Islaun Midwinter Festival: Byrganwulf
the festival of byrganwulf (from old english meaning to bury, to hide, to inter + wolf) commemorates the slaying of the great wolf known as dougal (meaning the dark one), said to have maimed, murdered, and devoured more than 200 wulvar, thousands upon thousands of years ago
dougal was at last hunted down and slain by lord grey and it is said that the great wolf's fearsome spirit passed into him and, through him, to all the wulvar as his people and thus his kin
each year, the lord of grey ritually slays the wolf, once again, and once more gives it to the wulvar, deepening their connection to the great wolf which is connected to their beliefs about spirituality and the afterlife
a black wolf pelt, said to be the original taken from dougal in the mists of time, has since been passed down for generations upon generations
the feast of byrganwulf takes place across a full fortnight, but can sometimes take longer
the first night is one of fasting and purification, cleaning the home during the day followed by ritual bathing at night
the wulvar come together at night in the wee hours next for secret rites known only to themselves, properly preparing them to enter the feast, non-wulvar are not welcome
the next morning, at dawn, the great hunt which takes up the majority of festival days, begins and from this time on, non-wulvar may participate if they so choose
while it can be undertaken at many times a year, byrganwulf is the most common time for a wulvar youth to undertake the ritual of becoming a man by slaying his first wolf with nothing but his bare hands
wolves are the most prized kills during the great hunt, spiritually (as well as a way of keeping the pack population -- most likely to grow desperate and attack humans during the winter -- down), but everything is welcomed as all that is not consumed during the later feast will be salted to provide food for the winter
heads of wulvar families wear their ancestral family furs, younger wulvar wear their own personal kills
the great hunt, a vast communal hunt through the wintry forests, consumes the vast majority of the first week but many other activities are peppered throughout
it is traditional to send coded, anonymous messages in intricately cut, snowflake-like paper and bound up w snowdrops. they are hidden away for friends and loved ones to find and decode. this is also a common means and time for lovers to declare themselves. this practice generally continues throughout the winter, and sometimes those who've passed notes only reveal their identities at the close of the season -- or never at all. these letters are traditionally called gækkebrev
naked trees are decorated with furs and feathers and pretty keepsakes
paper snowflakes and stars are crafted with which to decorate, symbolizing enduring light even in the coldest times
much time is spent gathering holly, ivy, mistletoe, and evergreen with which to decorate the home and village later, symbolizing life
at the end of the hunt, (ended when lord grey slays a wolf after at least six days have elapsed -- that is, if for example he kills a wolf on the first day that does not end the hunt), everyone returns home on their sledges and a great bonfire is built
here something of a market-of-exchange begins as people begin going through what they have caught and what they might need, with the goal that every single wulvar walks away with meat for the winter, as some will have returned with excess and others with not enough, any excess after that is set aside for first the great feast and next as a communal pot to be stored by lord grey for the benefit of all
once this is done, everyone returns home and there are two counts of 'first-footing'
the first of the wulvar to walk through their own threshold will be considered lucky through the following year
after everyone returns home and stores their new wares, a ritual of midnight visits begins, with the youngest and oldest members of the family staying home by the fire cooking, as needed, and the rest (bearing gifts of whiskey, kindling, salt, and bread) going out to visit the neighbors, till everyone has seen everyone else as well as decorating the village and exteriors of homes
this is where the second count of first-footing takes place, and it is one that everyone can rely upon: the first visitor to walk through one's door accords good fortune to both the guest and the host and between their two families in the year to come. dark-haired men are considered particularly lucky first visitors
drinking whiskey, singing traditional songs, and eating bread all while helping each other cook is the traditional activity for these visits
children generally help cook where they can, and spend the rest of the time carving scary faces into root vegetables, called neeps
visits last until about 2am, and it is considered ill luck to be the last to return home
it is considered bad luck for any able-bodied person to sleep that night, or to stir out of doors till the sun again wakes. some people even obliged to stay the night in other people's houses and risk the year of bad luck for staying away from home that night to avoid the doom of stepping outside during that time, for the dreaded cailleach, the great spider foe of the wolf spirit, is said to stalk the world that night, ready to devour souls. wulvar spend the rest of the night cooking and decorating inside, covering up the windows that they might avoid looking upon the cailleach's icy dead eye, said to be death at a glance
the next morning begins with a procession, everyone clad all in white with crowns and belts of ivy, mistletoe, holly, evergreen, and candles upon their heads
it is a burial procession, still and silent, and it is said that whomever first breaks the silence upon that day is doomed to speak ill all throughout the following year, called wolftongue (different from wolfspeak which is sacred)
once the silence has been broken, musicians begin playing bagpipes and drums as they walk, while others keen and wail
beneath their white (or wearing it above if it happens to be white), each head of a family once again wears their family furs, and each family bears an ancestral artifact, usually a weapon or drinking horn of some kind, as well as offerings such as seeds, tools, jewelry, mulled wine, bread, meat and mead, and other typical grave goods
