Kevin's Watch

!!!!WARNING SPOILERS BELOW!!!!



"It is the dark of the moon, on the middle night of spring, and finally the army of Lord Foul arrives at Revelstone."

Ryzel noted this in his opening post for TPTP, Chapter 1, in Dissecting the Land. And when I questioned him about it being a familiar date he agreed, saying that this occasion marks The Celebration of Spring (LFB), as well. While reading TPTP, Chapter 8: Winter, I noticed this was also the yearly occasion when a Raynhyn visits Lena (and for a while Elena, as a youth) at TC's bequest...

What evidence can you find that reinforces the significance and "power" of this date? Can you find other important events in the series that occur at this time? And finally are there any events or anti-events that happen on "the middle night of spring" in the second series--i.e. (and I might be wrong) Elohimfest? Anything else?>

In LFB, it was the Middle Night of Spring in which Atarian and Covenant, in Andelain, witness the Dancing of the Wraiths in the Celebration of Spring. The Wraiths were attacked by ur-viles and Covenant triggered the wild magic with the staff of Baradakus. They were saved by an Unfettered One and small woodland animals of Andelain.

That's one that I know of for sure. I think the Second Chronicles take place in late autumn and winter in the Out Land...in the Land of course they were under the Sunbane. I'll have to look to make sure.

Also, not sure about this either...but wasn't it the middle night of spring when Berek, his hand maimed, came to MT Thunder and calls to the Earthpower for the first time and releases the Fire Lions?

Furl that's VERY interesting about Berek! And ur probably right about TWL, but now, of course, I'm going to have to scour the whole dang book 2 see if any reference what so-ever is mentioned. I guess what I meant by "anti-events" is in finding some hidden "preverted reference" by either Nassic or the Clave to that date in TWL...For some reason I got it in my head that possibly Elohimfest may have occured then as well--and then there's research do be done in WGW as well..ah so many books, so much (possible) SRD sneakiness...

I'll look too...especially at the Clave references. Seems to me tho that when they came to Coercri at the end of the Wounded Land, Linden made a comment that she could "see" the autumn. If that is the case, then Elohimfest would have been in the autumn as well. I'll look tho

In a related question -- do any of our astronomer friends know when the next Celebration of Spring will occur in our world?

By middle night of spring, do we mean the date between the spring and summer solstice?

If so, the date is around May 6 or 7.

According to Syl's organization :aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.html

If we use May 7 as the middle night of spring; we are looking at 2024 as the next time the dark of the moon falls on the middle night of spring. (new moon - 1 day)

If May 6 is the calculator, then 2035 is the next night.

(Of course this is northern hemisphere)

In the southern hemisphere, it's either November 6 or 7. Using the same calculation of new moon - 1 day, then November 6, 2018 is the next southern celebration of spring. November 7 is beyond the 2035 limit of the Navy's calculator.

Well, Damelon, we will have to decide on the date and all mark our calenders for a huge party. Perhaps the earlier one? 2024 is still a long time to wait, but on the other hand, we will have a long time to plan.

Excellent angle, danlo!
I'll do a little searching soon and add what I can. You may be on to something!

If the Celebration of Spring marks the day when Berek called the Fire Lions, this would explain a lot of things, no? However...why would LF choose THAT day to attack Revelstone?

duchess of malfi wrote:In a related question -- do any of our astronomer friends know when the next Celebration of Spring will occur in our world?

I think the Celebration of Spring is every year. (Hile Troy says something about that in TIW, where he remarks that he wants to go to Andelain after the war (foreshadowing, probably not) to see the celebration. I do not think that the dark of the moon figures into it at all.

Sorry, but I can't find a reference to any date or season in the Berek story. At least not in LFB.

Same with the Ritual of Desecration.

Any reference to the middle day of spring is what we're looking for here in this "Challenge"...

the middle night of spring is the same every year...but the dark of moon on the middle night of spring doesn't happen every year. The Wraiths only danced on the dark of the moon.

And your right Fist, I can't find that reference in LFB about Berek either, but I know I read it somewhere. Maybe it was one of SRD's interviews where I read it... But I seem to recall that it was the middle night of spring when he called the Fire Lions... I'll do some searching...

The only other reference via Google is some bloke's vampire novel :

www.nakedhoof.com/vampires/chapter1.rtf

Oh and be careful about dating the "middle of spring".

Some cultures label season's change as about mid-month (the USA is one), while others label season's change as at the start of a month (eg Australia).

Down here in Aust, our seasons are :
Summer - 1 Dec to 28/29 Feb.
Autumn - 1 Mar to 31 May.
Winter - 1 Jun to 31 Aug.
Spring - 1 Sep to 30 Nov.

Middle of spring for us is 15/16 Oct.
Middle of spring for northern hemisphere by the Aust model is 15/16 Apr.
Middle of spring for USA is, umm, 6/7 May?
Middle of spring for southern hemisphere by the USA model would hence be 6/7 Nov?