riverviewmod: (Default)
Riverview Moderator ([personal profile] riverviewmod) wrote in [community profile] riverviewlogs2018-02-01 10:29 pm

monthly mingle: FAJRO & LUNAR NEW YEAR

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: fajro & lunar new year
when: The month of February.
where: Anywhere around the city.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

fajro & lunar new year


In the days leading up to February 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: Fajro and the Lunar New Year. This is a combination of various traditions from several different universes, all of which involve cleaning house, physically and metaphorically, in preparation for the upcoming spring and summer months. The traditions associated with these celebrations involve getting rid of clutter and unnecessary junk that is then burned in large bonfires along the beaches, clearing the air of lingering resentments and old wounds with magical penalties for those who choose not to share, and a broad sampling of Lunar New Year traditions from a variety of cultures.

an opportunity to shed negative energy


There's nothing that's more detrimental to the forming of a good, solid community than lingering resentment and anger - this is something that most residents of the Quarantine tend to agree on. In recognition of that fact, Fajro is geared toward cleaning out the negativity, getting rid of clutter and trash in the home, body, and mind. Residents do spring cleaning in their homes and businesses and either give away or burn the things that they don't need and that are only serving to add an extra burden. Likewise, residents are encouraged to clear the air with friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else interacted with on a frequent basis. The second half of the month is taken up with the Lunar New Year, which is an almost universal tradition in this reality, and focuses on letting go of negative energy and welcoming positive energy into life going into the new year.


i.cleaning house


The first thing that most residents do during the month of Fajro is cleaning house. This means going through all the junk in the house, all the little things that clutter up a place, and clearing them out. A commonly-heard saying in the Quarantine during Fajro cleanup is "does this bring me joy?", a proverb that encapsulates the meaning of the tradition - to shed the parts of the past that bring pain or add to a person's burden, and keep only what brings joy into each person's life. The rest is either thrown away and burned, or donated to bring joy to someone else's life.

After the cleaning is complete, residents carry what they no longer want or need to the beaches of the river, where bonfires are set up each night for two weeks, in order to burn the excess and let the ash float down the river, a symbolic city-wide purging of bad memories, pain, and burdens.


ii. clearing the air


Another tradition in the Quarantine during Fajro is to clear the air with friends, family, acquaintances, coworkers, teammates, or anyone else that takes up space in a person's life. Every relationship comes with some amount of resentment, and the residents of the Quarantine take pride in being able to shed that resentment every year, to start fresh on relationships, building them into something newer and healthier. However, with every wave of new people that arrive during a year, there's a common pattern - those who haven't yet fully come to accept this particular tradition may avoid airing their grievances. Whether it's because they don't care to understand what they're feeling, don't acknowledge the resentment, want to appear strong and unaffected, or just because they don't like confrontation, there are any number of reasons people might choose to keep their hurts and resentments to themselves.

Of course, that doesn't really lend itself to clearing the air, so several of the higher-ups at Gramarye Magic Research came to a quick and easy solution in the form of a magically-infused mist that falls over the city on the morning of February 1st, which will burn off by the evening of February 3rd. Anyone who inhales the mist or absorbs it through their skin by going outdoors or being close to doors, windows, or air vents, during the first few days of February will find themselves thinking more often of the things that have hurt them, the resentments they've built up, and the desire to talk about them, to excise them. Starting on February 15th, any character who has been exposed to the mist and who has still kept their grievances bottled up will find themselves...afflicted with something very uncomfortable to remind them of how unhealthy it is to keep things to oneself and let them fester.

Afflictions can vary in scope depending on how thoroughly the character was exposed to the mist, how intense their feelings of resentment lie, and most of all, player preference. They are primarily physical effects that can range from mildly embarrassing to extremely uncomfortable. Whether it's the addition of a tail or horns, skin that changes color depending on the character's mood, loss of a sense, or any other physical effect, the sky's the limit. Afflictions should be something the character finds uncomfortable, and will last until February 28th or until the character clears the air, whichever comes first. Talking to a third party about their feelings of resentment will provide a temporary relief from the symptoms of the affliction, but the only way to permanently remove it is to talk directly to the source of the problems. If a character carries feelings of resentment toward someone who is not in the game, having a deep conversation with someone in the Quarantine will permanently clear or preempt the affliction.


iii. lunar new year


Originally, Fajro was celebrated all on its own in the Quarantine, but over the years, the traditions have evolved - the major change that's happened in the past decade or so is the addition of an entire other set of traditions surrounding the Lunar New Year, the celebration of which has proved to be a pretty universal constant across many different planets and in many different universes. Lunar New Year is celebrated with special food, activities, and street markets that pop up across the Quarantine throughout the month of February.

