Gaderian

A midwinter festival celebrating togetherness and new beginnings.

History

Since their creation, humans have always celebrated fighting off the cold in the dead of winter to help them stay cheery until spring. The ancient Fae have also celebrated winter, albeit by embracing the cold season for how it helps the land. In ancient times, humans came up with their own traditions for winter. As the fae began to populate the main continent from their homeland of Faedra as the two races met, the tradition gradually melded into one, longer celebration.
Fae saw how the humans cut down many trees during the winter to keep warm, and instead of reacting with spite, offered a solution. In a gesture of goodwill, the Fae gifted a magic seed to the human town known then known as "Teldrin", an ancient off-shoot of Brittania. They bid the humans help them replenish the land of the trees that they cut down, by planting new, starting with the magic seed. The human town listened, planting it right in the middle of town. Throughout the year a sapling sprouted, growing and growing, larger than any normal tree ever should. It towered over even the tallest town houses.
That next winter, with the tree fully grown, a group of fey came to help the humans cut it down, but told them that as long as they never cut the tree down fully, it would forever provide the town with wood as it was not a seed, but a fragment of the "World Tree", of Gaia herself. Heeding their words, instead of chopping it down the humans span their time harvesting the low-branches. As promised by the Fae, the branches never stopped growing, nor did the tree. Providing the town with an infinite source of firewood for as long as it wasn't abused.
From then on, every year the humans start a bonfire using logs from the giant, magic tree for the heart of the fire. For weeks and weeks the bonfire will burn without needing any further fuel in the center of town, giving off a perfect, pleasant heat throughout the town. When it finally died out, the humans discovered that winter ended not but a few days later. This was the founding stpes of peace between the humans of Brittania, and the denizens of Faedra. As the years ticked by, the two species interbred, lesser Fae and Elves populated the town that turned to a city, known as "Altris".
Eventually this became instead known as the "Fairy King's Tree", as it has grown to the size of a castle, with hundreds of smaller trees growing from it across the country. It is well known to have always been ruled by a "Fairy King", and the "Fairy Kings Forest" surrounds it, though the ruler is not truly the lord of all Fae, the humans still often view the "King" as such. Instead, "Altris" was built on the edge of this forest, and became the home of many humans and some individuals of Faedran descent. To this day, the holiday is still celebrated by the denizens of Altris through an agreement with the Fairy Forest.

Execution

Almost all human towns and cities across the eastern half of the Ceridian Empire have a large space in the center of their town for a "Fairy Tree" to be represented. Most locations also use this same spot as the bonfire pit for each winter. The ruler of each town, be them King or simply Village Head, receive the gift of the magic lumber from the forest each year from elves that deliver the gift from the forest. Who actually goes out into the center of town to plant it varies, as some towns like for the children- the future of their town- to light the flames for the new year.

Observance

Gaderian is generally observed midwinter spanning for weeks from the end of one year into the beginning of the next, though some southern towns in the Ceridian Empire that do not suffer such long winters prefer to celebrate upon the first snow. Though it's a popular festival known throughout the Empire, western cities do not hold it with the same reverence as those towns that were founded by the Fairy Forest, and Altris. It's such a large holiday that Faedran and Humans alike love to take part in the traditions, but many of the other races (unless they call the human towns home) tend not to observe it at all.