Silobe' is a long proud people glad to show off their good fortune and even better skill. Come! Join and celebrate the end of the long and hard cold season! Rejoice in the planting that is to come!
During the next six days, the people of Silobe' break into their stores from last year's harvest. They empty half of their pantries to share with neighbors and incoming family or barter with strangers and foreigners.
Great fires are lit throughout the communities with neighbors gathering to share their stores with each other. The more one gives, the better off they are said to be for the next year, but no one is ever expected to give more than half, lest their pride be their downfall. In smaller communities, many use the fire gathering as a show of who may need more help until the first harvests and who may be able to provide such aid.
Glad for the frosts to be over, games of all kinds display long-honed skills. Teams of hunting parties return with bounty aplenty for the coming feasts. Archery, throwing knives & axes, and other sorts of competitions are held.
Cities and large towns put on shows in the street and formal theaters telling the stories of Silobe' and how it came to be. Proud of their history, the plays often revolve around the first of the Servant Crowns and the grandest of Crowns since then. Comedies around the Thelu gods are quite popular as well.
Crafting is held in especially high regard during this time. Many people of Silobe' share their finished works from over the long, cold season. In cities, guilds will often open their doors to new apprentices.
One favored tradition is wearing fine clothes and breaking into saved and "special occassion" soaps, perfumes, wines, preserves, candles, and other such treats. Such tradition is how the holiday got its name "The Breaking of Stores" or by commoners, "Storebreak."
Children run amok during this time and are expected to be unattended, though their communities keep a watchful eye. It is one of the few times a year those below the age of majority are given free reign. Neighbors expect children from all over to join their own families for meals and treats. Often, many won't return home until the final night. They tend to sleep on friends' floors or under the stars with thick blankets to relish in their freedom.
The final night of the holiday is a special time for family. The last of the long-awaited hunting parties and traders are expected home. Children return to their parents for the final of grand meals. People share stories from their travels, new skills learned, and new stories they've been told.
Storebreak coincides this year with February 23rd to February 29th.
