Folk celebrate for many a reason, so here’s some parties for your #ttrpg settings
Laundry Day
On the 1st Sunday of July, the rural village of Willowbank gets soapy. Four hundred and forty six years ago, the village suffered its last death to plague, a full hundred years before the disease finally stopped killing in western Europe. The source of this little miracle was soap and a reverend who commanded cleanliness. To celebrate the village’s victory of hygiene over disease, the entire village gets together and washes everything. A huge tub, 20 metres across, is set up in the village square and filled with water. Where once they had fires burning underneath, now they use a refitted pool heater to bring the water up to a toasty by economical 40℃. Using soap and detergent they’ve handcrafted over the previous year, everyone gathers and washes their laundry together. The enthusiastic will bring everything they own to wash and likely jump in the tub. Others will bring a ceremonial white sheet and a few bring heritage cloths that have been washed in the tub every year for generations. The villagers have kept the ceremony about blessing the tub and the populations the same over all these years, as the original text is kept within the old church, atop the tomb of their original soapy priest.
Refusal Day
Ten years ago, the castle city of PPP was under siege. The wall and fortifications of PPP were too great for the Black Army to attack. So for four years, the Black Army had surrounded PPP in a siege so complete they diverted a river and cursed away the clouds. Though starvation stalked the city, the people did not yield, they did not waver. And they did so in almost complete silence. For PPP’s surviving mages had built a sonic spell that was charging on the city’s unspent volume. Each decibel unused was funnelled into the bell atop the castle’s highest tower. Ten years ago, the bell sounded and sent out a NO so powerful that it ripped the soil from the rock. The Black Army was broken and in some places literally shattered. On the anniversary of the siege’s end, PPP holds Refusal Day. It is the day of no, when no can be said to anyone for any reason, without consequence, reprisal, or punishment on that day. The day starts at dawn, with the Mayor ceremonially giving their chain of office to a school child.
God of Lies Night
The god of lies was running, faster than the truth would let them. Verance his name. The goddess of steel was hunting, seeking judgement and redress. Hadri her name. The god of lies learnt of the people of Arborth. Verance made pleas to the people there to hide him from the goddess of steel. The god of lies offered them a boon and benefit if they hid him. The people turned away. The god of lies threatened them with violence and curses if they did not hide him. The people turned away. The god of lies appealed to the compassion of the people. The people believed Verance. They found a hollow tree and boxed in the god of lies with cloth and wool, such that Hadri could not see within. The goddess of steel came to Arborth and asked where the god of lies was. The people showed her the hollow tree and were rewarded with a blessed forge. As the tree burnt, Verance cursed Arborth that this night, once per year, would be nothing but falsehood. And now, in Arborth, on the last full moon of spring, no truth can be told from sunset to sunrise. Arborth has grown wealthy from its festival of deceit and from the metals from its forge. They play games of cunning and wit to see who can get the closest to a truth, take advantage of visitors who have not learnt how to speak unlies, and make a great offering of iron ore to the goddess of steel.
Lost Souls Dawn
On the 7th of March, at Dawn, the skeletons muster from their graves. The fields are roiled as they stand up from the dirt in their thousands. They gather and form up on either sides of the Lilac Valley, two small armies arrayed to face off once again. Banners are lofted in silence and rusted weapons hefted before a soundless horn calls the charge. One hundred and thirty nine years ago, fel magic was cast on the battlefield and now all the souls that fought there are bound. Both sides had sought magical advantage and both sides had contracted Yethic the Foul. The opportunistic wizard sold the same spell twice and so both sides fought until the last of each killed the other. Though the armies of Lord Poth and the Westmight Militia annihilated each other, the clashing spells have forced an annual rematch. The annual battle draws spectators who come for the spectacle, the history, or the military tactics. But each battle is not a direct repeat of the first. Each year the armies try something different, each trying to finally win and end their undeath. Tactics change, formations shift, and weather is adapted to but the outcome is always the same – everybody dead. The churches, being moved by the plight of the stricken warriors, have organised a fund – a pile of gold and blessings to the tactician, mage, or warrior who can end the cycle. Getting involved is risky though, as if you die amidst the battle, your soul is now also bound.
The All Day Ballad
Yuliana Amina Devaland saved the republic! Through their heroic efforts, the dread lord Molakkk was defeated and the Sun restored to the sky. Honoured as the Grand Hero of the Republic, the commanding council decreed that on her birthday, for ever more, the story ballad of their life would be sung in the capital square. Yuliana lived onward to the age of 103 and continued to adventure and be heroic until two weeks before her death. Such is the density of her achievements, the story ballad of her life now takes the entire day from sunrise until just after sunset. A rotating team of bards take turns to sing the one thousand and fourteen verses with a band of musicians in rotation. The ballad is so long that the performers have long since stopped trying to memorise the song, so instead they have a group of pages update the scores every half an hour during change overs. It is considered a great honour in the republic to be selected for a year’s recitation and there is intense competition for places.
Image Credit – Photo by Sebastian Mark on Unsplash