Holidays And The Calendar
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The Farede Calendar sets 10 days to the week, 28 days to the month, and 13 months to the year. The months are: Taisham, Jumara, Saban, Aine, Adar, Saven, Amadaine, Tammaz, Maigdhal, Choren, Shaldine, Nesan, and Danu.

Several major feastdays celebrated in every nation from the Aryth Ocean to the Spine of the World are not part of any month. Sunday, the longest day of the year, comes annually in Amadaine, but is not a day of that month. The Feast of Thanksgiving is celebrated only once every four years, at the spring equinox, and the Feast of All Souls' Salvation (also called All Soul's Day) is marked only once every ten years, at the autumn equinox.

There are far too many feasts and special days to be listed here, and of course they are all well known. As for those which are celebrated only in particular localities or regions, there are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands. They range from King's Days and Queen's Days (the Taraboner Calendar of Days, listing all feasts, festivals, and holidays, records both a King's Day and a Panarch's Day) to Harvest Week Festivals and the Blessing of the Nets (in fishing communities), to festivals celebrating yearly increases in flocks or herds. Illian and the region of Altara around Ebou Dar in particular are known for their multiplicity of celebrations, which often run into another. All other days of the year are considered working days, for commoners at least, but during the course of a year, depending on exactly where they live, folk can count on at least 105 ro 116 days when no work is expected (beyond that directly assiciated with the observances).

Given the way in which these days are set, one feastday or festival inevitably overlaps another from time to time. Bot hare then observed in an even larger celebration.

With the exception of the Feast of Lights, Sunday, the Feast of Thanksgiving, and the Feast of All Soul' Salvation, there is considerable variation in the way common feastdays and holidays are observed and/or celebrated. Arad Doman and Illian are noted for the grandest celebrations, Illian and the region of Altara around Ebou Dar for the most libertine, and Cairhien (with the notorious exception of the Feast of Lights) for the most reserved.

The following is a brief list of holidays which are, if not all universal, widely observed.

The Feast of Lights
The last day of Danu (the shortest of the year) and the first day of Taisham. (Thus the last day of the old year and the first of the new.) In many localities the second day of the Feast of Lights is called First Day, or Firstday and is considered a particular time to give charitably.

High Chasaline
The twelth day of Taisham. Also called "the Day of Reflection". A feastday, often with dancing that night (public in villages and smaller towns, usually at private gatherings in larger cities), on which you are supposed to reflect on your good firtune and the blessings of your life. It is considered bad form to complain about anything on High Chasaline, though that taboo is not always followed strictly.

Chansein The Borderlands, Arad Doman
The third day of Jumara. A day of wild indulgence in food, where the object seems to be to get other people to eat as much as they can hold and more. People carry hot pasties filled with meat or dried fruit, sometimes stuffing their pockets or actually carrying bagfuls, and hand them out to everyone they see. It is considered extremely ill-mannered to fail to eat every crumb.

Feast of Abram Tarabon, Amadicia, Ghealdan, Andor, Altara, Murandy, Illian, Tear, Cairhien
The ninth day of Jumara.

Lamma Sor The Borderlands
Celebrated the day after the first quarter moon (called a "knife moon") of Saban in the Borderlands. Nothing is eaten but bread and water, salt, and oil. Also called the Day of Remembrance. It is a day of prayers for those who have fallen defending against the Blight, and for those who will fall.

The Feast of Fools
Celebrated in Tammaz (in Arad Doman and the Borderlands) or Saven (everywhere else), the exact varying according to locality. A day in which all order is deliberately inverted; the high perform lowly tasks (running errands, serving at table, etc.) while the low do no work and give orders to their usual superiors. In many villages and towns the most foolish person is given a title such as the Lord/Lady of Unreason/Misrule/Chaos or the King/Queen of Fools. Not an honour sought, but for that one day everyone has to obey whatever orders, however foolish, are given by the chosen one. (Called the Festival of Unreason in Saldaea; the Festival of Fools in Kandor; Foolday in Baerlon and the Two Rivers.) Note: In Tear, Illian, and the southern half of Altara, the time between the Feast of Abram and the Feast of Fools is considered the most propitious for a wedding.

Winternight
The night before Bel Tine; spent visiting and exchanging gifts.

Bel Tine
Spring festival celebrating the end of winter, the first sprouting of crops, and the birth of the first lambs. Date determined locally.

Tirish Adar
From the rise of the first full moon in Adar to the rise of the next moon. In most northern countries, no one sleeps more than an hour or two a night during that period.

Feast of Neman Andor, Cairhien, Tear, the Borderlands
The ninth day of Adar.

The Feast of Freia Illian, Arad Doman, Ghealdan, Tarabon, parts of Altara and Murandy
The twenty-first day of Adar.

Dahan
The ninth day of Saven. Supposedly the anniversary of final victory in the Trolloc Wars and freedom from the Shadow. Most historians believe the date was arbitrarily chosen.

Asadine The Borderlands, Cairhien
Ten days before Sunday; a day of fasting, with no food taken between sunrise and sunset. In the Borderlands, the day after Asadine is considered an especially propitious time to wed.

The Feast of Maia Andor, Ghealdan, Altara, Murandy, Illian
The sixth day of Amadaine.

Bailene Arad Doman, Tarabon, Amadicia, Tear
Celebrated the ninth day of Amadaine.

Genshai Tear, Illian, Amadicia, Tarabon, southern parts of Altara and Murandy
The third day of Tammaz. Brightly coloured ribbons are worn by both men and women.

Mabriam's Day
The eighteenth day of Tammaz. Any sort of labour is avoided, and some go to great lengths to do so. The food is always cooked the day before, but some rise and dress in the dark on the theory that they have thus done that "work" before the day began. One feature of Mabriam's Day is that young women traditionally play tricks on young men. These tricks are suposed to indicate the young woman's interest in the target man, but the young women tend to work in groups and try to keep their actions as secret as possible. These are traditionaly forfeits if a yound man guesses who is responsible, ranging from a kiss from the young woman who though up the trick to a kiss from each in the group. Celebrated in villages and small towns in every nation.

Tandar
The ninth day of Maighday. No one is supposed to let Tandor end still holding a grudge or having a disagreement with anyone. Although the intent is that the quarrelers should be reconciled, it is not unknown for festivities to be marred by attempts to meet the letter in quite another way.

Low Chasaline
The eighteenth day of Maighdal. In most places a day of fasting.

The Festival of Lanterns Arad Doman, Tarabon, Amadicia, Ghealdan, Altara, Murandy, Illian
The first day of Choren. Paper lanterns, often brightly coloured, frequently fancifully shaped, are hung everywhere, in windows, in trees.

Bel Arvina
The first day of autumn; a floating feast, date determined locally.

Amaetheon Everywhere except the Borderlands
The sixth day of Shaldine. This is a feast remembering the dead, not in a sad way, but joyously.

Shaoman
The twelth day of Shaldine. Particularly oriented toward children, who are cosseted, praised and given gifts. In many places groups or children go from house to house, where they sing songs before the door and are reward with small gifts or sweets.

Danshu
The last day of Nesan.

Sunday
A feastday and festival at midsummer, celebrated in many parts of the world.

Amyrlin's Raising Tar Valon
This holiday is only held when a new Amyrlin Seat is raised and begins with the new Amyrlin stating that she decrees that a week of celebrations should happen. And so it does. Work is still carried out during the day, but the evenings and nights are filled with dancing and feasting.