Calendar

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 Deireadh Fómhair

Each month has 30 days.

## Days of the Seachtáin

The dating system of Undriel is based around the fall of the Empire of Uildía, everything prior to that in terms of a concept of dates has been predominantly lost. While there are recordings and scraps found from as late as the 300th Year of the Uildían Empire, there are very few markers to help create a consistent timeline. The Nine Kingdoms begin their timeline from the collapse of Uildía itself and their formation.

Scholars use two specific periods of time. After Uildía (AU) represents the beginning of the Nine Kingdoms and so this is the standard timeline. Any dates prior to that are referred to as the time of the Uildían Empire (UE). It is now 300AU, meaning it is 300 years since the fall of Uildía and the beginning of the Nine Kingdoms.

## Days of Importance on Undriel

### **Samhain**

The year begins with Samhain. Celebrated at the end of Dereadh Fómhair, it is a time of deliberate misrule and contrariness. It was also a time when the veil between this world and Tír Fo Thuinn was thought to be so thin that the dead could return to warm themselves at the hearths of the living, and some of the living - especially file  - were able to enter Tír Fo Thuinn through the tairseach of certain sacred places, such as that at the Hill of Tara in Caer Wyde.

At Samhain cattle were brought in for the winter, and the Fianna, gave up the war until Beltain. In Caer Wyde and Jothenheim it is an especially sacred time, whose peace was normally broken only by the need to protect the land from predators or Fomori. Those who risk breaking the peace of the land do so at great risk to themselves, and the honor of their family or clan. In Caer Wyde, families who break the peace, for example, are banished from the land, their eldest branded with the mark of a betrayer.

### **Imbolc**

Coming at lambing time, around the end of Eanáir or the start of Feabhra, Imbolc celebrates the beginning of the end of winter. New lambs are born, and a dish made from their docked tails is eaten. Women meet to celebrate the return of Áine and offer sacrifices and offers to the goddess and to Bres in preparation for the beginning of the planting season. It is said that any children born during the week of this celebration are fated to perform great deeds and have many offspring.

### **Beltain**

Beltain, celebrated around the first of Bealtaine, is a fire festival, focused around the goddess Brigid and her consort Bile. Cattle were let out of their pens and driven between two fires in a ritual cleansing ceremony to ensure they do not catch the plague. It is a time for feasts and fairs, for the mating of animals, and for divorces,  arising from trial marriages entered into at Lughnasadh. Like Samhain, it is a time for travel between the worlds: the legendary file Taliesin is said to manifest at Beltain and regal the people with stories of the worlds beyond. Beltain heralds the start of the ‘fighting season’.

### **Lughnasadh**

Lughnasadh is a Samhradh festival lasting for as long as two weeks either side of the day itself, which falls around the end of Lúil . It was said to have been introduced by the god Lugh, and so is sacred to this god. This festival is celebrated with competitions of skill, including horse-racing. At this time anyone may challenge a tiarna, or uasal to a form of single combat. The tiarna or uasal may choose to fight or have a champion represent them. If the tiarna or uasal loses, they must be willing to give half their holdings to the champion or name the winner their successor. The trials of Lughnasadh guarantee that few tiarna or uasal are not combat capable.