Ringing In the New Year, Tolmiran-Style

In the cities and villages of the Empire, the New Year is celebrated shortly before the spring equinox--what we would call March 1. Tolmiran traditions include:

- "Freeing the Old Year." In order to purge the old year and welcome in the new, Tolmirans often leave all of their doors and windows open all night, and employ pots, pans, and crude fireworks in order to shoo the demons and spirits of the old year on their way. Lighting streets and homes as brightly as possible is a newer tradition accompanying many New Year celebrations. Overnight illumination was originally reserved for a minor state holiday and had nothing to do with the change of the calendar, but as burglars began taking greater advantage of the "open-door" policy, larger cities subtly shifted the bright night to New Year's.

- "Prosperous New Year." Many look to the New Year to improve their fortunes, so throwing anything away on New Year's Day is widely considered to be bad luck. As the superstition goes, making oneself poorer on New Year's Day invites further destitution the rest of the year. Taken to extremes, in many areas trash and even dead bodies are not collected or hauled away, and kitchen and privy wastes have even been known to accumulate in the most orthodox homes. Many Tolmirans arrive to have something delivered to their home during the day as a spur to New Year's prosperity, ranging from a card or letter to a morsel of food to a floral arrangement.

- "The New Year's Harbinger." The first person to set foot in a home on New Year's Day is supposed to set the tone for the coming year, so blind consumptives and beggars are not welcome across many thresholds. Healers are usually considered bad luck as well, considered a sign of sickness in the house rather than a year of coming health. Enterprising professionals have made a business of this tradition, with professional entertainers often paid to serve as a positive, upbeat harbinger to the best households, while tax officials have been known to line their pockets with money guaranteeing that they will darken no doorsteps on New Year's Day.

These traditions, of course, only account for the Empire's mainstream, human-dominated society. Tolmira's other inhabitants generally make less of a show out of New Year's, but each has a unique look.

Those comparatively few Verai who observe the holiday take part in what is known simply as "The Vigil," a round-the-clock watch against danger. Typically the all-night duty is shared among a platoon, but in every city one Verai is always charged to carry out the full 24-hour Vigil. There is also some friction between Verai divisions as to when the Vigil should be observed. Some, in deference to their Imperial paymasters, use the Imperial New Year date, while others prefer the original Ilvari New Year of midsummer.

Cella culture does not call for specific celebrations of the new year--although many are perfectly happy to join in the mainstream celebration when passing through a settlement. Most Cella observe their personal changing of the calendar when their one-year marriage arrangements come to a close and they pick new mates, either from their own tribe or by crossing over into a new band.

As far as anybody can tell, the Illuminated have no organized celebration of the New Year--but keen observation reveals that they probably profit greatly from the celebrations of others, making the deliveries of goods and services associated with the human superstitions of harbingers and prosperity, as well as providing food, drink, and entertainment for Cella weddings year-round.