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LoZ - Festival Bodyguard....Date? by Daboya
New Year in Hyrule is a big occasion, not just for Hylians, but for all races across Hyrule! Gorons, Zora, Gerudo, and Rito all have traditions just as unique as Hylians–with some tradition spanning centuries to the very beginning of the kingdom. Even the more secretive and hidden peoples, like the Koroks and their Kokiri ancestors, have traditions of their own (it is often reported over the years of how if you look closely at the dim gloom of the Lost Woods or Korok Forest around the New Year, you might catch a faint glow of lights and hear distant singing being carried on the wind). For this blog however, we will focus mostly on Hylians across time.
The Hylian Festival by Daboya
The New Year traditions of Hylians have changed or have been altered very little over the centuries–mostly in who is being honored–as certain sisters of the Golden Goddesses take center stage as patron deity of the Hylian peoples. In the Eras where Hylia has her time in the limelight, such as the Eras of the Sky and Wilds, festivities are held all across Castletown and the various Hylian settlements. People set off fireworks–when those have been invented or rediscovered–and give gifts to friends and loved ones in a fashion similar to Hylia presenting a long-forgotten gift to the legendary First Hero.
On New Year’s Eve, people from all over cram into Castletown for the famed New Years toast given by the Royal Family. This is a long procession led by the Clergy and Head Priestess. The Princess is often dressed in a manner similar to Hylia and carries a triangle-shaped oil lamp with three wicks of red, green, and blue. She carries this lamp a few steps behind the priestess to the steps of the Temple of Time where the monarch at the time–usually the King–gives the toast, asking Hylia to light the way into a new year and to keep evil’s hands at bay. [1]
In the Eras ruled by the Golden Goddesses, however, such as those of the Great Sea and Twilight, Farore takes center stage as Goddess of Life and Renewals. Here, as is befitting the Goddess of Life and Vegetation, pumpkins are harvested and transformed into pastries and drinks to be given as offerings and libations to Farore.
A common practical joke among young Hylians during this time is to pester the clergy with questions of why pumpkins are the favored offering of Farore and why she had created them by the hundreds. The nuns are unamused by the jokes as the Pumpkin has proven to be one of the Great Mysteries of the Golden Goddesses. One that may never be answered, much to their annoyance.
Alongside pumpkins, effigies of koroks and kokiri–long held to be the race favored and sculpted by Farore’s hands–are created and hung around houses in hopes that some wandering koroks might see the homes as friendly lodges and leave gifts as thanks.
In the Era of the Minish, the Picori had sculptures made in their likeness to very much the same effect. Secret histories told of how the two races often treated houses as inns and took their share of grain and crops in exchange for rupees and trinkets.
One practice that has persisted through the eras has always been the airing out of old grievances or grudges. From the Skyloftians all the way to the Post-Calamity villagers, people came together to settle bad blood in the name of peace and the Triforce. While most of the time, the settlements would be quickly resolved by way of a mediator–either the mayor of the town or a priestess–some villages have a practice of fistfighting beneath a statue of Din to settle old conflicts, with the loser recognizing the winner as being in the right. The fights would conclude with dance and songs sung in the Gerudo style. [2]
By the end of night, people would come together to watch the first sunrise of the year, praying and wishing to the Golden Goddesses for new resolve and strength to see the New Year through. After the sun cleared the horizon, people would disperse to their homes and return to ordinary life.
Screenshot from Majora's Mask
(notes)
1– this is based on St. Lucy’s Day in Scandinavia.
2– this practice is inspired by the Peruvian Festival of Takanakuy.
