Highharvestide

Highharvestide was an annual festival in the Calendar of Harptos, taking place between 30 Eleint and 1 Marpenoth. It was traditionally a feast to celebrate the harvest and the abundance of food, but also the time when those wishing to travel left on their journeys before winter set in.

Preparations for the feast started as early as a tenday before, while preparing, cooking, and preserving the harvest for the cold winter months. Traditions varied from community to community, but examples of festive activity included food-related contests; races and challenges of skill and strength; receiving homemade sweets from the local clergy; and priests blessing larders, wine cellars, grain bins, and food preserves.

This day was often an important anniversary to various governments. Often, taxes and tithes came due, rulers held "open courts" to hear the concerns of their citizens, oaths were publicly renewed, troops received marching orders to new duty stations, and guilds met to confer on prices and rate changes for goods and services.

According to tradition, dwarves only drank water and elves drank only dew on this day. However, these traditions began to fade in the 14th and 15th century DR.

It was said that children born on this day were favored by Tymora to have lifelong good luck but be smitten with wanderlust. Another legend was that human females born on this day had control over their reproductive system (i.e., got pregnant only when they wanted to) by force of will alone, and that they could instantly sense when they had been poisoned, either by ingestion or being bitten by a venomous creature for example.

On This Day

 * Worshipers of Anhur celebrate the Remembrance Ritual in honor of fallen comrades.
 * Worshipers of the dwarven deity Dugmaren Brightmantle spend the morning in thoughtful meditation and the rest of the day at a scholarly symposium.
 * Guardians of Gorm Gulthyn gather for ritual salutes, martial weapons displays, chanted prayers, and the offering of weapons used in a defensive action.
 * Worshipers of Isis in Mulhorand put on an exuberant celebration thanking Isis and Osiris for their aid with the harvest.
 * Worshipers of Lliira open a holy festival with the Swords Cast Down ritual in which weapons are thrown on the ground with chanting and covered with fresh flowers.
 * Worshipers of Loviatar celebrate the Rite of Pain and Purity by dancing in a circle upon broken glass or other sharp objects.
 * Worshipers of Malar celebrate the Feast of the Stags and pledge to hunt through the winter for selected people unable to hunt for themselves.
 * Followers of Marthammor Duin call this day the Thunderbolt and pray for inspiration in any approaching battles.
 * Priests of Osiris invite the citizens of Mulhorand to celebration of Osiris's bounty.
 * Worshipers of Shiallia celebrate fruition on this day, inviting friendly creatures to join in feasting, dancing, and singing.
 * Worshipers of Silvanus consider Highharvestide holy, and often give sacrifice by breaking and burying an object constructed of wood.
 * Worshipers of Talos call for storms and lightning.
 * It is said that the Stag King sometimes appears floating above a bonfire, portending that those who see him are destined for adventure in the coming year.
 * In 414 DR, Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun was born.
 * In 1358 DR (during the Godswar), many parts of Tethyr were attacked by mysterious monstrosities that destroyed or captured some of the few castles and keeps that were still standing after the Ten Black Days. The Hospice of Saint Corin was besieged by a horde of "dark" trolls and illithids.
 * In 1369 DR, members of the Twisted Rune kidnapped Halaster Blackcloak from the halls of Undermountain. With its keeper gone, the denizens of Undermountain erupted all over Waterdeep and Faerûn in general, via uncontrolled portals. This event came to be known as Halaster's Highharvestide.
 * In 1369 DR, Araugauthos the Bluetalon, an old blue dragon, escaped from Undermountain as a result of Halaster's Highharvestide.
 * In 1369 DR, the dracolich Kistarianth the Red also escaped during Halaster's Highharvestide but was destroyed by Piergeiron Paladinson on Mount Waterdeep.