Sun Festival

The Sun Festival is one of the two most important celebrations for the inhabitants of the Shining Plains in the Vilhon Reach.

"As night approached, the city became calm and quiet, almost eerie. It turned out to be a somewhat painful experience. We were brought into a large circle of plainsmen where we ceremoniously cut our hands to become bonded with the city. We had become honorary citizens. The rest of the night we laughed, told jokes, made up tall tales about our past adventures, danced, drank, and otherwise made merry. It was over all too soon."

- Adamar Session, bard of Starmantle.

Description
Along with the Festival of the Hunt, the Sun Festival was celebrated annually. The Sun Festival's goal was to honor plainsmen who resided outside the cities or travelers from other lands and appreciate their contributions to the society of the Shining Plains. Both festivals were extremely important to the plainsmen as they always tried to travel back home for both celebrations

The plainsmen strongly believed in using the Sun Festival to celebrate outsiders who performed actions of great importance to the Shining Plains. Such deeds included an adventurer taking down a dangerous beast by themselves, like a saber-toothed tiger, or a troupe of outsiders killing a monstrous creature such as a manticore.

The festival took place on the last day of Eleasias, referred to as the Highsun in the Shining Plains. These celebrations started with honored guests and heroes being accepted into the community as honorary citizens and continued into the night, filled with dance and food. Every outsider hero cut their hand and dripping blood onto the ground. When the blood was spilled honoring the land, the cut was swaddled, usually by a local female. During the rest of the night, heroes shook hands with the plainsmen and partook in revelries.