Legends of Belariath

The Quest of Festivals Common

LensLarque - Festivals of Dar-sai

Dar-sai lies like an inflamed appendix on the distended belly of the large southern continent of Belariath. This small desert republic, sandwiched between two much larger and more prosperous kingdoms, has been saved from annexation largely by the fact that its one resource, a psychotropic and aphrodisiac drug called fost is simply not worth the trouble that invading or administering this somewhat unique nation would entail.

Dar-Sai is the home of the Darsh, a curious and picturesque people known to Belariath mainly for their wanderlust, of which malady they are almost uniformly afflicted in great degree and for a tendency to extreme sexuality common to both sexes. The men, as has been noted elsewhere, are generally disagreeable in nature, glowering and truculent barbarians, redeemed from chronic mischief only by a tendency to habitual and debilitating drunkenness. The women, as is common on this or any other world, are treasures, renowned throughout Belariath for breathtaking beauty and girlish charm.

Several festivals mark the year of Dar-Sai, the first is CHULKHASH.

This marks the one week each year when the desert winds cease in preparation for the annual storms of acid rain from the neighboring iron smelting kingdom of Pugnash, allowing the sea breeze to briefly moderate the climate to near bearable.

CHULKHASH is a fertility festival, one of its main features is that all women are required to go bare breasted and to decorate these attractions with body-paint. A great contest is held and several categories both of artistry and underlying beauty are awarded prizes, with all women entered in all events. The winner of the most prizes becomes the festival's queen and a sort of Lady of Misrule for the duration. The rest of the celebration is marked by a degree of sexual abandon and license extreme even for the Darsh, an elevation of carnality to an art form by the entire population.

Next in line is the Festival of Fat or the Pig Panoply.

This is a moveable week long feast based on the phases of the moon but always takes place between the 3rd and 5th month of the year, being regarded a Spring celebration. The most salient feature of this festival is the fact that all pigs are released from their pens and left to run in the streets. No food but pork may be eaten during its duration. Several forms of spiced sausage, based on secret formulas and made for this ceremony only, are washed down with prodigious quantities of Fostson, a mixture of the aforementioned drug and the sour but full-bodied beer which is the main drink of this population. During this time pigs are considered sacred animals, fed choice delicacies and not even chased from houses should they enter. A particularly large porcine specimen is selected, dressed in royal robes and become the Prince of Pigs, an animal which will live a privileged but short existence until the next year when it becomes the first of many to be slaughtered for the succeeding Festival. All men are required to enter a huge runoff type eating contest which takes approximately one week to run its course. The winner is given several comely erotic dancers and they are all locked in a room well stocked with wine and delicacies for a month.

Farnoffs Fight or the Combat of Fools is the midsummer ceremony.

All men must meet at local taverns of their choosing. They then begin drinking heavily and soon the Declaimings begin. At one point or another during the next 6 days each man will Declaim himself, listing his accomplishments of the past year, boasting of his strengths, abilities and sexual prowess and most importantly, insulting his fellows, which he does without any fear of immediate response. Modesty here is met with the most thorough derision. Humor, along with graphic description, is much encouraged in the insults. On the 7th day the entire male population retires to Farnoff's Field and, at a signal from the winner of the CHULKHASH festival, the Grand Melee begins. Weapons of any type in this huge fight are forbidden but otherwise no rules exist. No outcome is expected here except that the ceremony will eventually end of exhaustion or with darkness. Fatalities, while accepted and commonplace, are actually rather rare. The female populace watches this last part with considerable relish from the sidelines and at the end of the ritual whips the men-folk home through the streets. Some attempts at participation by female warriors have taken place in recent years but all have ended with the thorough gang rape of the brave interlopers during the Melee.

The end of each Declaiming begins the next celebration of these strange folk, the Election.

Dar-sai is a republic, governed by a council of 500 who must all agree unanimously for any legislation to be approved. Bribery and Graft are not only accepted but have definite overseers who make sure they are handled with proper dispatch and efficiency since without them practically nothing would ever be accomplished at all. As might be expected, a government office is a largely unworkable and unworking sinecure which serves mainly to enrich the official. All offices are held annually and no candidate may run more than once for one office in his life. All candidates for public office declare their intention at the end of their Declaiming, this not being allowed to be a boast but just a simple announcement.

The Election takes place 3 months later. A booth is set up and its secrecy and sacredness is guarded by picked warriors. A path is laid out leading up to it and the friends of each candidate gather in several circles surrounding it. Each voter, (voting is required of all males and any female who wishes to is allowed) must pass through each circle on his way to the booth. While actual physical combat is not allowed of any participant, pushing and shoving is permitted. All voters then retire to a feast. When the winners are determined each must make a speech outlining to the assembled populace why they should not be beaten to death immediately, it being assumed that the only reason they have won is because their circle was the most annoying to the voters. The actual execution of this order is rare but not unheard of, which tends to make the speeches very interesting exercises.

The appeasement of Atticus:

The appeasement of Atticus is done to placate the main Darsh god of the sea, who is said to sleep constantly, causing great storms when aroused. It is unique among festivals in that the objective is quiet rather than celebration. All citizens are enjoined to draw their windows and stay indoors. A corps of watchmen patrols the city. Anyone found making any kind of noise whatsoever is fined.

The Great Hunt is the final festival in the Darsh calendar.

All males and females of marriageable age who desire to may participate. The event begins, like most other Darsh celebrations, with the males drinking heavily in Taverns of their choice. At the same time, female participants, traditionally the cooks and homemakers in this conservative society, make up dishes designed to showcase their culinary skills. Through a runoff system over the next three days many cooking contests are held and judged. These are meant not so much to determine winners and losers as to establish a rank for all the female participants. These culminate in a huge contest by the highest ranked players to make the best and most exotic dish in one hour in a huge kitchen/amphitheater watched by all the male and female participants.

The next day the true hunt begins. All the females are marked with signs the color of which establishes their rank in the cooking contests. The winners from the final competition are designated hunt-masters and given the job of commanding their sisters and establishing a general strategy. Given an hour head start the females job is to elude capture by the males for the next 48 hours. None have ever succeeded in this enterprise, not surprising since the humiliation of not being caught would probably drive the hapless winner to suicide. The male who captures a female, which is all of them since the numbers are carefully matched and none are allowed more than one, has a slave for the next week, the only form of slavery the Darsh recognize. After this, a permanent marriage is often arranged. Obviously once a group marriage ritual this custom still plays some part in many Darsh pairings. In recent years, its nature has changed considerably.

The custom of Cluthmail, or the pre-arranged capture is now thought to control the majority of resultant permanent couplings and it is seen as more a viable alternative to young people who are unable or unwilling to have a marriage arranged than a ceremony with any more than a ritualistic purpose.

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