-FLORI Festival-
The Flori Festival is the celebration of the renewal of life through the dark cold days and the changing of seasons from Winter to Spring. During this time all of Nhearn welcomes the return of warmth and light to the year.
Within the borders of the Empire, the end of Winter is celebrated on the Oudas of Febra and is often a somber affair. The end of the harsh dark winters is observed with a recounting of the lives that did not endure the cold and many ceremonies involve memorial shrines to account for those that Dermolgmar had taken also in the year previous, similar to holidays in the late harvest seasons before winter's arrival. This ceremony marks the closure of winter, a tradition that is also meant to rest the dangers of the darkness, and upon the ending of Oudas the celebration of Flori officially begins. The Inndas of Marka is the day of the Flori Festival which often begins at the sounding of dawn, although many are still celebrating from the night prior. Throughout most cities and Imperial holds, the denizens greet the sun with songs of welcoming and bring about colorful decoration to encourage the weather to change and the flowers to bloom. During the days of holiday, and often carried on through the weeks of Marka, the noble families of the Empire host gatherings of revelry within their holds, often competing to host the grandest festivities for the year. Traveling entertainers are often in high demand for these celebrations and travel across the Empire is common to follow with the celebrations which brings about good trade, socializing, and resettling, even from among the other denizens of Nhearn.
Similar to more reverent celebrations that the Imperial citizens observe in this time, the dominion of elves use the arrival of spring to sow new seeds and nurture new growth. Elves of the woods use the Flori Festival to plant new dwelling trees and expand their villages, offering gifts and sacrifices to Vanessa to bless the natural world for new splendor and encourage the budding of trees and plants. The elves of the plains also offer Vanessa observance at the coming of Spring, but they rejoice more with the arrival of Katrina's gifted time. The plainer elves gather, many of the nomadic tribes making pilgrimage to sacred places, so that the ceremonies of the spreading of flower seeds might be overseen by shaeman who speak with the Goddess of the Air.
Among the dwarven kingdoms the coming of Spring is celebrated with cleaning. Homes, holds, tunnels, mines, forges, and whole mountains go through a ritual cleansing to ward off bad luck that lingers from the winter cold and priests of Helena are invited to offer new bounty as the year continues. It is customary that all dwarves make pilgrimage to the surface to witness the daylight on the Inndas of Marka, breathing in the air of Katrina to rejoice in the coming of Spring.
Throughout Nhearn most celebrations are similar for Flori; welcoming in gladness, sowing new life into the fields, gathering flowers to please the winds, and gathering together to enjoy the arrival of warmer weather to the lands. The arrival of the Flori Festival is perhaps the time of most joy throughout Nhearn, as Katrina would desire, and the year passes from Winter to Spring, Earth to Air, and the sun becomes brighter each day.