Holly Herald

The celebration of Holly Day, every Blomarian year in the month of Swarm Hark, is one that not a single person desires to ignore. The happiness in the cold days represents the knowledge that there is light in every area of darkness, that good comes with bad, etcetera. This is the story about the main force behind the creation of this sacred celebration.

History and Meaning

Back when the Second Warring Era had ended, the world was in shambles. Many parts of civilization were busy mourning their losses and trying to rebuild what has been lost. They forgot what it meant to be happy, what a good life was. A gnomish tinkerer and wizard named Hyrk Yurthome saw this, and he was sad. He loved being happy, and he looked forward immensely to the month of Mendopel, when spring would arrive. Yet nobody was looking forward to it, not even an inkling compared to Hyrk's excitement. Hyrk was growing a large yard of holly and because of it, he got an idea. He harvested all the holly and, with a magic spell, he gave the holly great rejuvenating powers. He then built a carriage with which he would spread the holly around in the area, making the dirt fertile again and the people happy. Hyrk saw it as a preview for the better spring times that came after Swarm Hark.
When Hyrk did this for the first time in his hometown of Tufftown, many people scorned him for being happy in these dark times. But when the holly descended onto the ground, hallowing it and making it fertile, people became happy for their future. They loved being alive, instead of mourning death.
Hyrk didn't realize, but he brought not only a preview of springtime, but also a homage to Mendow Plan, the personification of inevitable death. It appreciated the efforts of Hyrk, for Mendow did not want people to be afraid of death either. It approached Hyrk, and took his carriage into the sky with Its winds. And so the legend of the Holly Herald, a carriage that flies high in the air and spreads holly all over the continent, was born. And so was Holly Day, a celebration of life and Mendow Planad, centered in the month dedicated to Swalma.