Calendar

## Months

The Gilon Calendar consists of 12 months, each with exactly 30 days. The first day of the first month is the first day of spring and the seasons change from spring to summer, to fall, to winter and back to spring again roughly every 3 months. The months are in alphabetical order (at least in Western common) and are as follows:

(spring)

* Arthis
* Berrith
* Canth

(summer)

* Durgat
* Esther
* Ferragusto

(fall)

* Goldun
* Horun
* Iltra

(winter)

* Jarlin
* Karshe
* Lumen

In most areas either the first or last day of the month is a national holiday with some big celebration honoring the passing of the month. The exact nature of this celebration depends on the country.

See also Gilon Timeline.

## Western Holidays

While each part of the world celebrates different holidays, most tend to celebrate the first of each month in some way. Below is a list of holidays celebrated in countries where western common is generally spoken.

### Arthis 1 - Mating Day

The first day of the year is the first day of spring and is marked by the annual festival known as Mating Day. Young couples celebrate by giving romantic gifts to one another to celebrate the new year and pray for fertility. Those hoping for children will go to make offerings at temples in hopes of a safe birth and leave out offerings to the fey to avoid any potential mischief from them. Children traditionally get together and stay over at the homes of friends and relatives for the night. They are told that this is to keep fairies from getting them, but in reality, it is mostly so the young couples looking to make good on their fertility blessing at least get some time to themselves for one night.

### Berrith 1 - Flower day

It is mid spring, and the world is filled with colorful flowers. People celebrate by gathering flowers and putting them in the hair of others. For single adults, placing a flower in someone's hair is a sign that you are interested in them romantically and, when reciprocated, the couple begins dating. Couples put flowers in each other's hair as a symbol of their renewed love for the next year. In such cases, refusing to reciprocate essentially means that the partner wants a divorce. Among children, the romantic connotation is lost, the act of flower giving instead being more of a game to see who is the most popular.

### Canth 1 - Water Festival

To celebrate the last month of spring and the coming rainy season, people celebrate by dumping buckets of water on each other. In some regions, this is done a sort of a prank where you sneak up on someone and pour water on them from behind or find other ways to get them wet. In others, major water battles are had, sometime with the aid of magical spells such as create water or magic items such as decanters of endless water. Coastal cities often celebrate by summoning water elementals which frolic in the sea and invite friendly aquatic races to approach and celebrate as a symbol of peace between the two worlds.

### Durgat 1 - Festival of Plenty

The first day of summer is celebrated by extended families getting together and eating massive amounts of food. Various fruit and vegetable dishes are the norm, particularly those involving cherries, watermelon, green beans and potatoes. Families that can afford it often slaughter a pig and have some glazed ham to go with the meal. Those that cannot make do with chicken.

### Esther 1 - Fire Festival

The hottest days of summer are celebrated with a huge fire festival. Fire elementals are summoned to dance in the streets as fireworks light up the night air. The drinking and festivities often go well into the night as most of the creatures that go bump in the night are frightened off by the displays. Children are encouraged to wear costumes resembling monsters and run screaming through the streets as people playfully chase them around.

### Ferragusto 1 - Godsday

The last days of summer are a muted affair where people go to temples to make offerings for protection in the coming winter. Family graves are also visited and cleaned or repaired if necessary. It is believed that the dead visit their graves on this day, so families often have picnics at the graves and remember the deceased. An offering of food is also left for the deceased to let them know that their family still thinks about them.

### Goldun 1 - Harvest Festival

The fall harvest is gathered around this time of the year and in celebration, massive bonfires are erected using discarded chaff and other farming waste. The bonfires, often 30 to 40 ft high, light up the night and provide the folk with warmth as the chill of fall begins to set in. Various vegetables and meats are roasted by the bonfires as well. As they snack on these foods, some people write wishes on pieces of bark or parchment and toss them into the bonfire. It is said that the wishes turn to smoke that rises up to the gods who can choose to grant them, if they so choose.

### Horun 1 - Air Festival

By mid-fall, the leaves of trees are well colored and beginning to fall to the ground. In large cities, air elementals are summoned to suck up the leaves and send them swirling through the air as parades march through the streets. Areas that cannot afford that instead rake up the leaves into piles and dive into them or dump them from rooftops as they have their own smaller parades.

### Iltra 1 - Festival of the Dead

This is the one day where it is said portals open between the land of the living and the afterlife, allowing the dead to swarm through the material plane. Those with recently deceased relatives offer their remains to be animated as zombies who run through the streets and hand out treats to people that can capture them. They see it as one last time to say goodbye to their relatives before finally being laid to rest.

### Jarlin 1 - Chorus Festival

The beginning of winter is celebrated by singing. Groups of people wander the streets singing various traditional songs in hopes that everyone in the city survives the coming winter. Extended family often gets together and exchange gifts. Children are told stories about the Frost Elf who shows up and delivers presents to good children, while freezing bad children to death in their beds. While this is mostly a story told to get children to behave and go to bed early, it does have some basis in reality as there exists a type of winter fey that likes to play with children; offering them treats if they are kind or attacking them if they are not. Luckily, such creatures are rarely encountered, especially in towns.

### Karshe 1 - Earth Festival

Mid-winter is celebrated by praying for the earth to awaken and sustain the world again. Drums are played by people sitting atop portable shrines that are either carried by earth elementals or other people covered in mud if elementals are unavailable. The parades are lavish but subdued compared to those of other holidays.

### Lumen 1 - Festival of Light

The last days of winter are celebrated by a procession of candles at night. People march through the streets, lighting up the city as much as they can to symbolically bring back the warmth of spring. Young children are often given objects that have continual flame cast upon it (if available) so they can participate in the festivities in relative safety. The day is often also marked by fasting to mourn those in the past who may have not survived the winter due to lack of food.

### Lumen 30 - New Year's Eve

The last day of the year can vary widely by region, but all culminate in watching the first sunrise of the year. Some have big parties that last through the night and mark the new year with the coming of the first rising sun. Others prefer to go to bed early so they can wake up in time to catch the sunrise. Some areas instead treat the night as a preamble to Mating Day, with single folk going to special dating parties to find someone to celebrate Mating day with. The couples then spend the night getting to know one another through the night until the sun rises.