Illionor Winter Holidays

Illion Winter Holidays (Background)

The winter holidays and festivals are among the biggest celebrations of the year in Illionor. There are not one but several important holidays during this time, and they are often looked forward to all year. Important context for Illion winter holidays is that Illionor itself is very near or in places within this world’s arctic circle: winters are frigidly cold – nearly impassably snowy, even in the southern parts of Illionor – and the sun stays low at the horizon for days at a time. Daylight is limited, as is travel; during winter celebrations, people tend to gather inside with warm food and drinks and fire to celebrate together while cold and darkness swallow the world outside. 

Winter is also the season associated with the Lonely Goddess; and although she is long gone, it nonetheless remains a cherished time of year in Illion culture. This is also a time of year to celebrate all those things associated with the Lonely Goddess – solitude, wandering, the beauty and harshness of nature, magic, song, and the ties one makes with others. These notes feature often in the many traditions that people keep during this time of year, even if they are not mentioned explicitly below.

Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice is celebrated from the moment the sun sets from the sky for the last time, through the whole day of darkness, and until it first peeks back up above the horizon. People often gather outside during both of these times – sometimes even hours before, making sure to stay well-bundled against the cold – to watch the sun first depart, then return. It is common for people to hike to particularly scenic or picturesque locations to watch this happen, and popular spots may be frequented by hundreds of people.

Once the sun goes down, lights are lit: lanterns, candles, bonfires, and all other forms of light one might be able to dream up. These lights are kept lit until the next sunrise; it is seen as a sign of misfortune or ill luck if one’s light goes out before the sun returns, and if someone puts out another’s light it is thought that a year of bad luck will instead be drawn to the light-snuffer. Many people, starting as older children, stay awake the whole time – finding ways to occupy their time together and drive away sleep to see the darkness through. For those who need or want to sleep, candle-keepers are often appointed – people who take shifts throughout the night to ensure everyone’s lights stay lit. 

In those regions with strong auroras, this is a solstice spectacle as well – auroras are often particularly strong around the solstice, especially in the northern regions of Illionor. Rather than retiring indoors, those who have gathered outside to watch the sun depart may instead stay outside bundled up for the night; and rather than light candles or fires, they will hold vigil by the light of auroras alone. Sometimes, folks will build structures from the ice and snow that reflect the aurora’s beauty and take on its light; these may be intended as conduits for magic, shrines, or simply as works of art and beauty.

In both of these cases, storytelling and song is a central part of the celebration. While there are quite a few traditional songs shared across most of Illionor, groups often keep their own additional traditions as well – songs passed down and shared by kith or kin or villages. Stories are much the same; both are used to keep awake through the long night. Music may include instruments early on in the night, but traditionally shifts into a capella as the night goes on – songs sung by groups of many shifting voices, and then eventually songs that are sung alone. Many of the songs and stories told are old – some thought to have originated in the first era, not long after the making of the elves.

The last facet of Winter Solstice is particularly beloved by children: fey have their own rites at this time of year, and among them is an elidhu tied to the furthest reaches of the northern tundra which brings Illion children gifts during this night. These gifts are given to the children too young to stay up the whole night; they often come in the form of small trinkets, treats, or the occasional blessing. Children often make wishes for particular gifts by leaving small notes, baked goods, or trinkets out in the woods for the fey folk to find – sometimes these specific wishes are heeded, and sometimes they are not. Children who grow old enough to stay up the whole night also outgrow the gift-giving; however, it is customary amongst adults to give one another gifts during this time to ease the sting of outgrowing fey gifts as well as simply to celebrate the bonds with one another. It is not expected that everyone gifts to everyone they know, or even all of their close ties – most people give only a few gifts each year, and may rotate year to year who those recipients will be.

