Harvest & Autumnal Celebrations
Drailoon
What is Drailoon?
Drailoon is a seasonal end of harvest practice/celebration with roots that can be traced back to before the arrival of missionaries in Northern Europe. The earliest recorded evidence of Drailoon being practiced are found in the northern Germanic region as early as the 6th Century.
Originally a religious practice, Drailoon slowly transitioned to a secular practice after the introduction of Catholicism into greater Europe. At its height, records indicate the celebration had spread as far north as Iceland and as far East as present day Transylvania. It appears to have lost popularity during the European Renaissance period remaining an annual celebration on in more remote towns especially in Eastern Europe.
Drailoon Practices
There are many aspects to the celebration but 3 key components that are always present is the “Festival of Masks” or the “Parade of Masks”, the visiting of the Lemerki & Silent Supper. Each of these practices are described in greater detail below.
When was Drailoon introduced into La Sombra
Drailoon is not a traditional celebration or practice in La Sombra. It’s actually very new, being brought into town only within the past couple of years.
The first practices introduced in La Sombra were actually amalgamations or reimagining of the early festival apparently based on trace traditions discovered in New England. There was enough interest however to delve into a larger research expedition into Drailoon leading to what is now believed to be a more accurate celebration.
Drailoon Celebration
Parade of Masks
The Parade of Masks is a more modern iteration of what was a mask wearing ceremony/celebration dating back to the earliest known Drailoon records. Originally it seems it was a small village celebration intended to invite or embrace the thinning of the spiritual line between the mortal world and the supernatural. Masks were believed to be signs of welcoming and openness to the other world.
Traditionally the masks used were oversized humanoid designs meant to invoke a connection between the human wearer and the ‘great beyond’. For hundreds of years though the masks evolved into grotesque and/or bizarre designs reflecting a further interest in expressionism relating to the pagan overtones.
Today, the parade of masks marks the beginning of Drailoon. Often it is a multi-community event or a regional event with different community organizations or families creating varieties of a theme.
Beyond the parade, the wearing and display of large often bizarre or grotesque is often found throughout Drailoon as part of the ongoing celebration.
The Lemerki / Patchwork Man
The Lemerki (sometimes spelled Limerki) is the figure who goes house to house inviting good and helpful spirits/supernatural beings into the home. While this is done with the intent of making the house less or inhabiable to malicious spirits and monsters, the Limerki is not capable of driving out bad spirits. They are not a shaman or a priest, but a seasonal figure that has a connection to the metaphysical world, similar to a medium.
Their traditional attire is a long coast made up of patchwork imagery, series of patches, storytelling squares of cloth, that have been stitched together to tell the story of a towns people as well as their ancestors. The coat itself is tied back to the very first Lemerki thought these patches. When people leave a town to settle new territory or establish a new town – they take a patch from their town’s patchwork coat to start their new coat. This keeps the tradition and ancient energy that was tied to the first Lemerki bound to the new town’s appointed Lemerki.
It is this specific costume that gives the Lemerki it’s more commonly used nickname – The Patchwork Man also referred to a The Patchwork Visitor.
As a special note about the Lemerki of La Sombra: While working with the main library in Mendtide, Professor Winterhall was able to locate and obtain a patchwork square from the coat used and worn in New England. This continues the tradition of connecting the coat back to its original source dating into pre-history.
The Silent Supper
This tradition is often observed in the home immediately after the Lemerki’s visit. While it mainly pertains to the family living in the home, the tradition dates back to a time of boarders and shared homes in which everyone who lived within the walls of the house must sit for a full meal in complete silence. In its truest form, modern day multi-family buildings would be expected to dine together, however this has not been found in practice.
The meal itself is part of the process of reclaiming the space with familiar or relative energy while the good energy has time to find its way in. The silence is said to keep the negative energy from attaching to the inhabitants. Traditionally this meal is three-courses; a soup, a meat, and a bitter herbs digestifs. Many people will break from dinner, leave the house and return for an elaborate dessert to celebrate the new positive energy.
Professor Langston Winterhall