monthly mingle: FAJRO & LUNAR NEW YEAR

[riverviewmod]

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

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Comments

[hasitsthorns]

[ Rose is always glad to listen to a long story but understands there's a time and a place for it. Maybe someday, she thinks. She loves tales of friendship between dog and (wo)man though. It always helped her believe that maybe her affection for people wasn't misplaced; that maybe she wasn't as wrong as she felt for caring about them instead of wanting to devour them. ]

Nah, I wish. I moved way too much back home to have any kind of pets but... I don't know. Maybe I'll adopt one here, if I plan on sticking around.

[viatorius]

Me too. Uh, the moving thing.

( Being nomadic had made sense. She couldn't put roots down, looking like she does, it would have just made it easier for Sentinel Services to smash down her door. )

But then I got in with a group of people and they let me crash and I think Zingo pretty much adopted me so, here we are.

( She drops her hand to ruffle it through Zingo's fur. ) Couldn't go on a vacation to space without her.

[hasitsthorns]

[ It seems like Rose isn't the only one who led a nomadic life back home; in fact, it's becoming more of a common story among the people here. She supposes that makes sense, what with the idea of being displaced and all. ]

Dogs have a way of adopting people, it's true. They're social creatures and all, just like us.

[ 'Us,' as if she's every bit the human as she's pretending to be. ]

I can't blame you. What's an epic space adventure without a canine companion?

[viatorius]

Well, now I feel like I'm the heroine in a kids book. Except really, I'm definitely more of Zingo's sidekick than she is mine.

( She's not much of a leader. Not like John is. But she's trying to become better at that. Still, Clarice is smiling, and it grows when her eyes fall to the stall with the costumes. ) I wonder if there's a cape lurking in there. ( She really, really should save her coin. But she's also feeling wild and frivolous. ) She's going to want an edge if she's going to become the hero this quarantine needs.

[hasitsthorns]

Honestly? I'm jealous. I wish I had a cool superhero dog to work under.

[ Wouldn't that be something. Rose can only dream of being the hero instead of the villain. ]

She'd be the hero we don't deserve but would be happy to have. And definitely needs a mighty fine cape.

[viatorius]

I definitely lucked out, stumbling into her kingdom. Before I don't think I'd even known someone who had a dog, so it was kind of like being thrown in the deep end.

( Clarice, this is not a military operation. )

Like, who knew dogs were giant blanket stealers? Not me! Also, the puppy dog eye thing? The food's not even that great and she still manages to work her charm on me. It's gotta be some kind of power.

[hasitsthorns]

[ Rose had known plenty of people with pooches, but- She couldn't put one through the stress of constantly being on the move. That just wasn't fair. It was also hard enough to keep herself afloat so she didn't really think it'd be wise to adopt a dog with her lifestyle. ]

Oh my gosh, the puppy dog eyes. Gets me every time, don't worry. I usually end up giving them the food that is good and eating the gross stuff myself.

[viatorius]

At least I know I'm not an absolute sucker.( She reaches down to rub Zingo's shaggy head, a smile curling up at the corner of her mouth. ) I mean, who wouldn't be, with this cutie?

( And then, as if something occurs to her. )

I'm Clarice, by the way. I probably should have mentioned that. See, I'm even introducing her before myself now.

[hasitsthorns]

Oh, right- Nice to meet you, Clarice! My name's Rose.

[ She smiles though at that comment about introducing the dog before herself. If Rose had a puppy, she'd probably give it preferential treatment... ]

At least you got a buddy here with you. That must make things easier.

[viatorius]

Definitely.

( Zingo has been comforting Clarice since day one. It helps, no matter the location. )

But if I want to keep being her friend I should probably take her back to our dorm. She's looking a little hungry and dog biscuits aren't going to cut it any longer. I don't want to upset her. It was cool meeting you though, maybe I'll see you around? Dog lovers unite or something.