Kender Holidays

Year Day or Mark Year Celebrated between the last day of the previous year and the first day of the next year. On this day many people stop what they are doing and share gifts and blessings of the past year and make promises for the new.

Dark Day: January 3rd The anniversary of the Cataclysm is traditionally a day of reflection. Kender retell the story to remind their children why such an event must never happen again, though even the whimsical kender have a hard time embellishing the tale of that black day.

Spring Dawning: March 21st Signaling the reawakening of the earth, the vernal equinox is celebrated by all nations in a variety of ways. in places where kender Congregate, such as Hylo and Goodlund, the celebrants bang cymbals and pot lids or where colorful clothing to symbolize the earths vibrant mantle.

Harrowing: April 4th Though waning in popularity many folk still celebrate this oldest of holidays, which marks the start of planting time. In Goodlund, Harrowing is also a day for practical jokes. A popular kender trick on friends who like to sleep too well is exchange their bed tick of straw or feathers with one of dry burdock or thistles.

Visiting Day: May 11th The closest scholarly papers come to pinpointing an origin of Visiting Day is a kender tradition of "Hi, How Are You?" (A localized version of wanderlust.) Most folk are loath to admit that they learned anything from kender, so the true history of this holiday may never be known. The first part of the day is devoted to cleaning one's home thoroughly. Then the rest of the day is spent visiting neighbors or entertaining those who have come visiting you. This is also a day designated to return items one may have borrowed from neighbors in the past year.

Midyear Day: June 21st The longest day pf the year, Midsummer's Eve is a celebration of light for all nations. Many kender believe that during this long day lightning bugs (they call them sparklers) must absorb all the light they need to glow for the rest of the summer. They spend the day before Midsummer's Eve capturing the small bugs in clear containers, then hold them up to the sun all the next day to fully charge them. After the sun sets, the glowing bugs are released, creating a firey shower of sparks.

Graystone Eve: July 8th Purportedly the day the Graystone of Gargath was released upon the world. This holiday is observed by many kender. Kender consider the Graystone to be the most interesting of all things that possibly exist. they celebrate this day by holding "stone hunts" wherein the entire community of kender wander around trying to find the missing stone. While this mission inevitably fails, at days end the invariably the kender bring back an impressive collection of other interesting items they picked up along the way.

Heroes Meet at Inn of the Last Home: September 13 Tales of this event from 351 AC have spread through poem and song. Although the history is well known each group puts it's own special emphasis on the Tale. When kender tell the Tale, Tasslehoff Burrfoot acts a hero second only to Kronin Thistleknot, and in fact, is said to have saved Flint Fireforge on numerous occasions. (I would think after the Summer of Chaos that Tas would be the first hero not second.)

Summer's End: September 22 The autumn equinox marks the beginning of the harvest season. It's a time to praise the Gods for the bounty of the land. Not known for planning ahead, kender like to tell the story of the cricket and the ant: while the ant toils to store food for the winter, the cricket enjoys the last days of sunlight. When winter sets in the ant is snug and well fed in his burrow, while the cricket is hungry and cold. Kender put and interesting twist on the moral of the story however: Always make friends while you can, because you'll be needing people to visit and places to sleep during the long, dark winter days ahead.

Thanks a Lot Day: December 6th On this date kender give thanks for all the things that have dropped into their pockets in the past year. They celebrate by roasting the traditional goat-sucker bird (it's not much of a feast, since the birds are relatively small, but kender enjoy spending months hunting for the fearsome fowl). After the meal comes a sort of show-and-tell, where they view and hear about each other's favorite possessions. this, of course, leads to "handling," and the conversation inevitably drifts toward, "You must have dropped it," "This looks just like yours, doesn't it?" and other popular kender phrases.

Yule: December 22 the Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, is observed as the last date for safe visits to family and friends before heavy snow falls. A very old kender tradition involves bringing treasures no one is longer fond of and adding them to a bonfire tinder, to symbolize ridding themselves of deadwood in their lives. Of course, most of the treasures disappear before the fire can be lit, but usually there is enough for a tidy little campfire for roasting small meats.

Data Found in Bertrem's Guide to the Age of Mortals and the History of DragonLance