Harvestmas

The holiday, or more correctly, the season of Harvestmas is a month long holiday of sorts that occurs from roughly mid-September, when the first crops ripen, until about mid-October around the time when the first snow descends upon the mountains. It is a festival, declared by the king, in which all labor in the kingdom is set aside, save only for the most essential, and all of the kingdom's citizens are gathered together and turned out into the fields to collect the harvest as quickly as they can before the first snows of winter destroy whatever food they are unable to harvest. Harvestmas is primarily celebrated and observed in the kingdom of Terifall in the Wendrock Mountains, as their traditional growing season is several months shorter than most who live in the elevations that are lower than them.

Harvestmas continues, day in, and day out, from the ripening of the first crops, until either everything is harvested, or the winter snows descend upon the kingdom, preventing any further harvesting from being undertaken. Those who participate in Harvestmas are paid by the farmers, in whose fields they work, with food, as their compensation for helping with the harvest, and as their initial supply of winter provisions to get them ready for the harsh, nearly six month long winter that immediately follows. At the end of Harvestmas, once the last of the crops has been brought in, and everyone has been released again to their homes and businesses, a massive celebration, similar to Thanksgiving, ensues where everyone gathers their family and neighbors together, and hosts a feast to celebrate the year's harvest.