High Winter Festival

The first day of Highwinter is observed as a major festival day throughout Kaevil and is marked by feasting, drinking and revelry, marking the last hurrah of the year before the coldest days of winter sets in.
A week before Highwinter day however the celebrations begin.
On the 39th of Darkening the day begins with each person, no matter how highly born, sweeping and cleaning their own dwelling place. This symbolises the need for each individual to clear away the old year and prepare for the new, an act of cleansing. It is believed that in the time when the Fallen Gods were worshipped that there was another element to this ritual.
In Genlith at least the custom is that each person keeps their own broom for this purpose and new twigs are added each year.
In Tyaldi the 39th of Darkening is also a time to tie up loose ends. Debts should be paid, favours returned, apologies given and forgiveness granted where possible. Contracts tend to use this date as a terminal point if not otherwise specified, and accused criminals must have sentence pronounced by this date.
In The Low Keep the custom is that as night falls only two fires are kept lit - one in the Great Hall where all members of the nobility and gentry gather, and in the kitchen where all servants likewise gather. There they will recall the events of the previous year, remember those who have departed, and tell traditional stories. At midnight, one servant chosen by the ruler, and the ruler themself will each light a candle from the fire and meet in the Great Hall where each person will then light their own candles or lamps from the same surviving fires. Thus the light of the previous year becomes the parent of all the lights of the next.
The last day of the festival is a day to make new resolutions and intentions for the year to come - particularly in Tyaldi where it mirrors the resolution of loose ends at the beginning of the festival period (meaning the festival period itself is one free of obligations).  Traditionally a large feast is held with as much mirth and celebration as possible.   Foods are chosen so that that which is not consumed can be preserved for the scarcity of the winter to come.