Holidays can be a time of family, warmth and love, or commercial, stress induced purchasing frenzies. Let’s see if Krynn’s holidays are as disparate as our own. Buy The History of Dragonlance: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197643/The-History-of-Dragonlance-2e?affiliate_id=50797
Transcript
Cold Open
Dates are converted to our Roman calendar for ease of reference. These descriptions are greatly condensed for time.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about the holidays of Krynn. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. I am referencing The History of Dragonlance – Being the Notes, Journals, and Memorabilia of Krynn for this information. If you know of any holidays celebrated that are not mentioned, please leave a comment below.
Discussion
Year Day or Mark –Year is not actually seen as a day of the week at all, but rather a day out of sync with time. Many nations will take the opportunity to stop working and share gifts to celebrate the past and renew promises of the future. Dwarves will melt down a spoonful of lead and blindly drizzle it on a plate. Then interpret the plate’s prediction of the coming year based on the shape the lead cooled into.
Dark Day on January third is the anniversary of the Cataclysm. It is a day of reflection for the people of Krynn. Many will don black clothing on this day. The city of Tarsis celebrates by fashioning mock boats on wheels, then races them in their dried up harbors regatta-style!
Harnkeggerfest is from February ninth to the thirteenth. There is a ceremonial position of the harnkegger, a dwarf who has worked conspicuously hard from Yule to now. They don heavy boots, a garter belt and a red tunic. They are the officiator of sorts and get to tap and sample the first barrel of late summer ale. Aside from drinking, celebrants consume twisted hardbreads called frawlen, after a dwarven female’s braids. On the fifth day, the votes are tallied and awards distributed.
Kith-Kanandras on March fourteenth is a celebration of the life and accomplishments of Kith-Kanan, the grandson of Silvanos, who led the western elves to their new homeland of Qualinesti. Disparate races are invited by friends to honor tolerance, and are presented with good conversation, rare elven spirits, and elven delights. It ends at midnight when the hosts reluctantly delay the guests departure till the hour is struck, then ceremoniously thrown out.
Silvanosdras the following day on March fifteenth is observed as the birth date of the heroic elf who united the first elven tribes and led them to their homeland of Silvanesti, four millennia before the Cataclysm. The Silvanesti bath statues in the likeness of Silvanos and decorate their homes with white stars and fast through the day, renewing their vows to democracy on hillsides.
March twenty-first is Spring Dawning. The vernal equinox is celebrated by all. In Solace there is a large festival where they sell crafts. The Knights of Solamnia and Northern Ergoth perform a contest of battle to determine spring’s end.
April fourth is called the Harrowing. Solamnia plants the first seeds, the plainsmen dance around a pole decorated with colorful vines. The humans of Khur honor the release of spirits wrongfully condemned to the Abyss. And Dwarves feast with the last of their winter stores. In Goodlund, they practice practical jokes.
Midyear Day is June twenty-first, the longest day of the year. This celebration of lights is observed by human communities, where they celebrate with dancing. In Thoradin, it’s the reignighting of the forges, and dwarves celebrate with ale sampling to drums which draw in other racial celebrants for selling items and engaging in friendly contests.
July fifteenth is the Festival of Candles. This is a solemn dwarven day of remembrance. They craft floating lanterns and release them in underground lakes in honor of their forebears. Some will bathe in the water for protection from evil for the year to come.
September thirteenth is the celebration of the Heroes meeting at the Inn of the Last Home. This is culminated with a pilgrimage to Solace where citizens will reenact the fabled meeting that led to the War of the Lance being won.
Summer’s End or Harvest Come is September twenty-second. This autumn equinox celebrated the beginning of the harvest season. The Kagonesti of Southern Ergoth fill a minotaurs horn with green manure and bury it until spring. It absorbs positive forces of the earth and is dug up at the Spring Solstice to use in their soil.
The Festival of Knights is October twelfth, where Palanthas city is decorated and the citizens perform the Knight’s Jest. It features mock jousts with buckets for helmets, broomsticks for lances and ostriches for horses in hilarious imitation of the Knights of Solamnia.
October fifteenth is the Festival of the Eye. Originally celebrated by mages going door to door offering small magic tricks for food and gifts. Now it’s celebrated by children dressing up as mages, going door to door for small cookies of the three moons of Krynn.
November thirteenth is Updateandverifythedetailsofyourname Day, or Geneology Day. Gnomes line up at the Genealogy Guild to file corrections, addenda and clarifications to their names that have inevitably arisen in the previous year. This is a serious affair as it affects all descendants.
Thanks A Lot Day is December sixth. It is celebrated by Kender, who gives thanks for all that has mysteriously ended up in their pockets. They roast the goat-sucking bird, a fowl they spend months hunting for, and the evening devolves to a show-and-tell of possessions that ends in handling and the transferring of items.
Yule is December twenty-second. It is the celebration of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. This is observed as the last moment to safely visit family and friends before the heavy snow falls. It featured decorating, eating feasts and deserts, and even great hunts. Coastal communities pen notes to friends or distant relatives and toss them into the sea. Mount Nevermind activated all contraptions at once, creating a tremendous cacophony of noise.
Living one’s life on Krynn is not easy. With seemingly constant war, social conflicts, political upheaval and destructive godly influence, one must learn to appreciate what they have, in the time that they have to appreciate it. Holding family and friends close, especially in tumultuous times can be the only reprieve from the bitter reality of the world. Celebrations of all types are a way of connecting your ancestors, cultures, and communities to you and future generations. This was a brief synopsis of Krynn’s holidays, excluding regional and more obscure feastdays. I will return in a future episode to cover them.
Outro
But that is all the time I have to talk about the holidays of Krynn. Do you have a favorite holiday featured? How about in your own life, what is your favorite holiday? Leave a comment below.
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This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I welcome you to join in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
Sometimes it is pleasant to be ‘fussed over.’
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