This year, the patron animal of the Lunar New Year is the dog, so residents are encouraged to bring their canines out with them to be spoiled, dressed up, and primped.

Thank you to Mari and Anna for suggesting the celebration and submitting the activities and images for this prompt!


hound town


Anyone wandering the city will find it beautifully decorated with beautiful red lanterns, and paper or cloth dog effigies. There are lots of stalls selling adorable themed dog clothing. At night, the red lanterns light up the streets, bathing them in a warm orange-red glow each night.

The entire city looks festive, and residents can be seen wearing red and gold or dog-themed clothing, strolling through the night markets with their pet dogs, sharing drinks of warm alcohol or other warm beverages. Booths selling a small toy called a jegi can be found very commonly, along with instructions on how to play the traditional Lunar New Year game, jegichagi (video), which involves kicking the jegi to keep it from falling to the ground, with the winner being the one to keep it up for the longest number of kicks.

Other booths are selling a wide variety of dog-themed items, red lanterns for residents to carry around on sticks, and giving away some very special red lanterns that the sellers will advise residents to hang onto for later in the season...


wish lanterns


Toward the end of the festival, the special red lanterns that residents received will start to glow, displaying a set of instructions outlined in magical light on the shade - residents are encouraged to take the lanterns down to the beaches by the Fajro bonfires on the last night of the celebration, and whisper to them a wish. Once the wish has been whispered to the lantern, it will lift into the air, hanging there for a few moments with all the other lanterns. For a few moments, the night sky will be alight with bobbing lanterns.

And then they will all pop into an explosion of colorful confetti, showering the crowd below. Anyone standing in the crowd who gets showered with confetti will feel a glowing wave of positive energy sweep through them.


street food and games


Street food is very popular in Riverview, and special food for the Lunar New Year is no exception, and considering how many different cultures and alternate realities have some version of a celebration for the Lunar New Year, there are a ton of seasonal snacks that are being sold from carts and featured in restaurants throughout the city. While you can find just about anything that's ever been associated with the Lunar New Year, some of the most popular dishes are sliced rice cake soup, savory pancakes, a cooked vegetarian salad, stuffed sticky rice cakes, and beautiful candy boxes that are usually given as gifts or brought to Lunar New Year parties. Besides these treats, tiny citrus fruits ranging from mandarin oranges to tangerines to any alien variety of small citrus.

And for people who bring their dogs along, many stalls are giving away complimentary biscuits for them, with the option to buy boxes or gift packs of the biscuits to take home.



visual inspiration


click on thumbnails for larger view


Credit: image i: Roman Ignatowski; image ii: Jan Vavrusa; image iii: Federico Belingheri; image iv: Yuechi Lee

navigation
circumitus: (u n s u r e)

Rey. | OTA

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-06 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
lunar new year.
I. street food;

When you haven't experienced food like Rey has for most of her whole life, it's just a nice night out with some of the local food. For her, however, eating is sometimes a religious experience.

The one arguably good thing that had come out of her resurrection a few years ago was the correction of her senses. More notably, her sense of taste. Which is why this usually poker-faced, serious beefy soldier woman can be found stuffing her face with pancakes and sticky rice. Were you expecting her to be using silverware like a proper lady? Hell no, she eats this stuff with her hands, occasionally wiping sauce on her face with the back of her hand or a napkin to clean her fingers. She even slurps a helping of tteokguk right from the bowl like a dirty heathen.

If one wasn't mistaken, it would almost look like she hadn't eaten anything in years. In truth, it's one of the few things Rey has learned to enjoy, and sure as hell doesn't take for granted.

She'll be ignoring any comments on her poor manners (even her elbows are resting on the table) and disgusted looks. It's obvious she doesn't care.

II. wish lanterns;

Okay, so maybe this isn't so bad. If Rey had to pick, a night like this beats being on a lab table with her chest ripped open any day. Not that that has been a conversation topic she brings up willy nilly. Still, she's holding the lantern like it's an alien object, completely unknown to her. Rather, it's the tradition that she seems more or less lost on.

"Wish for what?" she wonders aloud, whether to herself or caught by someone nearby within earshot.

Clearly this is someone who has never blown candles out of a birthday cake before.


wildcard.
[ooc: Got something super special awesome that you want to do with Rey? Feel free to hit me up on plurk ([plurk.com profile] citygrit), discord (revuvuzela#6927), or PM!]
hasitsthorns: (Aɴᴅ ɪғ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ғʟᴏᴡᴇʀs ғᴀᴅᴇᴅ ᴀᴡᴀʏ)

wish;

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2018-02-07 11:06 am (UTC)(link)
It's been a good night for Rose. It's nice, honestly, being around so many people. It reminds her of concerts. A different energy, certainly, but she just thrives under broad socialization. The blond flits from person to person, not lingering too long. It's a style that's suited her for the past three decades. Give or take a couple exceptions, of course.

