Birthdays for Drakiss

For viviparous species the concept of a birthday is fairly straight forward - it's the day on which the infant came into the world. For Ooviparous species like the Drakiss however things are more complicated. Since the incubation time for a drakiss egg is variable there is also no direct correlation (or even approximation) between the date on which they were laid and the date on which tey were hatched. In most drakiss societies this circle is squared by celebrating the two occasions separately - and who can blame theme for this! The two celebrations however are very different in their focus - the celebrations on Clutchday (the anniversary of the egg being laid) are focused on the partent who laid the egg: where the parent is still alive then gifts are given to them both by the drakiss celebrating their Clutchday but also by their friends and members of their Writhe. These gifts typically take the form of small, highly decorated eggs which are often worn as jewellery or ornamentation and can be thought of, in origin, as "Thank you for having me". The celebrations of Hatchday are more focused on the celebrating drakiss with the celebrant's writhe, family and friends staging a feast and the celebrant giving presents - typically small plaques engraved with their name and age at the time of the celebration.

History

These rituals are consistent in their broad details between all crews and those who have studied the writhes of feral drakiss report that they remain recognisable in the small proportion of writhes that stabilise after going feral. Simpler yes, but preserved across the generations. It seems likely therefore that these are events that are fundamental to the very nature of the drakiss and whilst the nature of the gifts exchanged varies the generality of the practices, and the records of some of the longer established crews point to their great antiquity.

Components and tools

Aside from the foodstuffs for the feasting the main materials involved are the gifts. The gifts to the parent are typically ornately engraved and on the Clutchday, the parent will often be decked out with all the gifts received over previous years - sometimes arranged by the year, sometimes by the giver. At other times they will typically carry the most recent clutchday gifts as attachments to their Lineage.

The plaques given on hatchday are engraved with the name of the recipient as well as the giver's details and these too will often be used as adornment - it is considered good form when attending a hatchday feast to wear any plaques previously received from the celebrant and in daily use most drakiss will wear a belt of the most recent plaques from their families and friends.

Observance

As noted above, these rites are observed on the anniversaries of laying and hatching. The details vary between crews, along with the balance of focus between the two aspects, and the extent of the celebrations (for though they are limited to the day in question they vary greatly in extravagance and a wisse drakiss moving between crews takes care to understand the norms of their hosts for overcelebration is seen as a showy attempt to curry favour whilst under celebration is viewed as a comment on the status of the other drakiss involved. It has also been observed that in many, though not all, crews the third, nineth and twenty seventh anniversaries are more extravagant affairs - and completely eclipsed on the few occasions that a drakiss makes it to the age of 81.