Great Moon’s Glory

On Readying 11th, Luna is full but Celene is new. This night is called Great Moon’s Glory. The church of Celestian regards this night as holy, and engages in its usual all-night outdoor vigil of the heavens outside the Grey College Observatory. Oeridian citizens make offerings to shrines to the lesser goddess Atroa on this night, asking the Queen of Spring to come early. Offerings to shrines of Telchur (the Oeridian god of the north and winter) are also made, praising his work but suggesting he go home to the pole and sleep. The local druids and their small congregations also hold this night sacred, but little is known of their activities. They have been observed to collect at the StoneRing outside the Free City’s Druid’s Gate, where they chant and pray all night.

Many farmers and herdsmen mark this night as the true beginning of spring, though Readying 1st is the calendar date for spring's start. From this day on, the cold north wind warms and starts blowing from the east. Skies grow cloudier and snow turns to rain — lots of it — which can turn overnight into a glaze of ice covering the land. Frozen roads soon melt and tur to complete muck, so wagons and carts are even worse off than during the dead of winter when the mud is frozen, if slippery and rough. Nearly all travel is by foot or horse in spring, but few see the need to go far. Though winter is regarded as the most hostile season, the period from Great Moon's Glory to Growfest is often considered the most depressing part. Still, if a bucket of water left out overnight does not freeze for three days running, that’s a good sign that warmer weather is on the way.