For other important Twilight City holidays, see: Carnalia, Twilight City Calendar
A summary of select excerpts from the Chronulean Journal of Sociology and Spiders Issue #133, co-authored by W. Smith and C. Le Brau, on the endurance of one of the most infamous and historically bloody of elven holidays.
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Few elven holidays exist within the popular imagination as much as the Sanguinia - The Festival of Love and Blood. Parents tell their children of wolves that don elven skins and stalk the streets in packs, consuming the flesh of the vulnerable and weak. They speak of those who, upon drinking the blood of the fallen, become addicted to it like a drug, and must sustain themselves on it evermore. They say that women roam the streets mad with bloodlust, screeching, killing, and lovemaking in wanton slaughter and passion.
There are dozens upon dozens of such myths about the infamous holiday, and it remains the duty of the authors and this journal to dispel these illusions which have eclipsed truth in the popular imagination. The Sanguinia remains the second oldest holiday in the Novan calendar, after the Fungalia in the Old Calendar Summer. As such, it has a complex history. In this article, we will attempt to state the facts and reconcile the perceived paradoxes of this perhaps misunderstood holiday.
Sanune and Hadrian
Teller to this tradition was the historian Sabzyrm di la Kenafin, who provided this history:
"In the first years since our forebearers crossed the undersea to this land, there was a terrible famine. The soil had been fouled by the folly of Agathon the Obstinate. Game eluded the hunters. The waters of the Low Lake congealed like clotted blood. Even the nobility ate their pets and newborn children, so desperate were they. So great was the hunger that even the child-laden queen starved. Imagine a famine so great that a chosen queen grows thin!
So on this day, despairing Queen Sanune spoke to her lover the Consort Hadrian: 'This blight rises above all other blights! How cursed a people are we, that every mother must reconsume their young, that our priestesses must dine on paltry rats! I will bear not these twins of ours. They shall become mine flesh once again, lest never shall the consecrated fruit again grow.'*
Thus spoke Hadrian: 'My love, so troubled have been these times, that even the gods' children must invoke these old ways. They have blessed this house with royal twin, and to permit it not would be tragedy I cannot bear. Take instead of their flesh: mine. To you I have freely given my heart, and so let it be shared with our children.
And so Queen Sanune consumed her lovers heart, brain, liver, loins, spleen, and muscle. All the richest parts of him became hers, and in a better year she gave birth to the only babes born that generation: Amantia and Amon, of whom the former lived on to become Glazz'gibrar's greatest queen.
It is said that her lover's strength carried Sanune and her children into long and prosperous life. So this Sanguinia we pour libations to her shade, and to Hadrian, whose fruitful viscera bore our people through their most imperiled times. So now the Queen Surrogate consumes a living heart to gain its vitality."
*Research suggests that the now-forsaken goddess Lolth commanded her followers to cannibalize their own young, as spiders, mantises, and bees often do. Her role in this story appears to be edited out in Sabzyrm's telling, likely reflecting her falling out of favor with the Novan people at the turn of the century.
Werewolves and Vampires
Much speculation has been made by fellow academics as to the rumors of "Werewolves" and "Vampires" produced or unveiled during the Sanguinia. We shall affirm that there are three categories of such transformations: Werewolves, Vampires, and Skin-Wearers. Though, we shall admit that more precise classification of these entities should be established.
"Werewolves", as they are called by the folk of November, are folk, typically young folk, who don The Wolf Mask during the Sanguinia celebrations for the express purpose of participating in the anonymous slaughter.
"Vampires", though evidence is only mounting (and shall be published in subsequent articles), appears to be a condition created through the externalities of the Sanguinia. Blood drinking (or blood mixed with mushroom wine, a cocktail called: saltvine) is a common occurrence among those who have donned the Wolf Mask, and in some rare cases this produces a form of disease which inducts the subject into an addiction with consuming blood. Present evidence indicates that a sanguineous drug prevalent in some users creates this circumstance.
A third category, even rarer than the other two, has only been observed once during the research of this article. Though little is known about this creature, a physical description shall be provided courtesy of Mamus di Ronove, who was willing to be interviewed on the matter:
"We have elves who don the skins of wolves. And elves who drink the blood of elves. But what I saw wasn't that. It was a wolf that donned the skin of an elf. A wolf with an elven face, stretched thin across its long snout. Its eyes a terrible yellow. It spoke, too. Spoke perfect elven. Stood on its hind legs. I remember, it asked my brother and I, may he rest, it asked him 'Where is the public bath?' We told it, shaking so violently with fright: 'Past Piercers' Forum, brother!'... Off it went. We got home as quick as we could and locked the doors! The bath was closed on that day, but it could not detect our lie. We never heard what happened after that."
