Feast of Lanterns

The Feast of Lanterns was an annual week-long festival held in Shou Lung and Kozakura and celebrated in the city of Neverwinter on the Sword Coast North as of the late 15^th century DR. It took place in the month of Tsou of the Kara-Turan calendar during the first new moon of the calendar year.^[1]^[2]

“

Ax, yes, the ox. Perhaps you have heard the phrase-"Year of the Ox?" Many millennia ago, our ancestors chose an animal by which to remember each of the twelve branches. So enamored were the layfolk with this memory device that, over the centuries, images of the animals worked their way into the celebration.

”

— Envoy Taishi Fei^[2]

Description[]

Feast vendor year of the boar — *A merchant of Far Eastern goods and a miniature boar from the Year of the Boar Feast of Lanterns.*

Each year's celebration was dedicated to different beasts of the calendar, a total of twelve branches, such as tiger, boar, dragon, ox, etc. Each sign held some significance, predicting personality traits of those born on certain years like those born during the Year of the Ox were said to be jovial and stubborn.^[2]

In Neverwinter, celebrations of the Feast of Lanterns included fireworks displays (that terrified Neverwintran dogs), gift-giving, festive activities, and competitions for which participants were awarded lunar coins (not a real type of currency in the east, but celebration tokens of cheap metal and seasonal inscriptions) and fed delicious treats of mochi cakes and niangao desserts. Festival goers were offered cultural education on the festival's nature and the awarded coins could be exchanged for trinkets, gifts, and treats. Envoys from the Eastern Realms offered goods to trade and shared their nations' traditions with those interested in learning. Traditional gifts were dispensed in special red envelopes among the younger festival goers, but in Neverwinter, all ages were welcomed.^[2]

History[]

Year of the rabbit — *A street hawker during the Year of the Rabbit celebration.*

In the late 15^th century DR, the festival was brought to Neverwinter by Lord Neverember’s effort to partner with nations across the Far Realms. The festival was shared with the city's many inhabitants, adventurers, visitors, and Kara-Turan expatriates, organized by Taishi Fei, an envoy. Taishi tasked adventurers of the Protector's Enclave with giving out red gift envelopes to fledgling adventurers, offering the reward of lunar coins and commemorative gold leaf-covered wooden year of the ox coins (or coins symbolizing the appropriate animal), crafted to resemble eastern gold billions. Far Eastern pyrobolists organized firework displays, mounting the rockets onto mortars, sometimes with the help of adventurers. Some of the exotic goods brought to the Sword Coast were miniature ox stots and New Year's oxen, fireworks, and fanciful ceremonial Shou greatswords. During the Year of the Dragon, the envoys brought trained hatchlings of jade dragonnels and New Year's dragonnels with different color scales, as well as a new sweet treat – mooncakes. Other years also supplied miniature trained animal mascots of each of the years.^[2]

Notable Celebrants[]

Yojimbo, a traveling swordsman from Kara-Tur, who offered his blade to the adventurers of Protector's Enclave during the celebrations of the Feast of Lanterns in the late 15^th century DR.^[2]