Festival of Dawning

Time, seasons, and holidays » Festival of Dawning
Held on the first day of the year, the Festival of Dawning is the only major outdoor elven winter celebration. It is traditionally a joyous holiday held to remember the good fortunes of the last year and to look forward to the coming year. A rare, enchanted wine is served that keeps the participants relatively warm regardless of the weather conditions. Carefully tended fires are built in glades and the gathering lasts late into the night.
Any great tragedies that befell the realm are also remembered, although they are not dwelt upon. Many elves consider this a somewhat private festival and discourage other races from participating although some believe the opposite ? that if outsider witness the elven festivities they will come to appreciate the elven culture more and cease to despoil the forests. In the saddest of the elven realms, notably Lluabraight and Rhuannach, the Dawning festival has taken on a more sombre note. These realms still celebrate the happy memories from the last year, but they also mourn any setbacks that have occurred.
The rare wine served by the elves at this festival is greatly prized by the elderly and the blooded ? the effect on a scion is similar to the Blood History ability, in other persons the wine serves to allow the drinker to ?walk in memory? for a short while recalling with perfect clarity events of their youth, etc. Like many elven wines it has a surprisingly alcoholic nature and a subtle yet lasting taste. The elves consider the wine to be a ritual item however and it is never sold and rarely gifted.