Brightsun festival

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A Fjollvanic celebration of the short summer months, featuring performance and many kinds of artistry. The Brightsun festival is most commonly celebrated on the coast, where fishing is more prominent and selkies are more common.

Origin

The Brightsun Festival originated with the first settlers of the Fjollvan Islands, who brought the tradition of masquerades from Gechren. Here, it merged with the fishing festivals of the selkies to become a celebration of summer. The vityr settlers brought with them the tradition of the Masked Goddess festival, in which masks are crafted in six days, in any likeness the crafter chooses, and on the seventh day there is a contest for most realistic mask, scariest mask, most humurous mask, and best craftsmanship. The selkie festival that inspired the Brightsun festival was called the Silupik Festival, named after the spirit of fish and sea creatures. The festival involved a three day period of living on the shore with dancing, creation of spears, and rituals, followed by a day of hunting the fish that gather in the deeper waters. Now, the practices are so blended that many can't tell where Vityr tradition ends and Selkie tradition begins.

Common practices

The Brightsun Festival has two distinct sections, both inspired by the other. The first part of the festival, the preperation, takes place over four days. Craftspeople, both selkie and vityr, spend their time in communal workshops by the sea, giving each other advice and materials while musicians play. The traditional music schedule is as follows: the first day and the third day are reserved for selkie traditional music, and the second and fourth days are vityr music. While the craftspeople are working, the rest of the village is busy as well. Fishers create new nets and hooks, and repair old ones. Children are kept busy with collecting bait and gathering berries to use in the feast. The long-awaited final day of the celebration arrives with splendor, and most people don't work for the entire day. The firsst event is a huge parade, called the Parade of Masks. Masks are judged on craftsmanship and how well they portray what the maker intended. After the masks, the fishers go out and catch the fish, bringing back enough for a huge midday feast. The afternoon is filled with costumed storytelling performances, in which people act out folktales and myths in elaborate costumes, often the same ones worn in the Parade of Masks. These performances are held by the shore. The end of the evening culminates in a communal dance begun by the winning group. That night, bonfires can be seen along the shore as people gather for smaller, more private rituals among their family and friends.

Symbols

There are many symbols associated with the Brightsun Festival, but some are seen more often than others. Fish and sun discs are the most common, incorporated into masks, costumes, and decorations all over. The fish comes from the selkie spirit Silupik, who appears as a red fish with golden eyes. Children are often gifted toys in the shape of Silupik during the Brightsun festival, and masks in the shape of fish or other sea life are a common sight. The sun disc comes from the vityr tradition of a masked goddess, who wears a circular mask. Over time, the mask has shifted into a celebration of the changing seasons, with the goddess wearing a sun during the summer and a moon during the winter. The sun disc appears in many masks, and a six-pointed sun appears in many clothes made around this time.