Post by Spirit of a Phoenix on Oct 10, 2013 20:03:55 GMT -5
//OOC// It's been a while since this has been celebrated, so I thought I may as well give this FRC specific holiday a bump. Though it's basically Halloween, obviously.
frc.proboards.com/post/21931/thread
Given its Fall and the Halloween season I've decided to make a Realms Holiday that shares some similarities to it similar to it. I've discussed it with the rest of the DM Team and here's what I've come up with:
Souls' Harvest
Souls' Harvest was originally a holy day observed by followers of Myrkul in which his clergy conjured large numbers of incorporeal undead after dusk. These undead were sent into towns and villages to terrorize common folk. The goal of this was to frighten locals and ensure that death was respected and feared. Rarely did anyone actually come to any real harm at the hands of the clerics' controlled undead, though it wasn’t completely unheard of. Sometimes a malicious spirit would break free of the clerics' control and cause harm or even death.
The holy day's closeness to High Harvesttide also influenced various traditions that eventually became observed. In rural communities clerics of Myrkul would send their incorporeal undead against those who did not show reverence of the Reaper by placing jack o' lanterns in their windows. The significance of the jack o' lantern is derived from their pumpkin form (which represented the harvest, or to Myrkuls's followers, the 'Reaping'), and their carved faces (which where somewhat akin to a skull and represented Myrkul's holy symbol).
After Myrkul's death during the Time of Troubles, the holy day fell into a folk tradition, often referred to as 'Spirits' Eve' or 'Dark Harvest'. It is observed in varying ways throughout Faerun, though consistently involves people placing jack o’ lanterns in their windows and folk dressing in costumes. During the first years after Myrkul’s demise the costumes were limited to ‘ghosts, spooks, and specters’, representing the incorporeal undead that were once unleashed by Myrkul's clerics, but in recent years people have been removing their old costumes in favor of new and interesting ones that don’t always revolve around death. In certain parts of Faerun jack o’ lanterns signify a house in which a person in costume can expect to be given candies and sweetbreads, a tradition that represented giving gifts to the 'dead'.
While folk have since made light of a dark holiday, Souls' Harvest's aura of gloom and menace still lives on, not only in the ghoulish costumes of many of the holiday’s observers, but also in the eerie hauntings that still occur during these times. Many of the large amounts of incorporeal undead that were called by priests of Myrkul still linger and haunt the countryside on Souls' Harvest and many folk still show a superstitious uneasiness towards this holiday.
Souls' Harvest is celebrated on different days in different parts of Faerun, though it is always within the last tenday of Marpenoth/Leaffall (the tenth month on the Calender of Harptos).
NOTE: Many of you have heard about "All Hallows' Eve", please substitute that name for 'Souls' Harvest'. Consider all of the information above common knowledge and please make use of it.
Thanks to SCJen for a good name.
frc.proboards.com/post/21931/thread
Souls' Harvest
Souls' Harvest was originally a holy day observed by followers of Myrkul in which his clergy conjured large numbers of incorporeal undead after dusk. These undead were sent into towns and villages to terrorize common folk. The goal of this was to frighten locals and ensure that death was respected and feared. Rarely did anyone actually come to any real harm at the hands of the clerics' controlled undead, though it wasn’t completely unheard of. Sometimes a malicious spirit would break free of the clerics' control and cause harm or even death.
The holy day's closeness to High Harvesttide also influenced various traditions that eventually became observed. In rural communities clerics of Myrkul would send their incorporeal undead against those who did not show reverence of the Reaper by placing jack o' lanterns in their windows. The significance of the jack o' lantern is derived from their pumpkin form (which represented the harvest, or to Myrkuls's followers, the 'Reaping'), and their carved faces (which where somewhat akin to a skull and represented Myrkul's holy symbol).
After Myrkul's death during the Time of Troubles, the holy day fell into a folk tradition, often referred to as 'Spirits' Eve' or 'Dark Harvest'. It is observed in varying ways throughout Faerun, though consistently involves people placing jack o’ lanterns in their windows and folk dressing in costumes. During the first years after Myrkul’s demise the costumes were limited to ‘ghosts, spooks, and specters’, representing the incorporeal undead that were once unleashed by Myrkul's clerics, but in recent years people have been removing their old costumes in favor of new and interesting ones that don’t always revolve around death. In certain parts of Faerun jack o’ lanterns signify a house in which a person in costume can expect to be given candies and sweetbreads, a tradition that represented giving gifts to the 'dead'.
While folk have since made light of a dark holiday, Souls' Harvest's aura of gloom and menace still lives on, not only in the ghoulish costumes of many of the holiday’s observers, but also in the eerie hauntings that still occur during these times. Many of the large amounts of incorporeal undead that were called by priests of Myrkul still linger and haunt the countryside on Souls' Harvest and many folk still show a superstitious uneasiness towards this holiday.
Souls' Harvest is celebrated on different days in different parts of Faerun, though it is always within the last tenday of Marpenoth/Leaffall (the tenth month on the Calender of Harptos).
NOTE: Many of you have heard about "All Hallows' Eve", please substitute that name for 'Souls' Harvest'. Consider all of the information above common knowledge and please make use of it.
Thanks to SCJen for a good name.