Beltaine, Spring Fertility Festival

Beltaine is the second of four Tween Days in the calendar year, marking the halfway point between the spring and summer Seasonal Stellar Days when spring is on full force.   Korus is usually honored and praised as petitioners beseech him for a long growing season Sometimes the rest of the Nine is involved in the prayers depending on which deities the local culture views as important to fertility. Often Nami is invoked for good weather (not that she heeds these sorts prayers often) and Khemra for sunlight (not that she would ever choose to stop shining if people stopped praying to her.).   Young children and pregnant mothers are ceremonially blessed in the name of Korus, Mera or any or all of the the Nine. They might even bless young or expecting livestock.   The children are often promised sweets afterwards to entice them to sit quietly through the boring parts.   There are small variations, but the formal ceremonies usually end with local children being given crowns of woven grass blades to wear and candles to carry for a short procession where they will sing whatever songs their culture decides to teach small children and then the children return to their families while everyone sits down to a nice meal.   One thing common is that any leftover winter stores of food or alcoholic beverages are usually polished off as a sign of optimism that the next harvests will be plentiful. As he last of the old stores are consumed during the feast, the first of the new year's harvests and brews are also consumed.   As a fertility holiday of great importance, many but by no means all Scarterrans consider Beltaine to be an auspicious time to have wedding or betrothal ceremonies.  To a lesser extant, this is viewed as an auspicious time to sign peace treaties or trade agreements.   Like the other Tween Days, there is an uptick of Fair Folk entering the material plane around this time, but this rarely a problem for mortals. Fair Folk tradition states that Beltaine is a time of peace and they rarely cause problems on this day.   This is generally viewed as a peasant holiday with most highborn not participating in the songs and whatnot but some nobles will sponsor festivals or give out free food during this time.