Hydur's Holiday
It may surprise some readers to learn that Hydur, the traditional god of air and vengeance, is worshipped in a holiday devoted to love. But to the denizens of November, this is not a paradox. Matriarch Koren III of House Nix provides an explanation to this:
(Note: some mandible chattering has been removed for clarity in this discussion.)
Interviewer: So, you mentioned that the Sanguinia was the 'Festival of Love', as well as the 'Festival of Vengeance'. How is this reconciled?
Koren: One cannot have vengeance without love! For to become vengeful, one must love something... or someone, and then suffer loss or humiliation, or act upon its threat. Vengeance cannot exist within a vacuum. It must exist concurrent, cradled with love, or else it cannot exist.
Interviewer: So what does this have to do with Hydur?
Koren: Hydur is the great god of love! The Great Wind would not swear vengeance upon the world if he did not once love it.
Interviewer: And how is Hydur worshipped during these proceedings?
Koren: Free love given is good. Love spurned is even better. Hydur relishes in denial and vengeance. To consume the heart and spleen of he who denies you invites great blessing!
Interviewer: Eaten many spleens, have you?
Koren: ...Did anybody ever tell you that you smell savory?
Interviewer: Uhh... Thank you for your time, Matriarch! I'm glad we could clear this up.
Carnalia and Sanguinia: Differences and Similarities
At first glance, the holiday bears many similarities to the Carnalia, which occurs several weeks prior in the calendar. Both holidays involve acts of violence and roaming mobs of festivalgoers. Both holidays involve copious consumption. Both holidays invoke cannibalism, and are initiated by the Queen Surrogate - whose priestessly office entails duties once held by the Spider Queen herself.
But apart from these surface level comparisons, that is where the similarities end. For though there are many acts of violence in these two holidays, their reasons and their targets differ in that they reflect the gods that are being worshipped. Take for instance the notion of violence in these holidays:
- In the Carnalia, the wealthy and powerful are targeted by the poor for their uncharitable miserliness. In the Sanguinia, the poor and the vulnerable are targeted by the powerful and well-connected.
Ale and bread is the preferred diet of the Carnalia festival goer, while wine and meat is that of Sanguinia.
Carnalia is a festival in which everyone in the society partakes. The Sanguinia is thought as a 'young person's festival', with many elders and children locking up in their houses.
Manmanuk, the god of Chaos, directly observes the events of the Carnalia through the Panchromatic Idol, whereas Hydur possesses no such benefit during his festival. Perhaps they thought he'd ruin the mood?
Further Research: Rites
The following consists of a list of observed religious rites during the Sanguinia, which would serve as excellent future direction for research.
Cardiovore: At the conclusion of the festival, the Queen Surrogate (a primarily religious office adopted by senior politicians for terms lasting 8 Novan years) consumes a raw heart. Our postdoc trainee observed this occurence, and called it, quote: "F---ING DISGUSTING!" Our handlers in the city ensured that it was, in fact, not originally a man's heart.
Revelry of the Youths: We were told that if a man should be out on the streets, and he becomes abandoned by his friends, and he should encounter a desirous wolf-masked woman, then a 'hunt' shall begin. If he is caught then 'his flesh shall be taken', which we assumed to mean some sort of romantic persuasion. This was never observed but we witnessed much innuendo to this fact in days following. Seemingly related to the subsequent rite.
Blood for Blood: We gathered this was like children's game of tag, except using knives and darts and performed by young adults wearing the sanguineous Wolf Mask. We were informed by our handlers that there is a romantic association with this violent game.
Hunt of the Motherless: Those without the protection of matronage were hunted down in the streets, and either beaten or occasionally murdered. In the aftermath of the festival it was reported that there were six such deaths (the elders claimed that in their day numbers one hundred times that amount were common): one was a beggar from Bright Town who frequented the Eight-Pathed Forum, another was a crier woman who was seemingly quite unpopular, the third was a foreigner to whom there was little account, and the last three were youths who apparently took the Blood for Blood too far in what was believed was a lover's quarrel... with quarrels.
