Pera'Lan

The start of the rainy season in Estraude brings with it Pera’lan - a festival dedicated to Mareus. Dams upstream of the capital are eased so the city is flooded with clear, ankle-deep water, to wash away the old year and bless the new. Colourful water lilies decorate these temporary rivers and Mareus-inspired performances are held along it. Students of the academic clergy and Estran mages create a sea drake purely out of water, its body filled with fish and flowers, and snake through the streets alongside performers. Masks and headdresses with aquatic motifs are donned to honour the goddess and attract Her blessings. The church hosts charity events and communions, and old items are often donated or given away.

In Tusa, where the rains are far and few between, Pera’lan is new and novel. News of the festival reaches the desert city weeks beforehand, and people from both regions band together to bring it to this part of the Federation too. With clever craftwork and magic, Tusa’s central plaza is transformed into a temporary rainforest. The main streets are painted to look like the winding rivers of Estraude, complete with illusory fish and Sirmante dolphins. Estrans bring traditional songs, dances and wares from their homeland. Tusar, adorned with oasis flowers and accompanied by traditional harps, perform aerial dances and billow ribbons through the air to mimic water.

The festivities comes to a sober end on the Day of Mourning. In Estraude, Mareus’ Apostle holds a sermon of remembrance, families visit ancestral shrines and white water lilies bearing candles are released on the river. In Tusa, the people don white kaftans, gather around bonfires and sing as one for their departed, sending a solemn hum over the city.