Festivals
Winter Solstice
The winter solstice falls on the first day of the year (1st of Bara), this is the shortest day. As has already been stated there is little else to celebrate, so this has become the 'new year' festival, and is something of a secular calendar event with little religious significance (except for the Druids, who seem to like dancing naked in the snow).
Summer Solstice
This falls on 'Midsummer's Day', the 1st of Semot. This is the biggest festival day of the year, in which all the major religions take part, and it has long been recognised as the day of 'fertility rite'. The world is at the height of its growth; the crops are in the fields, young animals abound, even female elves go into season around this time of year. It is no coincidence that many human children are born at the end of Juem or the beginning of Siphus.
The druids make a big deal of this festival, spending several days in the woodland, where their festivities involve naked dancing and tree decoration. Pendaroch hold a fertility rite, they tie a virgin to a pole and lots of young men dance round her waving handkerchiefs and ringing small bells (in ages past this used to end with a sacrifice of the virgin, but that was scrapped years ago). Suldurn have a big 'sacrifice day' where they slay several large beasts (usually cattle or deer) in a sacrificial manner, then cook them on a spit and eat them, a bit like a big outdoor barbeque. Danethrae's approach is (unusually) pragmatic - they hold a day of fasting and denial the day before, then join in everyone else's celebrations on the festival day (they used to do this on Midsummer's day, but this was changed when Suldurn's barbecues became popular). Anbartae hold a day of 'weapon prowess' where those with weapons can join in a tournament and compete for a small prize - the event usually centres on two activities, a form of jousting and a bludgeoning weapon free-for-all, in which hardly anyone dies, but broken bones are quite common (it is not unknown for the odd score to be settled between rivals too).
Spring and Autumn Equinox
These fall on the first day of Siphus and the first day of Escuada respectively. On these days, the sun rises true east and sets at true west. The different religions celebrate these days in manners of their own.
Harvest Festival
In a society so closely linked with the natural order, the time when the harvest comes in is an important part of the year. While ostensibly a secular festival, many religions take this as an opportunity to give thanks (and sometimes sacrifice) for the yield of the land. The festival is extremely well celebrated in Ticetia and Caldonacia, who suffered for centuries with poor harvests, and many region variations of celebration are used. The festival normally takes place over two weeks - the last week of Escuada and the first week of Vinuada, but the main celebrations usually consume the entire weekend in between.