The Festival of Delights

The Festival of Delights is a celebration that most of both the lesser and the great houses of Vicea take part in. During this festival, the nobility take part in every form of debauchery and depravity that they can get away with. The festival lasts for a day and a night during the middle day of the year. There is an unspoken agreement between the houses that all celebrations are to take place within their own domains and any attempts to use the festival to engage in personal vendettas against other houses will earn the ire of all the other nobility. It is an open secret that these celebrations take place and like the Vicean laws against slavery where it still takes place despite it being illegal, officially the festival doesn’t take place, but everyone knows that they do. Each celebration is held in the homes of the nobles and the depravities all happen within.
Great feasts occur with the finest food to be had is served and this is often where the unconscionable celebrations begin. Food from across the world is prepared with the most expensive and exotic spices, but the most exotic food is that made from sentient beings. Great House Verinata takes pride in their recipes for Elven Rump Roast and House Ulinea is very secretive about their recipes for literal halfling finger foods.
Sexual deviation is rampant as well with the nobility engaging in every sexual experience that they can get. Slavers can make a full year’s pay on one slave if they find one that fits the criteria for a specific noble’s tastes. If a noble has a fetish for short blonde humans and a slaver is aware of it, they may keep the captive aside, feed them well and make sure they are properly cared for so as to present the best “product” for said noble when festival time comes around again. There is a general agreement within the houses to never criticize nor judge one’s sexual proclivities during festival time. Violence is also rampant during festival time, with nobles who wish to unleash their murderous tendencies upon innocent peasants being able to do so. Most victims are the poor in the area, so they are rarely missed.
Many nobles would justify the Festival of Delights as having a practical purpose for the younger nobles. Sexual deviance acts as a way for young nobles to experiment sexual and “get out” of their systems sexual behavior that would not be considered acceptable the rest of the year. Young female nobles are expected to marry young male nobles and have babies to solidify political alliances between houses. If a female noble though is attracted to other females, the festival lets her engage in those desires for one day a year where she won’t be judged or stopped and then spend the rest of the year being the dutiful noble’s wife.
The violence serves a purpose for nobles planning to go into the military service according to the elders of the house. They can get their first kills in the safety of their homes in a controlled environment and the dissections and evisceration work to desensitize them to the horrors of battle. The nobility has carte blanche to do what they please by Vicean law within the walls of their own homes. So long as they keep these festivals within their homes there is nothing to stop these festivals from continuing.