the villages are traditionally left entirely dereft of people, with those too ill or old or young to participate simply taken directly to castle grey to stay out the festival. the able bodied all meet at castle grey, and from there jointly processing down, passing under aella's arch, and into the foxe-grey crypt
there, though separated by centuries, the deaths of dougal and of ewan and aella are reinacted by members of houses grey and foxe. this is frankly a very dangerous reenactment, with real deadly weapons used and is meant to strengthen the trust between the houses though has been known to result in death and serious injury on occasion in the past
these symbolically dead are wakened by a kiss, symbolizing the breath of life and the return of the gift of the great wolf spirit to all
after this, offerings are made to ancestors, fresh soil and general attention, decoration, and maintenance, given to their graves, and (formerly) to the guardians thought to be watching over the spirits of the departed. offerings are still made to the great wolf, and many take the opportunity to leave an offering at aella's arch for the opportunity to behold the great love of their lives
following this, another procession is formed, returning to castle grey
there, everyone is given gifts and refreshments, including a traditional tea (said to have magical qualities allowing one to inhale the breath of the wolf and behold glimpses of the future), as well as whiskey, traditional black buns, and hot mulled wine
torches are lit from the bonfire there, and dancing is held while a feast gets underway, all hours of the night
the third day gets underway with feats of strength and daring, traditional funeral games, for though the wolf has symbolically died, he is not yet buried as well as storytelling around the bonfire and more feasting
until the burial, wulvar remain housed in the traditional safety of castle grey, with any of the people of foxe or other welcomed guests who wish to participate also remaining there, until the festival is complete
during the latter seven days of the festival, following the great hunt, the night is inherent danger, and feasting, toasting, ceilidhs (dancing), and bonfires are maintained every single night
the cailleach -- her power so terrible that she is referred to as the lady of snow and ice and rarely called by name lest her fell eye come to rest upon the speaker -- an ice-spider spirit and the ancient enemy of the great wolf, is free to walk the world with her rival trapped between life and death and she spreads winter all around her from which the world will not soon recover, her malignant power ever-growing
the neeps carved by children and decoration placed all around help ward her off and keep the inhabitants safe within the castle as the terrible dark closes in
the fourth day is full of fire and earth rituals to prepare and strengthen the great wolf spirit by their own participation in that greater spirit, for what is to come -- a time for family and closeness strengthening bonds in the face of spiritual peril, as well as fireworks at night
the fifth day is the day of guising, a full-day-and-night masquerade in which none may say any name of one they love, nor their own, nor show their full face, and later at night mummery entertainments amongst dancing and feasting, once again telling the stories of dougal and of aella, as the malignant cailleach's power grows and none dare show face nor utter beloved name
the sixth day is preparing for burial, both considering the spiritual nature of death and the afterlife for themselves and their loved ones, preparing wills and the like, but also of making the traditional foods for a wulvar wake. no one is permitted to sleep this night, and every candle and fire must be continuously kept lit. even the courtyard, until now considered safe within the castle walls, is not considered safe upon this night, and everyone must remain indoors with the windows shut and covered against the malice of the cailleach
the seventh day is the burial itself, culminating in a return to the crypt and another reenactment, this time involving the participants drinking a chalice together, as in a traditional wulvar wedding, and stepping through and over a circle of flames together, symbolizing victory over death. like the traditional tea, the contents -- this time a strong alcoholic drink -- are prepared by a shaman and contain magical properties said to show the drinkers much amd more, though the precise meaning of that is never detailed beyond simply that, often even to those who sip of it, but it appears to be some means of communing with the spirit world and it is when the wolfspeak begins with much talk that says much and little depending if one is open to hearing the truth, and is said to grant temporarily massive strength and power as well as 'seeing' but the participants rarely remember much of what they saw afterward. torches, bagpipes, drum beats, and songs accompany this funeral, like all others (but especially pyres), to guide the soul. following this, a great celeration is begun, and any remaining neeps ritualistically burned alng with an efigy of the cailleach who has now been conquered and pushed back, her dominion though still strong now prevented from becoming eternal by the wolf's sarifice and the gift of the great wolf spirit to all, who are each offered a sip of the same spiritual drink already conferred upon the reenactors. all may safely go where they will and, the next day, the villagers all return to their homes
traditional foods and drinks include black buns, haggis, cooked neeps (root vegetables), glögg (spiced mulled wine with nuts and gingerbread), julbord (a seaonsal smorgasbord of festive foods)
a former, banned practice includes porridge for the nisse or tomte, leaving a bowl of porridge for the guardians to ensure good fortune but has been replaced with bird feeding to maintain the spirit of sharing inherent to the festival
games like pakkeleg (a dice-stealing game) are usual as are crafts such as neps and ornament-making as well as storytelling, and even apple dookin' and singing
sisu, a spirit of grit, resilience, and determination to overcome challenges, often applied to enduring winter, is practiced and prized
another is sámi, shamanistic practices involved ancestral veneration, with shamans (noaidi) communicating with spirits via drums for community guidance
note: this is heavily inspired by scandinavian and scottish spring/easter, winter/christmas, and burial traditions
