Party of the First Day

"As a day for lies to die with the old year, we celebrate the new year and remember the past."

The first day of the new year is on the Winter Solstice, and in Theydim, towns and homes are more likely to be walled in by snow and ice. The beginning of the new year is a time of celebrating one's loved ones and creating plans for the upcoming year.

Goodbye Old Year, Welcome New Year

The Party of the First Day is often as the name claims - a party where the community gets together and shares among neighbors. It's often the last time they may be able to meet in large numbers until just before the Spring Fair.
Neighbors will help each other inspect homes if major repairs had to be made in the year or if the house is a new construct, and food stocks are often shared.

No one is a mountain alone - there are other peaks nearby. When we help our neighbors, we are helping ourselves because farmwork is hard work alone. Together, everyone pulls ahead.

Related Rites of Passage

Courtship

Many young Thydian couples will spend the winter months as a test to determine how well the couple would fare once married. During the Party, family members will have helped prepare the couple's home with food and other supplies to survive the winter.

However, one type dish is absolutely required by tradition - a fully roasted pig. Most towns have the pig roasted as butchered cuts instead of a full and intact one. The roasted pig is not tied to any particular events, but is believed to be a wish for a good future for the new household as cuts from higher on a pig are often ones reserved for special occasions or sold in town for whatever the house or farm needs.

A new household should experience what it is like to life high on the hog for a little while, and you're young and in a first love like this only once.

— An older uncle

Baby's First Winter

For families who have a child who will experience their first winter, the local community will usually present the family with various conveniences to help them through the winter - extra preserved foods or a barrel of lard with butchered cuts, jars of fruit preserves or pickles, and extra blankets.

Midwives and tradition claim the extra preparation into the first winter with an infant or baby helps the child survive their first year and produce a happier home.

Widow's/Widower's and Elder's Winters

Should key members no longer be around after a lifetime together, or time wears down and adds years to one's past, a winter can be hard. The local community and family make efforts to reach out and check in on their elders and widows. Some may invite a young adult from their family to live with them during the winters for company and help around the home and farm.

My grandmother is a Wood Maiden, so wintertime is a time for her to guard her territories. I and one of my cousins used to spend winters with our grandfather. It set our parents' minds at ease, and Gramma was glad Grampa had us to talk to and make sure he was eating during the winters.

— Nada on the winters of her early adult years

Primary Related Location

Theydim

Related Ethnicities

• Thydian