Selûne's Hallowing

Selûne's Hallowing was an annual festival celebrated by the church of Selûne in Waterdeep.

Description
The day of celebration culminated in a parade that began at moonrise outside the House of the Moon and wound through the streets of the Sea Ward, south through the Castle Ward, and ending at the docks in the harbor. Circa the 1370s DR, the parade was led by the Priestess of the High Moonlight, Naneatha Suaril, carrying an exact replica of the Wand of Four Moons, a holy relic blessed by the goddess herself.

History
In the, the church of Malar, led by fanatical priest Belegoss Wolfwynd, was incited to rampage across interior and west Faerûn in what was known as the Great Hunt. Caught up in this campaign of terror was Lunaven Moonstar, a prominent half-elven cleric and mage that had dedicated his tower near Waterdeep to the worship of Selûne. He was ambushed and killed on his journey back from Neverwinter, and his slayers took the keys and other magic items they found on his body and used them to gain entrance to his tower, desecrate the place of worship, sack the residence, and set it ablaze.

Shortly thereafter, three Shards of Selûne appeared outside the city walls and put out a call to the faithful lycanthropes in the area. Within fourteen days, over one hundred of them had assembled and the planetars led them on a "hunt of the hunters", slaying or driving out of the region all Malarites they could find.

Selûne's Hallowing started out as an annual reenactment of this purging, but over the centuries the original purpose was either forgotten or put aside to focus on more mundane blessings such as the moon, the stars, and navigation.