The Culture Column
Duvets are not proper holidays. Instead, these are workless days given to servants whose positions are either redundant or not vitally necessary. Most servants have five of these each year and may be taken with at least one week's notice. Especially large households which employ servants will give even more duvets to their staff.
Remembrance, or the Remembrance of the Fallen, commemorate the deaths of soldiers who have been killed in wars. It's often connected to Liberation Day, which celebrates the (possibly mythical) date that the country overthrew its domination by a nation which has since fallen (which does not prevent some prejudice being directed toward its heirs).
The Traveling Week is a holy period of time celebrating the days during which the gods made the men and women who founded the nation. Taking place shortly after the harvest should be completed, its name comes from how most businesses are closed, and even many servants are given leave during this time, and so people often take this time to travel to family who are within a couple days' distance.
One's Naming Day is more than just a celebration of the anniversary of the date of his or her naming (something more important than the date of one's birth because being given a name signifies being given an identity). A person's hair is associated with past events, and so the person at the focus of the Naming Day is shaven in a special ceremony, freeing that individual from any supernatural afflictions that might have been taken on in the past year.
This hair-shaving ritual has something in common with the Water Day, which is the day after the first rain of the year. On this day people take outdoor baths in order to cleanse themselves of the spiritual filth that past misdeeds might have inflicted on them. The baths must be taken at least partly with water from the previous day's rain (even if just a single drop) for them to have this cleansing effect.
Crossroads Day is a holiday that is celebrated once a year in honor of the spirits that watch over, fittingly enough, crossroads. They protect not only physical, literal crossroads but any other point where two different paths intersect, including the metaphorical crossroads in a person's life. While crossroads of all kinds are believed to have a little bit of bad luck in them, their spirits scrub away this taint so long as they are properly mollified with offerings of dance and food.
Loaf Day is the festival of the wheat harvest. Farmers bring to the festival a loaf made from the newly-harvested first crop of wheat, and if a man is paying rent on his land then he is bound to make his payment of crop on this day.
Harvest Day actually is the festival for a second, smaller harvest in those areas where the winter comes in late enough and the crops grow fast enough for multiple crops. Fruits, especially berries, are fully ripened shortly before Harvest Day, and the event sees a number of community gatherings, races, and reunions with distant loved ones. Trial marriages, which can be ended with little to-do for a period of a year (after which they cannot be ended), are typically made entered into on Harvest Day.
Mothering Day is not observed by many people. Its importance lies only for travelers and migrants, who make every effort to be, on this day, back in their hometown, called the place of their mothering. It is traditional for the employers of such individuals to give a couple of days off to their workers in order to give them some time to make the journey and then return after Mothering Day.
Relick Day is another festival day which celebrates artifacts of both religious and local significance which are in the possession of the town. Anyone can put forward their relics for display, whether they be a high-ranking priest or a lowly beggar, and many times it can be hard to discern which relics have any genuine value in them; be cautious if a man claims to be on such hard times that he will not only sell it to you but will do so at a suspiciously affordable price.
