Harvest Festivals, also known as the Day of Taranis' Feast and Taranis' Feast, are the second most important occassion in the Calender of Festivals of the Selkie, the only more important one being the Spring Festival. Harvest Festivals, celebrated on the day of the autumn equinox, mark the astronomical beginning of the autumn and thus Storm Season. It is a highly religious festival, deeply rooted within Selkie-Paganism.
Main-Gods celebrated on that day are usually Rhiannon, the Goddess of Horses and Fertility, Ladra, God of Helmsmen and Boatsmen (and thus fishermen), Lodan Lir, God of the Seas and Rivers, as well as various more local deities.
Religious Background
Mythology
On Sacrafices
Unlike for the Spring Festival, no living animal is sacrificed on the Day of the Harvest Festival. Rather, the Last Fruits are offered to the Gods by way of ritualistic burning, sharing the (hopefully) bountiful Harvest with the Gods by sending them local produce.
History
Important Harvest Festivals
Traditions and Customs
A Harvest Festival is more then just a religious ceremony, it is a day of celebrations, athletic contests of the Marcach, feasting, matchmaking, trading, plays and other forms of events. Together with the Spring Festivals, it is also an important occasion to proclaim new laws and to settle legal disputes before Storm Season and Winter. The Day of the Harvest Festival was seen as rather unsuited for marriages,
Beginning one week before the Harvest Festivals and ending one week afterwards, there is a Peace Obligation.
Marcach
One of the important traditions of the Marcach during a Harvest Festival is the Remembrance,
Cups associated with the Harvest Festivals
- Fletching Cup.
- Guard Cup.
- Adharc Cup.
The Cults
The Cults and their Temples have much to do on the Day of the Harvest Festival
The Market
Like with every Selkie-Festival, the Harvest Festival is also attended by tramps, hawkers, peddlers and travelling merchantmen, as well as craftsmen from the corresponding settlements, which offer their wares. One can basically get everything at such a market, from rations for long trips to toys, hand-crafted by a fireside. It is usual for Travelling People to donate a certain amount of their profits to a local temple, their offering in gratitude to the Gods for a good year.
The Market, at least in larger towns and in the cities, includes a livestock market,