Day Of First Sprout
Day of First Sprout (Early Hick: sinthir sarespul thrales) was the traditional celebration of the beginning of the new year at the first sprout of spring. Not only did it mark the start of the new year, but it also marked the beginning of the Spring planting season. The practice was supplanted after the widespread adoption of the Kalassarian calendar following the Kalassarian Invasion of Senera in 105 AI.
Practice 🔗
During the Winter Solstice celebrations, the Malthrenok of a Hick tribe would divine when and where the first sprout would emerge. The Malthrenok would then announce the date of the Day of First Sprout to the tribe.
Upon the day itself, the tribe would gather at the Malthrenok's home, where they would begin their pilgrimage to the site of the first sprout. The journey would be marked with merrymaking and the consumption of a traditional meal made with young venison meat wrapped in a flattened sourdough bread.
Once the pilgrims arrived at the site of the first sprout, they would perform a ritual dance to celebrate the beginning of the new year. The dance was performed in a circle, with the participants holding hands and moving in a clockwise direction. The dance was accompanied by the playing of a drum and the singing of a traditional song.
After the dance, the pilgrims would return to the village square, where they would consume the contents of the gourds they've received a part of the 'irurlises duwesimris, typically fermented products, given during the winter solstice celebrations.
Post Kalassarian Practice 🔗
After the Kalassarian Invasion, the Day of First Sprout no longer became a celebration of the new year, but continued to be celebrated in many rural areas during the first days of spring. A form of the traditional greeting 'ilitar sarespes was reanalysed as a greeting of the new year, despite its literal meaning of "goodness upon the sprout". Locals began to associate the term to mean the "sprouting of the new year".
The giving of 'irurlises duwesimris expanded into a general practice of gift giving during the winter solstice celebrations, and the practice of consuming fermented products during the new year persist to this day.