Holidays and Ceremonies

### Holidays within the Crosswinds universe

Because Crosswinds takes place in an alternate universe, on the fantasy planet of Malm, many religions, ceremonies, traditions, and even holidays are different than it's real life counterpart. Here is a listing of holidays canon to this universe.

## Yule

### (Christmas & New Years)

**Yule** or **Yuletide** ("Yule time" or "Yule season") was originally a Dwarven festival of life and the new coming year. The Dwarves celebrated their holiday the true traditional Dwarven way; by partaking in large feasts, hunts, and getting completely drunk. A contest among the Dwarves to down the biggest creatures in the realm. The winner of the Hunt was rewarded with 100 Dwarven virgins and given extravagant gifts.

Overtime, the tradition spread to other nations, people, and cultures, who would each adapt it to fit their own culture and religions and celebrated their own version of Yule. With the Dwarves gone today, only bastardizations of the holiday remains that barely resemble what the Dwarves originally celebrated.

Humans give each other presents and dedicate the time as a period of peace brought by their goddess; Helma.

Elven cultures dedicate the Holiday to the closing of the year, and welcoming in the birth of a new year, a year reborn by Nom'ani's grace and life giving properties. They view it as a "rebirth" or a chance to start anew.

Beastkin will decorate the Mother Tree in festive lights and spend time with their families, singing songs to their ancestors under the tree, in hopes that they will hear it in their afterlife.

Monsterkin will usually choose their own way to celebrate or join other celebration traditions with whoever or wherever they feel they fit in best, while others may not celebrate at all.

Yule has no relation to Christianity, as the religion was never part of the crosswinds universe, and instead celebrates the coming of the new year, lasting from December 22nd to January 2nd. During this time people share stories, give gifts, decorate trees, partake in food, drink, and impose unrealistic expectations for the new year onto themselves.

## Allhalloween

### (Halloween)

Also known as Allhallowtide or All Hallow's Eve. Allhalloween is a celebration observed all across Malm on the 31st of October, but the celebrations last a majority of the month. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, and is dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all those that have departed this world. It also marks the "darker half" of the year, where dark magic seems to be more potent for some unknown reason, and chaotic or evil forces grow stronger. It is known as the "Month of Zom".

Allhalloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Allhalloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, as well as watching horror films. In many parts of the world, the religious observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular, although elsewhere it is a more commercial and secular celebration these days.

People will celebrate by wearing ghastly costumes in order to trick the souls that have escaped the "other realm" and have wandered back into the realm of the living, to prevent harming or cursing by the spirits. They also wear them to pay tribute and honor the dead, in the hopes that this would some how support their loved one's spiritual journey into the great beyond. Masks and costumes are also worn because death is viewed as a natural part of the human cycle, and most view it not as a day of sadness, but as a day of celebration for their loved ones, who rise from the grave and celebrate with them, cherishing their time with their lost loved ones.

Not all things are fun and celebrations however. There are serious anomalies that have been documented on Allhalloween relating to the dark magicks. If a blood moon occurs on the night of Allhalloween Beastkin have been known to transform into Were-versions of themselves, while Monsterkin start growing more chaotic, due to an ancient curse of some kind.

## Saint's Return

### (Easter)

Saint's Return is a Elven holiday that is celebrated throughout Treaq, to commemorate "the day of crowning", a special memorial ceremony of the day their leader was placed into power and the Dynasty had officially started. The Elves regard this as a holy event in their culture. When their leader was crowned, it was said that all the Magick gardens across the realm glowed brighter, and every flower blossomed that day, as if spring came a second time. The Elven children decorate eggs to welcome in a "New Spring". The eggs represent a hatching dynasty, and a new chapter for Elvenkind. Saint's Return falls on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon in April.

## Omi'annian Great Hunt

### (Thanksgiving)

A Beastkin holiday that is celebrated on November 28th throughout Sha'an, and even among the various Malmian monster clans. Sometimes the Elven and Human kingdoms treat the event like an Olympic sport competition to showcase the superiority of their race.

Omi'annian has always been a week long celebration leading up to the 28th. Beastkin offer thanks and offerings to their chief, for all that they have been given. They honor the chief by taking turns hunting the biggest monsters they can find. On the final day they prepare, roast, and eat their all the captured prey, covering them in the finest of Beastkin spices and oils. The Chief and Elders always eat first, then finally the rest of the ranks get to partake. The feasting does not end until all the meats, no matter how much, have been consumed. It is a crime among Beastkin to waste any part of this special feast, the feasting could last for hours or days. Beastkin typically go into a deep near hibernation-like state of sleep for the next few days, due to the amount of food they have consumed. After the event, the Beastkin always ensure they preform rituals to return the souls back to the earth by guiding the spirits to the Mother Tree.

The Chief rewards the warrior who brings in the biggest and most dangerous monster, and crowns that Beastkin as "Master Hunter/Huntress" until next year's hunt. Despite this being a Beastkin holiday, other kingdoms sometimes participate in this hunting ceremony to prove themselves as the superior kingdom, treating it as an Olympic-type of game and an opportunity to showcase their technology and specialties.

## Summer Festival

### (4th of July)

This is a simple celebration to welcome in the coming of summer to welcome in the coming heat wave. All across Malm, everyone observes a temporary peace, and enjoy special food, launch fireworks into the sky, and send floating lanterns into the sky. The Elves have made this celebration about Ul'El'Baren, their deity of earth, while the Humans have dedicated the day to their god, Helma. The Beastkin tribes all gather around the World Tree and decorate it, paying tribute to mother nature.