The Liminal Times

The time between the Winter Solstice and New Year’s Eve is also a time of celebration as a sort of liminal space between the returning of the sun and the beginning of the new year. Folks generally do not work during this period of time, but gather in groups – be they family, friends, or whichever strangers they have found themselves cooped up with – to celebrate together. Games are played, small meals are made and shared throughout these days, and most people stay up long into the night. Many groups have their own unique traditions that have been passed down – be they particular recipes, stories, activities, and so on – and as the years turn on and people ebb and flow through various groups, they bring their own cherished traditions to share with those they choose to gather with a given year. Groups are most often a couple dozen strong, but can be anywhere from a handful to hundreds depending on who is hosting and how remote their celebration might be. The burden of hosting is shared among many: people take turns hosting the traditions they want to highlight, and all those old enough to stay up the whole night during Winter Solstice are each expected to take on the making of at least one of the many small meals eaten during this period.

There is an alternate way of celebrating this festival that is spent alone. Some will instead choose to spend this time in a solitary way – often venturing out into the wilderness and building themselves a shelter for that week-and-a-half’s time. They may bring supplies with them, or hunt and fish and gather on their own; it is a harsh and cold way to spend the holiday either way, and is meant to be a test of resolve and endurance. Some spend this time in solitary reflection or meditation; others may spend the time on works of art or writing, or developing a deeper bond with nature and growing deeply familiar with the place one has isolated themselves for the liminal period. 

Others still may take this time to travel – particularly those who call more than one place home, and who want to celebrate the Winter Solstice with one group but New Years with another. It is customary to take this travel on foot as a sort of pilgrimage; it might be done alone, or with a few others who are headed the same way. The process of travel is generally treated at once as a test of resolve, much like the solitude above, as well as a way to connect more deeply with the world around one’s self and with one’s own place in it. It is also seen as a chance to cross paths with fey; those who seek the fey’s council or favors may specifically embark on such a journey during this time in the hope of drawing their presence.

New Year’s Eve & Day

New Years, like the Winter Solstice, is another holiday during which it is customary to stay awake from sundown to sunup – nearly a whole day at the more northern latitudes. Both days are celebrated in their own ways; the day before with outdoor festivities such as ice skating, sledding, or snowball fights, and the day after by sleeping in for long hours and taking a quiet, restful day to recover with those to whom one is closest – often with warm drinks and sweet snacks for when folks finally wake up.

By the time the day of New Years Eve comes around, most folks are tired of being cooped up indoors; hence the tradition of bundling up to spend time outside playing in the snow and ice. Lights – for it is still long hours of darkness – and warm food are still crucial to this celebration; and, since the time is typically spent outdoors, so are warm clothes. Many people have special outfits they save for this holiday, either for the day outdoors or the evenings that come afterwards.

New Year’s Eve moves back indoors. Celebrations take many forms, but tend to be more formal than most of the festivities in the weeks prior. Masquerades are a popular form of celebration; these derive from older celebrations with the fey folk, and while some still celebrate with the fey, many still upkeep the tradition even when amongst only mortals. One divests one’s self from the past and the future – and in the process, one’s identity – to simply spend a night in a time between times and as a person between identities. Children will often don costumes, while adults make elaborate and often beautiful and intricate outfits to disguise themselves. Other common celebrations include name-changing celebrations, individual rites of passage – including for those children who have had their first year successfully staying awake for the Winter Solstice – or renouncing ceremonies, when things associated with the year prior are destroyed as a way to grieve or to let go and make space for new things to come year ahead. Divorces and breakups are also common this time of year, as a way to put old relationships to rest while honoring what was.

New Year’s Day is a day of rest following what has been, for many, nearly two weeks of revelry. This day is spent sleeping late into the afternoon, and even once folks wake back up is generally spent resting. Meals are uncomplicated on this day – bits left over from prior celebrations, warm broth or other simple drinks, and simple treats such as pancakes. The later part of the day and sometimes the day to follow is often spent on a sort of midwinter cleaning – tidying up from the festivities, and cleaning up one’s space more thoroughly both in anticipation of many more days spent cooped up indoors and as a way of “cleaning out” old things from the prior year that one wants to let go or get rid of.