Wick Festival

The annual, month-long Wick Festival, which takes place during the month of Bethas on the Surwood Isle, is a huge gathering of wicks on Surwood Isle. It is a sort of family reunion, with wicks representing all nine kingdoms in attendance. It is the second-largest celebration in the country, and has been an annual affair for over a thousand years.

The festival consists of an entire month of the things wicks love most: dancing, storytelling, crafting, trading, and inventive games. It is also the time of year when wicks from different tribes meet each other and get married - mass marriages are very common during the festival. Tribes merge, treaties are drawn up, and there is an air of peace that quells any lingering hostility between opposing tribes.

The island is completely decorated for the festival, with hanging paper lanterns, streamers and brightly colored tents. The trunks of trees around the center clearing are painted in a ritual tradition, according to the attending families. If one were to cut down a ritual tree on the island, one would see colorful rings, attesting to the festival's longevity.

Since wick caravans are designed to float as well as move on wheels, they are able to travel back and forth from the mainland, bringing necessary food and drink as well as other necessities. Mostly, however, the tribes hunt on the island itself. It takes the rest of the year for the island's wildlife to recover from the festival.

During the rest of the year, several wick tribes live on Surwood, preparing for the festivities. The island is the size of a city, large enough to accommodate the thousands of wicks who attend each year; temporary housing is erected for those wicks who do not wish to sleep in their caravans, and the clearing is cleaned of old brush. Large fireplaces and kilns also require yearly maintenance.

Lately, the wick festival has come under fire from High Judge Azmus, who claims it is loud, destructive and overly decadent, and seeks legislation to restrict the island.