Festival of Walls

The Festival of Walls is a winter solstice festival practiced by a few notably strict Avonistic towns and villages in Civiel. It exists as a way of countering a percieved moral decay among cityfolk, holding its practicioners to strict guidelines and a rigorously scheduled day.

Before the festival

In the week leading up to the festival, practicioners are expected to read religious texts for an hour every day in preperation. They abstain from any drinks except water and fast during the day. Some extreme practicioners, mainly devout monks, take a vow of silence from sunrise to sunset. Many also spend time out in the cold of midwinter as a way of sharpening their bodies and minds.

Festival day

The festival takes place entirely within one building, usually the town hall or great hall of a village. Purist practicioners require that the walls be made of stone, but in necessity, any single room building works. At dawn, all of the practicioners gather to read sacred texts, traditionally the writings of St. Caleb and St. Sadie. Afterwards, there is half an hour of silence, followed by the ringing of a bell to signify the beginning of the next step of the practice. A fire is lit in a brazier at one end of the hall, while all of the participants gather at the other end. One by one, they walk forward and drop a small cloth or piece of paper into the fire and reflect on their past year. A ceremonial wall is constructed, usually deliniated by a ribbon or line of chalk, and a screen is set up behind it. Anyone who wishes to make a public confession or apology stands behind the screen to state their confession aloud. The second wall in the festival is the wall of division. People are arranged in groups based on gender, age, profession, or street many times and are encouraged to discuss or reflect on division and religion. After the wall, there is a procession following the ashes from the fire at the beginning to a predetermined site, such as a tree in a cemetary or a standing stone, where they are scattered in a five-pointed star on the ground. This ritually absolves the participants of their past actions and allows them to regain the balance of body and soul. The last ritual of the day is practiced mainly by extremely strict Avonists, and involves a series of physical and mental challenges. Practicioners stand barefoot in the exterior of the building, reciting St. Caleb's final chapter, ending with the verse: "Great spirit, mend my heart so it points to thee, fix my eyes on your glory. When you come, body and soul will be cleansed in the ever-flowing tide and endless winds will bear away all sorrows." After the festival, there is a period of mingling and feasting, usually inviting some forms of physical and mental competition, such as trivia or arm wrestling, among the participants.

Beliefs

The Avonistic sects who practice the Festival of Walls believe, like most other Avonists, that there is an ideal balance between the physical and spiritual worlds. The thing that sets them apart is how strict they are on the balance and what disrupts it. Many believe that alcohol, excess food, and other physical indulgences, while not expressly forbidden, tip the balances in favor of the body. The plain fact is, there are more things that tip the balance in favor of the body over the soul, so one has to pay more attention to their soul and reject more worldly things. The first part of the festival invokes themes of repentance, cleansing past wrongs and forming an empty slate for balance to come again. The second part focuses on preparation for the coming year, a series of trials meant to test the will of the participants. Often, participants are not allowed to enter the festival building until the age of 14, when the moral burden of their choices is placed upon them and not their parents. Most, however, do not attend until the age of 16 or 17, when they are percieved as mature enough to participate fully in the festival. Paradoxically, the Festival of Walls is practiced most fervently around cities where beliefs are often much looser and incorporate a wider variety of religions. Many of the villages in the area who practice the festival believe they need to stabilize the balance even more when it is affected by the practices of other beliefs.