She doesn't like to talk about those. And she's not going to think too much about the fact that these faces are ones she might actually see again. It's easier to pretend this is just another town she's breezing through, just another place that'll be in the rearview before long.

"Whatever you want to! It could be, like, something super vague like happiness or..." A contemplative gaze up to the lanterns already floating away. "Something really specific, like a puppy." Three guesses to what her wish is.
circumitus: I awoke in a daze, not sure of my location... (captain's log: day 16)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-08 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
For someone who's never celebrated a birthday, never been a hopefully child with dreams of her own, this whole concept seems superfluous to Rey. Sure, it looks pretty. She won't deny the picturesque scene of lanterns floating away like myriad firebugs in the sky.

"Hope that's not a prerequisite. Would rather just get this thing up in the air with the rest."

Does that count as a wish?
hasitsthorns: (Aɴᴅ ɪғ ʜᴏʟᴅɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀ ᴍᴇᴀɴs)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2018-02-08 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
It absolutely is. Rose likes the concept of Tanabata more, personally, but... She's also biased. Perhaps even a little homesick. Not that she'll ever admit as such.

This is pretty nice in its own right. Besides, they have plenty of time until July here. If they even celebrate the same sort of seasons. "I mean, you don't have to make a wish... It's just encouraged, I think. So if you just wanna' get that thing going, that's totally fine too."

The blond turns hers over in her hands, contemplating it briefly. "I wonder if we're allowed to decorate them..."
circumitus: ...it got messy. (i did a shot of seamonkeys)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-09 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Wishes are for beggars and dreamers, as the saying goes. Far as Rey is concerned, things are better off here than where she was before, so she's got no complaints.

And, well, the pretty lady did just say that it's not a requirement, so--

Then she speaks again. By then, however, the lantern floats from her hands and into the air.

"Oops, there it goes." Oh well. No use crying over it.
hasitsthorns: (Aɴᴅ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴀᴜʟᴛs ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ʟᴇғᴛ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2018-02-10 12:25 pm (UTC)(link)
That makes two of them then. For Rose, this is technically borrowed time. It doesn't get much better than that, really.

"Ah," she says, giving hers a little push up into the air to chase after Rey's. She watches it float for a few seconds, smiling as she thinks of her wish. It might be childish or pointless or whatever else anyone else has said here tonight but she makes it anyway.

"There they both go, I guess."
circumitus: (u smel)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-11 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
Pointless, sure. But Rey has found a lot of useless rituals all over the world that people partake in, and this is no different. Who is she to judge what others find joy and comfort in?

She watches as Rose's lantern followers Rey's own into the sky.

"What sort of thing would you wish for, anyway?"

It feels absurd to ask such a thing now, after letting hers go with not a thought about it. Whatever.
hasitsthorns: (Nᴏᴡ ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀᴜᴛʜ)

[personal profile] hasitsthorns 2018-02-11 01:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"Me? I wished for..." Her voice trails off. It's not that she's considering her actual wish. It's actually that she's trying to decide how truthful she should be, if at all. She's told basically everyone tonight something different. Answers ranging from 'a puppy' to someone as broad as 'happiness.' The latter was closer to the truth than anything she'd admitted so far, but-

"... this place to not actually be too good to be true."
circumitus: than watching a child being chased by an ostrich. (there is NOTHING better...)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-12 09:20 am (UTC)(link)
Now that was some unexpected level of honesty that Rey didn't think she'd hear anytime soon. She cants her head curiously.

"Mm. Been waiting to hear about that 'catch', too."

Because nothing is without a cost. Right?

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kievs: (12)

i

[personal profile] kievs 2018-02-07 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
(Hey, Alyssa isn't really super mannerly herself but even she notices the great gusto with which this woman is inhaling her food. It actually makes her start to snigger a little. Her mum hates it when she asks for seconds, let alone puts her fucking elbows on the table, or slurps her drink. This lady would make her faint; Alyssa's delighted.)

It's good, right.
circumitus: sometimes there's whiskey. (everything isnt always sunshine)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-08 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh good, someone who isn't grossed out by Rey's overzealous eating routine. This night is going pretty well already.]

Et's facking derishous. [It's rude to eat with your mouth full.

[Good thing Rey doesn't give a damn.]
kievs: (8)

[personal profile] kievs 2018-02-08 05:05 am (UTC)(link)
(It's cool, Alyssa is now replying with her mouth full since she's so inspired.)

I love it.

