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History

The winter solstice is the first day of the year in both Silvanian calendars and Onumbrica's Metropolitan Almanac. In the old days, the holiday commemorated the return of Coren, god of the sun at noon, after (almost, in some traditions) being seduced by Coreas, god of winter, into abandoning his responsibilities. Classical solstice parties typically involved feasting and dancing all night and ended with watching the sun rise, at which time Coren was said to have confronted his father Barolin, the tyrannical god of dawn, who had tried to steal the sun for himself, and set it back on its course.

It's also said that Coreas sulked for weeks after Coren rejected him, which is why Snow is the first month of all three calendars, in spite of Silvania's climate being substantially warmer than the parts of Onumbrica at the same latitude, and the rarity of actual snow anywhere since the Cyclone.

Onumbrican customs

Since the Cyclone, Onumbrican and Silvanian traditions have diverged. Under the judgmental eye of the Senate, Onumbrican solstice secularized rapidly, and has become a festival of gift-giving and community togetherness. Gifts are traditionally placed under a tree in the town square (often a courtyard in urban apartment buildings, and wealthy families may have their own tree), and going outside in the cold to find your gift symbolizes the fresh possibilities of the new year.

Silvanian customs

In coastal Silvania, the solstice holiday commemorates the return of the Lady, who fell silent in the days after the Cyclone. The holiday is preceded by three days of vigils, and ends with an elaborate brunch including boiled ring bread (symbolizing the continuity of the year) and smoked meat, most often salmon. In the town of Triumph, the holiday season continues for another seven days, culminating in Dedication Day, which celebrates the first religious services held in Triumph's rebuilt synagogue post-Cyclone. Some of the towns in closer contact with Onumbrica have adopted Onumbrican gift-giving traditions, especially Alliance, where tree decorating has become its own art form.

[Note: No one actually knows what time of year the Cyclone happened. The New Year is as good a time to celebrate as any.]

The Silvanian Outer Forest calendar observes the solstice with a single all-night prayer vigil followed by a feast celebrating the return of the All-Mother. Neither coastal folk nor Outer Foresters have records of whether the people of the Inner Forest observe the day at all.

Note on Hidalguan customs

The nomadic scholarly groups of tropical and southern Hidalgo prioritize celebrating the equinoxes over the solstices, often with a claim that their traditional discourse prefers equilibrium to extremity, though some acknowledge that the custom began in the tropics, where solstices are harder to determine. However, in southern regions, the summer solstice is considered an excellent time to teach children the basics of trigonometry by measuring shadows, and has therefore become a minor holiday of its own. (The Hidalguan winter solstice has likewise become a holiday for teaching astronomy.)