Merchant’s Festival
Time: Annual, eighth day of Descending Earth.
Location: Realm-wide
Host: Immaculate Order
Invitations: Public
Theme and Activity: The Merchants' Festival is a celebration of trade and commerce in the Realm, from the work of street vendors selling clay bowls to bankers and insurance assessors wielding complex financial instruments. It is a time when the gods responsible for business and trade are granted due prayer for their continued diligence... and where merchants seek to outdo each other in sales and marketing.
The day is marked by great parades. Merchants, carrying examples of their wares, parade through the towns and cities of the Blessed Isle, singing not their usual advertisements but rather loud prayers to the gods of commerce and songs calling upon the people of Creation to open their purses and shop so that all might live blessed lives.
In the Imperial City, the procession is the longest and most complex. Various mercantile associations and trading guilds sponsor ornate costumes and banners borne by their servants as they march. The Guild is allowed a presence, and spends a great deal to remind the Realm’s residents of its existence, though they are outmatched by the extravagant processions of House Ragara bankers and House Cynis slave traders.
At the end of the day's parade, when the Unconquered Sun has started to set, the edges of the broad Suzaku Boulevard are opened for merchants of all types to hawk their wares and services, unrestricted by license or ordinance, though the goods they are allowed to sell are of course still restricted by law. Only the most wealthy merchants can afford the bribes needed to secure space on the Boulevard's upper reaches, in the shadow of the Imperial Palace. From across the City and the Scarlet Prefecture beyond, vast throngs swarm into the City to walk the market and take in the sights as their pockets are emptied of scrip and filled with all manner of goods. It is thought that purchases made during the festival are particularly auspicious.
