The Great Ishgardian Frostfaire Returns for Sixth Starlight

"As long as we're frozen we celebrate right," say the advertisements. "Happy Starlight to all and to all a good night." 

It's only been the slogan of the Great Ishgardian Frostfaire for a few years now, but it encompasses the core ethos of the celebration. The Frostfaire is a nearly-annual (this is the sixth in eight years, with inclement weather cancelling the festivities twice) tentpole festival existing alongside Mogstock and A Feast Reborn - both in their fifth years. And like those festivals are so intrinsically linked with the free creativity and passions of summer and A Feast Reborn is a natural outgrowth of the autumnal harvest festival, the Frostfaire wouldn't be what it is without being a defining aspect of winter.

We take a look at the broader nature of 'halfway out of the dark' festivals in this moon's Faerie's Lantern, but it's worth taking a more granular look at the Starlight Celebration. It is, through and through, and Ishgardian holiday. In the early days of the Dragonsong War, Ishgard wasn't faring particularly well. The city's streets were flooded with thousands of orphans as mothers and fathers died fighting against the dragons of Dravania. Knights at the time, in an act of kindness that seems almost uncharacteristic today, took these orphans into their barracks for shelter and warmth in the brutal Coerthan winter. That was, however, a violation of their charter and so Ishgard asserted itself and the children were back on the streets. All was right with the world.

Still, that kindness was not forgotten by the orphans. When they came of age, they would don brilliant scarlet cloaks and travel into the city, giving gifts and spreading joy to pay forward the kindnesses they received as children. These Scarlet Knights were led by a figure with a bushy white beard who, despite Ishgard's love of the Fury, chose to represent Nymeia. Mythologized as the Saint of Nymeia, the legend passed down over the ages became that this leader and the Scarlet Knights carry the wishes of children to the Twelve, and deliver their answers. 

"It's a celebration of a moment of kindness from a largely indifferent society," explained Lady Iris Blanchimont, "It's a testament to what we in Ishgard can be at our best. The Dragonsong War was a travesty, but even in its darkest days we were able to be kind. It's so important that we embrace that history in this new era of unfamiliar peace."

That name might be familiar to readers, as both the leader of the research initiative at Anamnesis Eorzea and a scientific lead for the Cosmic Exploration Initiative. The Frostfaire has been her passion project for near on a decade. Blanchimont works with her partner and fellow familiar name to BCC readers, Andromeda Laruzedah (my mother), in the annual planning and development of the Frostfaire. The duo collaborate with musicians, vendors, social groups, and more each year to make the festival a success and raise gil for the Scarlet Knights. This year, the organization of the bards is being handled by Penelope Lane of the Re-Imagineers as the theatre company's sponsorship of the event. 

Headline events on the three-day event begin on day one with a caroling parade running from Limsa Lominsa to the gates of Ishgard, bringing the cheer from across Eorzea back home to Ishgard. The second day features the oldest part of the festival: the markets. The Frostfaire offers the entire Star a place to come and shop for gifts and enjoy cheer. Lastly, the event concludes with a gala. Prizes are given out as celebrants gather to rub shoulders in fancy dress. The Frostfaire is also in negotiations with spectacle-rich performance troupe The Grind to be the focus of its annual second-day One Starlit Eve concert, while a White Oliphant Dinner is planned on the first night. 

The plans for last year's unfortunately cancelled event also included a game show-style guess-the-price game, it's presently unknown if that will happen this year. 

"Last year, we were snowed out," Laruzedah explained. "Bandee Pakshee wanted to host the event as we usually do, but weren't able thanks to a blizzard. Unfortunately, conditions this year don't seem to be shaping up much better, so we're investing in a small 'Frostfaire Village' in a different neighborhood of Empyrean to better confront the weather."

Laruzedah admitted some concern that the change in address to a less urban district might impact the weekend's reach, but noted that it was better to allow people to celebrate at all than to attempt to challenge the blizzards of the Balmung neighborhood, where the first five Frostfaires were held.

"We've grown so much over the years," said Blanchimont. "Our first year, we were simply a market and a concert. From there we brought Bandee Pakshee's expertise to bear adding a gala. Today? We've got music, we've got gifts, we've got charity work, we've got so much we couldn't contain ourselves to just one day. We tried to condense our schedule only to hear that people didn't want to have to choose what event to attend so we had to fill an entire weekend. It's an impressive task. More impressive when you consider how small the planning committee truly is."

Though there are no shortage of hands in the trimming of this particular Starlight Sentinel, the principle planning of the event is handled by four people: the couple of Blanchimont and Laruzedah and the sisters of Zana and M'Sheerah Ahkabila - the leaders and seconds-in-command of Anamnesis Eorzea and Bandee Pakshee. That said, Blanchimont was quick to point to people like Lane, Doc Laladay, Francel de Haillenarte, Thiji Higuri, and Braely Fiala who have been instrumental over the years and perennial supporters like Shroudrose Teahouse's Faye Covington. 

While the Frostfaire is still looking for sponsors, venues, and games for the festival, already strong supporters are ready to participate again, including Shroudrose. Shroudrose stands as the only non-founder venue to participate in every single Frostfaire to date. Other venues include Spearsong Distillery, which first founded to participate in a past Frostfaire. Additional "Starlight Saints", the organization that plan the event, include charity Jack Frost's Closet and the social group The Firmament. 

The Frostfaire will be held from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Sun of the Sixth Umbral Moon (12/19-12/21) in the Cuchulainn neighborhood of Empyrean, between the Empyrean East and Southeast aetheryte shards in Ward 10. The latest information can be found here.