Kosh'harg

The Kosh'harg (sometimes called the Kosh'harg celebration or Kosh'harg festival) is a traditional orcish festival in which the various orc clans come together to share news and feast in friendship. For centuries, the Kosh'harg was held twice each year near the holy mountain of Oshu'gun on the orcs' homeworld of Draenor. The tradition was one of many that were lost during the rise of the Old Horde, but was revived decades later on Azeroth on the initiative of Eitrigg.
==Draenor==
On Draenor, the orc clans were generally insular and independent due to vast differences in culture, dress, religious dogma, and dialects. However, the elders of all clans recognized the importance of meeting to discuss various matters, and thus the Kosh'harg was created and honored.Rise of the Horde, pg. 21 The Kosh'harg began as a biannual gathering of shaman created by the Shadowmoon clan shortly after the orcs first learned the arts of shamanism, around 800 years BDP. However, it soon grew to include all orcs.
The Kosh'harg took place twice a year, once during the spring and once the autumn, in honor of the time when day and night are the same length. It was mostly held in the shadow of Oshu'gun, the "Mountain of Spirits" in Nagrand. Any violence or vendettas pursued during the event was strictly forbidden and held grave consequences, since Nagrand was considered holy ground. The length of the festival depended on how many pressing concerns needed to be addressed, but such matters were a rarity, and the gathering shifted much more to the mood of a festival rather than a commune. Many Kosh'hargs were simply meet-and-greets to catch up and see old faces once more, becoming a rare time when the clans could put aside their rivalries, share news, foster ties, and feast in friendship.
The center piece of every Kosh'harg was a great feast placed at an altar within view of Oshu'gun, meant to draw the spirits of the ancestors and make them feel included in the festivities. Every attending clan could contribute a meal of their own making to the feast, to bring honor to themselves in the ancestors' eyes. Sometimes, specific favorite foods of the deceased were placed in order to summon them. Along with food, ale and other alcohol was also traditionally included.Spoons and Forks The cook Barasha collected recipes from all the clans at each Kosh'harg in her cookbook, :Spoons and Forks.An Important Heirloom
Before the reformation, half-breeds like half-draenei and the Mok'nathal were not welcome at the Kosh'harg as they were considered lesser than true orcs.The Kosh'harg
===Notable Kosh'hargs===
*402 BDP: Held the year after the orcish temple at the Throne of the Elements was destroyed by ogres, an event which threw the elements out of balance all across Draenor. There was no celebration or revelry at this festival, only mourning for what had happened at the Throne. The Shadowmoon elder shaman Nelgarm convinced the clans to join together into an army that marched to war against the ogres.
*99 BDP: One of this year's Kosh'harg festivals was quite tense, marked by arguments on how the orcs would respond to the draenei, who had recently repelled an ogre attack on their city of Shattrath. Some clans wanted to avoid them, while others saw them as enemies. The Kosh'harg ended without a consensus. Most clans were content to simply keep their distance, with the exception of the Bladewind clan, who began to conduct raids on draenei caravans.
*Unknown, before 13 BDP: Durotan and Orgrim Doomhammer met and befriended each other at a Kosh'harg.
*Unknown, before 11 BDP: At an autumn Kosh'harg, Garad called his oldest son Fenris a coward for secretly hunting gronn with the Thunderlord clan, causing Fenris to challenge his father to a mak'gora duel. Garad easily defeated his son but refused to kill him. Feeling insulted and humiliated, Fenris permanently left the Frostwolves to join the Thunderlord clan.Blood and Thunder
*~10 BDP: Many of the attendants of one of this year's Kosh'harg, including Garad, contracted the red pox. On Ner'zhul's urging, they remained in Nagrand and built a village to quarantine the afflicted. Garad took charge over his fellow plague bearers but died a few weeks later. The village was named Garadar in his honor.
After centuries of practice, the Kosh'harg tradition eventually died out with Draenor's destruction.A People in Need of Healing
==Revival on Azeroth==
Following the formation of New Horde, Eitrigg of the Blackrock clan felt that although the orcs had found a place on Azeroth, they had lost their way as a people due to the loss of their old traditions. Long before the Fourth War, he began to wish for the Kosh'harg's return, but Varok Saurfang told him that "This is no time for dead traditions".
In 40 ADP, after the awakening of the Dragon Isles, Eitrigg felt that the time was right and went to Alterac Valley with an orc adventurer to speak to Drek'Thar about reviving the Kosh'harg. At the same time, Thrall, Aggralan, and their children happened to be visiting Drek'Thar. Drek'Thar agreed with Eitrigg's suggestion, and Aggralan suggested that they could offer the orcs more than just a reunion by simultaneously introducing a new rite of passage, the om'gora, to replace the old om'riggor. The adventurer was chosen to be the first to undergo the om'gora, and Drek'Thar appointed Aggralan as the one who would preside over the Kosh'harg and judge the hero's rite.
The first Kosh'harg of Azeroth was held in Razor Hill in Durotar. Thrall and Eitrigg assembled the clans and invited many orcs from all across Azeroth and Outland, including groups who'd had a troubled history with the Horde (like the Dragonmaw clan) and ones who were normally not invited to such events (like the warlocks and the Mok'nathal). The festival was enough of a standout event to bring even reclusive individuals like Shokia and Garona Halforcen out of hiding. As part of their om'gora, the adventurer created a feast for the ancestors,The Blessing of the Ancestors summoning the spirits of Varok Saurfang and other famous orcs of recent history to give their blessing.A Worthy Offering
Once the hero completed the rite, the Kosh'harg transitioned into a feast in their honor, with plenty of eating, drinking, and drunken brawling.Honor and Glory Thrall then held a speech to the crowd to celebrate the adventurer's accomplishment, after which Aggralan performed the ceremony to bring the festival to a close.Aka'magosh Altogether, the first Kosh'harg of Azeroth was deemed to be a great success, one that inspired hope of a new, bright age for the orcs as a people.A Worthy Offering - Varok Saurfang dialogueHonor and Glory - Rehgar Earthfury dialogue
==Notes==
*The part about cooking a feast for the ancestors is roughly similar to the Harvest Festival, in which Honored Ancestors of all Horde races appear.
==See also==
*The Khural, a very similar centaur tradition
==References==
Category:Orcs
Category:Events
Category:Rise of the Horde