D'you always eat like this? (It's plain that she thinks it's pretty cool.)
circumitus: than watching a child being chased by an ostrich. (there is NOTHING better...)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-09 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[Wow, only just got here and already Rey is making that sort of impression. Not like she cares.]

Lah--

[Wups, almost choked there. She swallows what was left of the rice cake she had so crudely shoved into her mouth.] Like what?

[Come on, Rey. Don't be that obtuse.]
kievs: (7)

[personal profile] kievs 2018-02-10 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
(Alyssa can't help being an impressionable seventeen year old.

She laughs when Rey almost chokes.)


Like a pig, I mean? It's hilarious.
circumitus: When the hell did we go to southie, and why was there a chicken in the limo? (saw the pics from that party)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-11 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
[Not having spent that much time around teenagers throughout her many lives, Rey would be horrified to find some that would take after her.]

Oh. Well. [Hilarious, she said?] Not... really.

[Rey used to hate eating. Only because everything tasted awful back then. She could never enjoy flavor like she does now.]
kievs: (8)

[personal profile] kievs 2018-02-11 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Well I think it is.

(She pops another spoonful into her mouth.) My mum hates it when I eat too much food.
circumitus: (your girlfriend is a south jersey whore.)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-12 08:44 am (UTC)(link)
[Would "wow, your mom can suck a bag of dicks?" be too inappropriate to say?]

Sounds like she can go fuck herself. People should be able to eat whatever the hell they want, so long as it doesn't kill you.

[As she says this, she starts chugging a drink from the extensive collection they have available here. Good shit.]

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brightline: (dopey)

i.

[personal profile] brightline 2018-02-08 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
[For a few long moments, Marco just stares. He's seen a lot in his time as an Animorph, but this is pretty far up there with spectacles he can't take his eyes off of - a beefy, muscular woman, covered in scars (totally gorgeous) is stuffing her face with food, wiping her face with her bare hands, slurping and scarfing. It's quite the sight. It should be disgusting.

But it just makes Marco feel at home.

For a moment, he feels a surge of homesickness that lurches up in him like crazy, probably for the first time since he got to this place. Marco's not the sentimental type, never has been, but the way she eats? It's got Ax written all over it. And considering what he'd seen just before he showed up here...? Well, even the least emotional guy's gonna feel a bit of a kick.

Anyway, for all he knows, she might just be an Andalite in morph - she certainly eats like one.

Digging in his pocket, he walks casually up to the table and deposits a little handful of individually-wrapped wet wipes.]


You never tasted food before or something?
circumitus: sometimes there's whiskey. (everything isnt always sunshine)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-09 01:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[Despite being prepared for a hearty round of "fuck off" to anyone who might've had something to say about her meal (or, rather, how she chooses to consume it), Rey finds herself relatively undisturbed. Well, she was never intended to be the most approachable person, so she's okay with that. Because hell if she is going to try and pull a prim and proper act just to make people feel less uncomfortable around her.

[But no, not yet. So far so good.

[Finishing off the other half of a sweet bun, her eyes dart towards the wipes dropped on the table.]


Only in the last few years. [Honest and yet cryptic at the same time. Way to go.]
stantheman: (Default)

II

[personal profile] stantheman 2018-02-11 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
"You can wish for anything you want," Stan says. He shrugs afterward. He doesn't think the wishes mean anything. "It's not like it'll come true or anything but a lot of people think it could."

Sorry, he is the most realist 13 year old on the block.
circumitus: When the hell did we go to southie, and why was there a chicken in the limo? (saw the pics from that party)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-12 09:17 am (UTC)(link)
Fortunately, Rey hasn't spent enough time around thirteen-year-olds to know what's real or unusual coming from them. As it is, she appreciates the bluntness.

"So there's really no point in this. Got it."
stantheman: (1YFdjHT)

[personal profile] stantheman 2018-02-15 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, unless you think it's fun or whatever," Stan says, shrugging. He doesn't see the fun in it or anything himself.
circumitus: You owe me waffles (sunrise bitch.)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-22 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
"Do you think it's fun?"

Actually, this kid doesn't look like he's had much fun a day in his life. That's pretty pitiable, even to Rey.
stantheman: (Default)

[personal profile] stantheman 2018-02-23 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Stan has plenty fun... just maybe he's not the traditional sort of kid. He likes things to be orderly and clean, watching birds is his favorite hobby and well, that says a lot about his personality.

"Not really, it doesn't have a point."
circumitus: I CAN QUIT ANY FUCKING TIME I WANT. (i'm not drunk YOU'RE drunk)

[personal profile] circumitus 2018-02-27 10:16 am (UTC)(link)
"Mm. It looks nice, though. Guess that's what counts."

Because that much Rey can get. The myriad floating lanterns in the night sky is definitely one pretty sight.