User blog comment:Doctor Ibrahim/Ask the Doc and his Family!/@comment-27550231-20160814025002/@comment-28358106-20160814160123

"Well, on Holy Eve the Cathedral has an all day mass, through midnight up to 1am.  The next morning, everybody exchanges gifts, to signify how we are supposed to bless each other with our spiritual gifts, or something along those lines.  Everything is decorated with holly wreaths and garlands and candles and icons. It's a religious holiday, but everyone observes it regardless, because of the decorations and gift giving.  Hallow's Eve...well, I have to explain that.   Believe it or not, it's actually an anti-Sabbath holiday.  The custom of dressing up in costume and begging for candy comes from the tradition of Mamono children dressing up as other Mamono in order to "fool" Sabbath witches into believing they Mamono are much fiercer than they really are.  The costumed kids then beg candy from adults, so that the children can keep the candy "safe" as fierce monsters, thus keeping the adults safer from the Sabbath witches, who are, by legend, attracted to candy because they are children themselves. Of course, it's all complete nonsense and just a good reason to run around in costume and eat candy.

The Harvest Moon is a fall festival that's held every afternoon until midnight for two weeks every September celebrating the end of the harvest. Every town, settlement and city has a Moon Festival, where food vendors, craftsmen, merchants, game booths, dances, contests, open air feasts and lamplight theater can be found. They're essentially fairs that allow folks to have one last big gathering before tucking in for the winter. Holy Eve is actually a month long celebration, but much more subdued and held indoors.

Planter's Pass is much the same, in that it was an agrarian custom that carried over to the populace, as is Wait Week. Both are agrarian breaks that were originally observed only by farmers. But since the farmers' families had the habit of spending time enjoying themselves during these breaks, the tradition carried over to the rest of the populace.

But Charter Day is something that is held over a four day period. Each year the celebration is centered in a different province on a rotating basis. Dignitaries from every province arrive and stay at the hosting province's capital. Over the four day period, the hosts will shower the guests with small gifts and pledges of friendship and loyalty. Of course, a great deal of it is fabricated theater, but many of the gestures are genuine, considering that the founding Elves and Dwarves and the Regent are still around.

There are customs associated with the holiday. One nationwide custom is to offer to host a member of an opposing race for an overnight stay. In the capital and cantons, every day is marked with a special feast in the evening. But most significantly, in the capital there is a parade of all the dignitaries on the first day, which is meant to recreate the moment when every province came to sign the charter. These days the dignitaries don't actually participate in the parade, but rather they send representatives to do it for them. Dancers, entertainers, and highly colourful military divisions participate.

If it seems like there are a lot of lengthy holidays, it's because it's generally accepted that the Dwarves have had a huge influence on them. The Dwarves were humanity's first and closest allies in Whitemarch, and still remain so, and they love to have a good time, so their habits carried over. They have their own holidays as well, but they aren't celebrated nationally.