Starlight Celebration
- See also: Starlight Celebration Events Quests
“The Starlight Celebration is a time of generosity and fellowship, reminding us that even a customary courtesy can warm the heart. It also reminds us of darker days in Eorzean history, which serve to make such deeds shine all the brighter.
Several generations ago, a sanguinary struggle claimed countless lives and left full as many orphans homeless and hungry. Taking pity upon their plight, a company of Ishgardian knights sought out these children each night, furnishing them with food and shelter within their barracks. As doing so was prohibited, however, the knights had the children slip in while swathed in their scarlet jackets.
These orphans went on to convey the same kindness to others that they had once received. On the coldest week of the year, they took to sporting scarlet and passing out presents to the children of the realm. And over time, their deeds developed into the festival known as the Starlight Celebration, wherein children offer prayers to Nymeia and adults clad in scarlet play at being the Saint of Nymeia and his helpers.
The event has also absorbed local traditions of different regions; for example, in Gyr Abania, the people craft snowmen at the first snow, praying that they will be visited by further quenching snowfall and remain safe throughout the winter. This charming tradition, as well as other events and foodstuffs from abroad, have steadily become Starlight mainstays.
— Encyclopaedia Eorzea Volume III, p. 63