-Solari Festival-
The Solari Festival is a celebration of the changing seasons, the transition of Spring into Summer. Although this time is also the beginning of many harvest seasons and acts as a great holiday for those who work, especially within the Empire, it also celebrates the fair weather for travelers.
In the Empire the end of Spring is celebrated on the Oudas of Mada. This holiday is often celebrated with the final offerings of flower petals, seed sowing, and feasting. As spring ends and the Inndas of Juna arrives, it is customary to offer anything that was not consumed during the feasting celebrations to nearby rivers or waters. Most citizens will do this by offering prayer to Anastasia and then gifting the food into the water directly, but larger gatherings can celebrate by filling a boat with offerings and letting it loose into the water to be taken by Anastasia as she pleases. It is considered good omen if the boat sinks and if any floating food is consumed down river which has also led to customs burning or purposefully sinking the boats during this practice. Cults of Anastasia within the Empire's port cities also host celebrations, often brining crowds aboard their vessels to do offerings at sea and bless travelers across the waters of the world.
Among the Dwarven Kingdoms there are celebrations of the arrival of the season of water. Statues of Anastasia are created at this time or brought forth from storage and are welcomed into the stone halls of Helena. Prayers of clean water, full wells, and plentiful rainfall to come are practiced before grand feasting days which include new drinks made with pure waters. At dwarven ports, the dwarven mariners offer precious stones to the sea, a gift from Helena to the goddess of the waters.
Although the elven dominions each celebrate the arrival of summer in their own ways, the most common practice throughout the woods of Nhearn is the Dance of the Canopy. This is a celebration of the gift of Vanessa to the goddess of the waters and often is the time when wood elves prove their passage into adulthood. The Dance of the Canopy can be a graceful performance, a race through the woods, or can be a meditative moment, but it is done above the forest floor upon the branches of trees. Offerings to the creatures of the Fey Wilde and offerings to the nymphs of Anastasia at springs and rivers are given at this time as the arrival of more sunlight often awakens more mystical creatures within the elven woods.
For the Church of Christianna, the day is a celebration of the goddess of the waters, but the focus is on the longer days in which the golden light of the sun is though to bring more goodness across Nhearn. Upon this day the members of the church gather to get blessings to begin pilgrimages where they travel to shrines, locations of holy powers, and other churches abroad, believing that the longer light and blessings of water assist in their purpose.
The Solari Festival is shared through all cultures in one form or another and as Nhearn transitions from Spring to Summer, Air to Water, the days become longer and the year is now fully awakened.