Festival of Mela
Time: Annual, 13th to 15th days of Resplendent Air.
Location: Realm-wide
Host: Immaculate Order
Invitations: Public
Theme and Activity: At the beginning of the month of Resplendent Air, the monks at temples devoted to Mela, the Immaculate of Air, begin to spend their days in prayer, while writing sutras and parables from the Immaculate Texts over immense sheets of paper. These sheets are then shaped into items such as umbrellas, fans, paper lanterns and the like, and then distributed amongst the populace in the morning of Mela’s feast day, as the monks parade through their towns and cities.
The first day of the Festival is traditionally a day of mass prayers (not only to the Elemental Dragon of Air, but to numerous other deities scheduled to receive their due on this day according to the Prayer Calendar) and reflection on how one might emulate the Air Immaculate and refrain from approximating the Sickly Whore, taking place at all Immaculate temples and shrines regardless of individual leaning. Monks will walk the streets to gather crowds and read tales of the Air Dragon from the Immaculate Texts.
The second day (14 Resplendent Air, the ‘Apex’ of the Air Season) is traditionally a day of parades and open celebration, where aspects of Air are encouraged to flare their animas in public. Sorcerers appear more openly... the pyrotechnics of their spells reflect the terrible power that was the gift of the Air Dragon, and so during the Festival, Dynastic suspicion of sorcerers is restrained, none wishing to insult Mela indirectly through the snub of spellcasters... for the three days of the Festival, any who dare hold a party can expect the arrival of sorcerous guests.
On the last day of Mela’s festival, a great procession begins at each temple, beginning with monks bearing the sutra-painted objects the temple has been preparing since the month began. They begin to walk away from the temple at dawn, slowly following the direction of the wind. As they walk, people come and take an object, then join the procession. This continues until sunset, by which time the monks have been divested entirely of their burdens. The monks give a sermon on the virtues of Mela’s perfected path, then the procession disperses and everyone returns home.
It has become customary for local Dynasts to sponsor the Festival of Mela by donating paper, ink and brushes to the monks, and sometime even assist the monks by joining in the preparations themselves. Common craftspeople too often donate their time and skills to the task, to demonstrate that they strive for perfection in their crafts according to the example of the Air Immaculate... in some communities these donations can be a source of competition between rivals, both of common business and Dynastic politics.
