family and compassion. People travel across the island to celebrate with their friends and family, giving gifts, telling stories, and spending time with one another. 


5. New Year

The Lost Day. A secular timekeeping of the years passed. Parties take up entire villages and cities, the New Year's party in Babilan being legendarily gaudy and Great-Gatsbyan. 

With the distraction of city-sized parties the New Year marks the Assassin's Guild's ideal day of the year to enact their more outrageous plans. 


6. Gedeam

Dolmen druids' Gedeam ritual

The 45th day of Spring. A religious traditional display of admiration for nature and the celebration of Gede's mythological birth. Druids at the dolmens of Boar Valley, within the Green Grail, and protecting the Glorwood all perform complicated, unique rituals to protect their land for another year. 

These rituals are completely alien, and sometimes horrifying, to non-druids. During Gedeam animals become more aggressive within the wild areas of the island and rare flora grows more abundantly. People of Lefort stay away from the dangerous and strange wilds, while exotic monster hunters take the 45th of Spring as a rare opportunity.

Listened to "CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST" by Tyler, The Creator and "The Impossible Kid (Instrumental Version)" by Aesop Rock.

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