Festival of Vigilance
The Festival of Vigilance is a Babkhi-Elw observance where subjects guard their homes and communities against the lengthening night and the return of the dreaded Elfinshi kuffar. The ritual stages of the festival are spread over several months, culminating in the symbolic slaughter of the Chthonic Bull and the Cave Birth of Archonic Celestial Hope of the World - Mitra.
It is a time for constructing palisades under torchlight, nighttime feasts in defiance of the dark, and the propitiation of fell creatures beyond the pale with roasted meats given in sacrifice.
It is also a dangerous time for any individual displaying Elfinshi characteristics, as the accusation of being a familiar of the Beast of Winter is a charge readily laid at such during the festival period, with frequently fatal consequences.
The festival follows the twelve year duodecennial cycle that began with the Advent of Dominion, but is nowhere near as ancient, having its origins instead in the conquest of Elwynn by the House of Osman.
Background
At the end of every duodecennial cycle in the years after Norton wraiths of the Elfinshi kuffar are believed to rise from the boreal fastnesses of their barrow mounds to spread hateful mischief in the world.
