Midsummer Celebrations in Inmalenor

In the middle of the month of Sun's Flame, between the fourteenth and the fifteenth day, the night of the Summer Solstice is the shortest night of the year, with very little or no darkness. During this night there are celebrations all over the known world.

In Inmalenor, the night in the southern part consists of two hours of twilight on this night. Niskala marks the southernmost point where the sun doesn't go beneath the horizon on this night. Seeing how dark and deadly the winter is in these parts of the world, the midsummer celebrations are seen as very important in Inmalenor.

History and Mythology

This celebration is connected with the old Inmali belief of the holy seal that threatens to eat the sun, leaving the world in complete darkness. In complete darkness the predators won't find the holy seal's cubs. The tribes lit huge bonfires this night to make even more light to strengthen the sun's power against the holy seal. The whole tribe had to stay up and make sure the bonfire burned bright and large, and eating to stay awake was most likely the reason why feasting through the night is a thing even to this day.

Even though it was a tribal thing when Inmalenor was isolated, the other humanoids that arrived after the road up the Winter Wall soon adopted some of the traditions in this local way of celebrating the summer solstice.

Celebrations today

Although the Inmali population now consists of other cultures than the Inmali elven tribes, the day is still celebrated by making huge bonfires that are kept alive all night, with much food and drink to enjoy through the night. Usually the community, village or part of the city all get together to a huge celebration with up to hundreds of people enjoying the night together. There's always someone bringing instruments, and music is often played through the whole night if enough musicians show up. Stories are told by storytellers, and some places even has dances around the bonfire.

Young couples are known to find somewhere private during this night to spend the night together, especially if their relationship isn't completely public yet. This happens so often that if someone happens to miss the celebration for any other reason, they're often teased for having a secret lover for weeks after the celebration itself. Even married individuals are subject for this kind of teasing, only slightly less intense.

In the morning, when the bonfire finally burns down, young people try to jump over the still burning hot embers without landing in it. The ones who manage to jump over the embers without landing in them wins the awe of the onlookers. There are several cases of light to serious burns due to this tradition every year, but there has never been any reports of deaths yet.

The Following Day

Although not actually a celebratory day in itself, most businesses in Inmalenor is closed on Sun's Flame 15. Most of the population is asleep after the celebrations through the night before, so businesses won't have many customers anyways.

In Niskala specifically, the city guards will have to work normally, however, since the Frozen Feather Lodge will certainly not let the opportunity of so many unwatched shops pass without trying to break into at least one of them.

Food and Drink

The traditional food to eat on this night is roasted seal meat. The Inmali tribes traditionally did this to warn the holy seal that threatening to eat the sun wasn't okay, and it kind of stuck. Nowadays, any food that can be roasted on a fire is eaten. Several smaller fires are lit for cooking this food, since the huge bonfire is too hot to get close to. Some places, if enough people will show up, a whole beardox (or several) is consumed by the participants.

Honey wine is usually the drink of choice for this celebration, not only because it's the most used alcoholic drink in Inmalenor, but also because the golden color of the liquid has kind of the same color as the flames of the bonfire.

Components and tools

These are generally seen as the important parts of a successful midsummer celebration in Inmalenor:

• One huge bonfire
• Enough food to feed everyone through the night
• The whole community, town or neighbourhood

Festival type

Yearly, solar-based

Date

Sun's Flame 14-15

Location

Inmalenor

Traditional foods

Anything that can be roasted on a fire, usually seal meat in the tribes

Traditional drinks

Honey wine

Glossary

Frozen Feather Lodge

The Niskalan part of the Ravenous Ravens, the closest equivalent to a Thieves' Guild in the Five Nations