Star-Light Festival/Winter Solstice

The Star-Light Festival is a Plezian  holiday that coincides with the Winter Solstice, to celebrate the longest night of the year. Villages will extinguish their lights to best appreciate the stars and the moon, allowing their light to be the only light shining from the celestial bodies.

History

The festival originated from the village of Ballingsmallard, as an ode to old and forgotten druidic ways. Though druids are rarely seen in the Isles of Edren, it is believed by the villagers that their town was founded by a circle of druids who worshiped the moon. They hoped that by celebrating the moon and the stars, they would draw out the druids, and bring back some of their lunar magic. As other villages found out about the festival, they began to adopt elements of the festival, celebrating the night's sky, but stripping it of its druidic ties. The festival continued to grow until it became a holiday recognized all throughout the island of Plezla, but at that point it had completely forgotten its origin. The festival largely has changed from one of bringing back the druids, to one of celebrating the star-light and moon-light.

Execution

In traditional practices in Ballingsmallard, the festival is one that recognizes its druidic ties, giving offerings and gifts in hopes to bring back the druids. This would include large feasts of fruits and vegetables; planting of mushrooms and flowers that bloom only at night; and turning off any 'unnatural' lights. All of this was in hopes that this would lure out the druids back into the town, to celebrate with the village.
In modern times, especially outside of Ballingsmallard, the only tradition that remains is turning off the 'unnatural' lights, allowing only the star-light and moon-light to illuminate the festival. Participants will dance, sing, play music, paint, perform plays, all in the ambience of the night. It's a celebration of how things change and are perceived differently, when moon-light and star-light are the only sources of light.

Observance

The festival is observed every year on the winter solstice, from sun down until sun up.

Primary Related Location

Plezla