Auterhol is the fictional island most of my stories take place at. It is very small and most buildings/towns are very old. For such a small island it is also very multicultural and houses people from various races, nationalities and species! The most common languages spoken here are Turkish, Dutch, Northern Elfish, Arabic, English, Germanic North Atlantic (merfolk) and Polish. If you live here, chances are you most likely speak 2 or more languages!
The land was founded way back by Jan de Akker (elf) and Amir Inorre (merfolk) when merfolk first started interacting with land folk, more specifically, Northern elves. After years of trading and sharing cultural differences with each other, both groups started exploring the seas together and that’s when they settled on the island.
(note: yes this place was readily available to other countries and was known before this settlement, however the island was almost notorious for its gnome plague, which is also where it got its name from. (kabouter hol - gnome hole) )
Together they created a humble society and tied to that beginning also rose a new holiday. Aanmeren (Moorings day). This holiday is celebrated on 6 May (the date of arrival) and celebrates cultural/religious differences between elves and merfolk.
In modern day standards it’s more of a holiday for children and also celebrated more broadly to include other cultures/religions. The day of these children is usually spend crafting at school or at home in the mornings and then after 12 families/schools tend to take the children out to the city to visit religious houses like temples, mosques, murr domes, churches etc. These places usually set up little games for the kids to play around the places like scavenger hunts, rubber duck fishing.. all sorts of creative stuff. They also usually have a little education station set up to learn more about the religions themselves. Besides that there’s also snacks so yay!
Of course kids who are not religious get to celebrate Aanmeren too and not being religious doesn’t take away from the festive and joyful experience in general.
This holiday for adults usually looks like a little get together with neighbours, family and like, parents of your kid’s friend haha.
(pic 1. city names / pic 2. river/lake names / pic 3. land height chart / pic 4. undergrounds/metro lines / pic 5. provinces)