Birthdays on Salan

Faren Birthdays

The main thing of a Faren birthday is a birthday feast. The feasts are as long as the birthday person can afford, but it should include a dish of eggs and green beans, both the symbol of birth and longevity of life. It's also a popular tration to spill some wine on a paper, and foretell the coming year from the stain marks.

Special birthdays or rites of passage

Farens become adult when they turn 15-years-old. The young person gets a mentor, who's job is to teach them about the adult life. The mentor is usually a recently married young person, who is a friend to the child's parents, or someone who is of the same profession the child is studying. When a Faren turns 25 they are finally considered a full member of the society, they can vote, be elected for government positions and make contracts without the approval of their parent or mentor.
Traditionally on a girl's 15th birthday any interested families could propose her by gifting her a new scarf. Nowadays the parent's friends usually gift scarfs even when they don't have a marriage deal in mind. The birthday person and the invited friends and family eat a birthday lunch. The the girl hangs the new scarfs on display from her belt, and then they go dancing.

Zeribian Birthdays

Normal birthdays for Zeribians are not about the individual, but about thanking the patron god of the day or any personal favourite deities for the protection. It's a common practise to make a pilgrimage to sacred place or visit the local temple to make offerings.

Special birthdays or rites of passage

Birth

When a child is born, the mother brings it before father of the family and lays it down on the ground. The father picks up the baby, and calls it by his family name, thus accepting it to the family. (In theory there is a possibility that the father won't accept the child, especially if he knows that it is not his.) Then an offering is made, usually to Idûrfeš the God of childbirth, the patron gods of the family, and the patron god of the day the child was born on. Then the family has a feast within close family of with neighbors.

Age of 7

For the first years the child is usually called by their by a name derived from the day sign of the day the child was born on. This is thought to protect them from spirits and disease. The first important rite of passage of a young Zeribian is the Second naming performed when they turn seven, in which they recieve their adult name.
Those who can afford it also start school at this point. A collective ceremony is held once a year to all the children of the same age. The children spend the last week of Idûrfeš (the Flood Month) on the school grounds studying and meditating (and preparing the temple for the upcoming celebration). On the first day of the month of Usahdeg (the New Flame, also the New Year's Day) the kids emerge from the temple wearing their youth clothes for the first time and called by their new names.
Noble children are also ceremonially introduced to the other members of the House at this point, and accepted to the House.

by Margiec (pixabay)

A birthday meal

Notes on Zeribian calendar

Zeribians follow a lunar calendar with 9 months of 35 days. This leads to 315 day years, compared to the actual year lenght of about 320 days. Zeribian birthdays and holidays are fixed according to the lunar calendar, which means they don't always fall on the same season (the seasonal differences on the islands are small anyway).