The EXCHANGE

Chapter 9

Dinner came and went; I was bathed, and then read a book, and at the end of it all I was put to sleep, where I had a dream about my older life. I woke up only for momma to put me in clothes for school then at school we did crafts and read stories of Halloween. At the end of the day, we had a Halloween party as our parents came to pick us up. Once at home, I'm dressed in my iconic American classic character. My other brothers got to go get candy in the rest of the building while all children five and under do a mock version of its daddy watched me while momma waited for the five year and older kids.

I, of course, came out with more trinkets than candy; but the little candy I did get: was only one per day sadly. Within a few weeks, they hosted a 'Grand Feast' it was their version of Thanks Giving. My brothers and the rest of the pack were really into it as well. It was when the winter holidays rolled around my brothers and the rest of the school in sector 1 were out on the first of their winter month. Zander said this is when many different races hold their winter celebrations.

In class every day until we were released, we talked about the celebrations we would be introduced to during the two-month break. The first holiday we learned about was called Polaris where the people celebrate a time when they migrated from east to west to find suitable hunting spots, here on Celum the rivers run east to west unlike on Earth where they (mostly) run north to south. This is only celebrated by the bear kin.

The next holiday was called the Fortune Festival; the catkin has a nine-day festival where they celebrate the good fortune of their people, day one being the cleaning day, the second day is the day of fasting, the third day being the feast, then the day of gift making, the day of barter, the sixth day was gifting, the seventh day was the day of remembrance, the eight was charity, and the last day was the day of fortune.

The following holiday was called Septem Sororibus, or the Seven Sisters it is a day when the cattle-kin people celebrate their seven heavenly goddesses. The first day is for Ruta the day of birth, young children from birth to five are celebrated with gifts. The second day is for Axle the day of youth, children from 6-10 are celebrated with gifts. Day three is for Une the day of the 'adults', for the people 11-79 are celebrated with gifts. The fourth day is for Jiji also the day of the Home, the homes are fixed and the people thank Jiji for their homes. The fifth day is for Runa the day for friendship, where the community comes together and feasts. On the sixth day it is for Uelia, this day the people greave those who have passed and have a fast. The last day is for Baba Ai, or Momma Ai it is to celebrate the elders of the community they are called Taurus (men) and Tiaris (women) those who live past 80 years.

The next holiday was for the deer-kin, it was just a general time their people remembered their past and looked for the spirits of their ancestors. It had a native-to-this-land feel. Went into the forest with their people and played traditional music, wearing clothes, lived in huts on their reserve, and did shaman readings about the future. It was called White Fawn, it was said they were looking for the vision of when the white fawn would be reborn into their tribe, with hopes of peace to bring with it.

Since that one was more of a community choice the said day, we spoke of Vix Day, it is a week for the fox-kin to feast and drink until the Vix when they take an oath to cleanse their minds at the temples where their people are from, it has a very Shinto feel to it sitting under waterfalls and meditating, while children help the priest and priestesses clean the shrine for Vox the day of enlightenment. Which welcomes into a new or rebirth of their soul, it's kind of like how Christians are baptized to be reborn, except they do this every year.

Then came the dogs' holiday of Solis they worship the birth of the sun; they spend the first half of the season shopping and gifting presents to friends and family while hoping the sun drops a seed outside of your home which blooms the flower of the sun and means your family was chosen to lead the community for a year. Some families are chosen every year while others are different every year.