Festival of Ghosts

A celebration born of honoring lost friends, families, and companions, the Festival of Ghosts marks an important holiday for many of the cultures of Locbroalm. Though nuances exist between different cultures, the core of the holiday remains the same. It's a day when the souls of those passed are able to visit with those still living. To celebrate, people adorn personal and communal shrines with items that represent their dead. Some will place commissioned paintings, while most people will set a belonging personal to those they miss upon the shrines. 

Shirdal

In Shirdal, colorful decorations will line building faces, bright flower petals will cover the roads, and people will turn themselves into artistic representations of their ancestors' bones. In smaller population centers, communal shrines are placed at the center of towns. In larger locations, temples and churches are used to celebrate in separated communities. Not all celebrators provide their belongings to the community shrines, however, out of fear of theft or losing their humble treasures. In many homes, smaller scale shrines are maintained and decorated leading up to the Festival of Ghosts.

Special prayers and ceremonies of burning incense and candles are held to remember those recently passed. Tradition says that this is meant for those who passed within the last year, but mourners are often welcome to partake in these ceremonies for as long as they are in a state of mourning.

Quirks of Shirdal's Festival of Ghosts

Along with the expected celebrations and shrines, other traditions have risen over time during the celebration.

Some temples often use the week leading up to the day to push their followers or those who have become distant with their beliefs to renew their commitments to Enlil. Baptisms of smoke and wind cloud towns in a haze as these efforts redouble every year.

Notoriously, children often execute pranks during the time of year. Though, it's generally agreed upon that pranking should be kept from ceremonies, shrines, and Ghost festivities, as diminishing or dishonoring the dead is considered grave and consequential act. Stories and folktales of pranks gone wrong during the Festival of Ghosts whisper of curses that plague generations of families.