Work Text:
"During the Decarabian Era, and especially during the terrible blizzards that plagued Mondstat, the people came to fear winter and the cold seasons. They believed that the late autumn and winter months invited demons into the hills and streets of Mondstat. The demons brought disease and nightmares to people’s lives, destroyed food supplies and cursed any human that looked them into their eyes.
Decarabian, the tyrant God, saw the demons too small of an inconvenience let alone a threat, and did nothing to solve his people’s plight. So people took matters into their own hands and found ways to protect themselves.
During this era, a long traditional ritual called ‘Fünf Schutzmonde’ would take place for almost half a year; it began in the last week of October and finally finished on the last day of February the next year.
October would be spent as a harvesting month to gather everything that can be salvaged before frost arrives (This ritual could technically be described as starting on the very first day of October, when the local priest would give a prediction on how soon the first frost would arrive. Depending on his prediction, the starting date of ‘Fünf Schutzmonde’ would take place a week earlier or later.)
The last five days of October would then be spent by starting the ritual. Each day involved a different tradition, such as painting or repainting protective sigils on houses and carving candle holders out of vegetables or fruits (fire and organic, sweet aromas were believed to be deterrents of winter demons)."
“Trick or treat!” A tiny, famous voice calls out cheerfully.
“Oh! Klee! And... Sir Kaeya!” Donna opens her door with delight. In front of her is the infamous little Klee in a particularly colourful costume, and behind is Sir Kaeya himself dressed for the occasion and striking a pose. “Wow Klee, what are you dressed as this year?” Donna asks as she hands the little girl a small pouch with a stitched-on flower.
“I’m a pirate witch!” Klee answers excitedly. Surely enough the answer does explain some of the choices. The witch hat combined with a toy sword and waist scarf feels a bit all over the place without the context.
“Oh I see.” Donna nods with faint understanding.
“And Kaeya is a pirate too! We’re matching, see?” Klee points up at her guardian. The young man tips his feathery hat in greeting.
“Yes I can tell.” She keeps nodding politely.
“Woahh, these look delicious Miss Donna!” The little witch pirate praises the sweets once she peaks into the bag.
“Why thank you Klee, I hope you enjoy them!”
“I will!” Klee tries to turn around and start running to the next house but is blocked by Kaeya’s foot.
“Ah, Klee? What do we say?” He glances down at her with raised eyebrows and a patient smile.
“Oh right! Thank you Miss Donna. Bye bye Miss Donna!” Klee waves with her tiny free hand.
“Of course. Happy Fastnacht you two!”
It’s early evening and the duo still has a lot of houses to visit. Klee’s excitement is bubbling and boiling over, her endless supply of energy helping her run to almost every door and greet the hosts with equal enthusiasm every time. Kaeya trails along, mostly just reminding the little girl to catch her breath and to remember her manners. She does get better after each house however, and soon doesn’t need reminding at all.
“I wish big brother Albedo came with us.” Klee confesses once they’re on their way home. She’s finally calmed down a bit after a few hours of trick-or-treating, and is unhurriedly walking hand in hand with Kaeya. Perhaps her supply of energy isn’t as endless as one would guess.
“Aw, I’m sorry Klee.” Kaeya picks her up and decides to carry her for the last five minutes of the walk, as a tiny apology upon Albedo’s behalf. “You’re brother is very hard working and is good at keeping promises to our boss. But don’t worry, we’ll have him to ourselves tonight AND all day tomorrow.”
“Yeah!” The spark in Klee’s eyes grows a little brighter. “We’ll have so much fun tomorrow.”
Kaeya smiles, having fixed the girl’s mood a bit.
"On the final fifth day of preparation, the people of Mondstat held private, almost secretive ceremonies where they would wear masks and deceptive costumes. The masks would help them avoid eye contact with the demons while the costumes would confuse them into thinking that the people were fellow demons. Once disguised, they would sing songs and hymns about spring to inspire hope.
During the rest of autumn and then throughout winter, the lanterns and sigils would remain to keep the demons out of people’s homes.
After five months, ‘Fünf Schutzmonde’ finally reached its end. On the last day of February, a great celebration to mark the end of winter took place that utilised similar traditions as the autumn half did. Candle making, costumed singing and house cleaning ‘demon cleansing’ rituals were all a part of the looked-forward-to day.
The people of old Mondstat and worshippers of Decarabian observed many fasting traditions. There was a month-long one that took place just after the end of ‘Fünf Schutzmonde’ that had followers avoid meat, eggs and alcohol for thirty days. For this reason, the spring ceremony was famous for the habit of making pancakes for breakfast and large meaty banquets in the evenings, all in the effort to get rid of as much eggs and meat before the fast would begin."
Albedo finishes reading the passage, then gently slides the opened book away. Returning to his actual work at hand, he mulls over the last paragraph while cleaning the last of his alchemic equipment.
It’s the evening before Fastnacht, a surprisingly big occasion in Mondstat. Most of the knights and staff were looking forward to the cultural holiday with great impatience, so Albedo volunteered to stay a little longer and finish up some of the banal tasks so that others could leave early. Checking that all files have been correctly documented, that the guard rota for the next week has been updated, that all offices and storage rooms with sensitive information have been locked... Small, simple things that add another hour or so.
With Albedo having little to no interest in the festivities, it was an easy thing to agree to. He gets to cheer up and be helpful to his colleagues, and he himself gets an hour of silence as he takes an observative walk through the empty corridors. However the indifference left him the day before, when he noticed how excited Klee and Kaeya were for the occasion. The night he’s currently spending by staying behind at work, the other two will spend by ‘trick-or-treating’. A children’s tradition that he’s heard of before in passing conversation. He felt an all familiar wall between himself and his family this morning, making him feel far away from them and their excitement.
That’s why when he arrived to Headquarters today, he first picked up a book at the library and has been flipping through its pages throughout the day.
"This original format and length of ‘Fünf Schutzmonde’ no longer exists in modern Mondstat. It hasn’t since the fall of Decarabian and rise of Barbatos as Mondstat’s God. According to folktales, Barbatos used his winds to cast the winter demons away from Mondstat and banished them into the Dark Sea north of the nation. Without demons to keep away, many traditions of ‘Fünf Schutzmonde’ have become redundant and lost. For example, protective sigils on people’s homes is a custom that has been left almost entirely behind in old Mondstat (Though interestingly enough, a similar custom lived on much longer in Snezhnaya. Turn to ‘Snezhnayan Historical Traditions’ on page 93 to learn more).
The practices of carving fruits and vegetables into candle holders (now most popularly pumpkins for their size and colour) and sweet baking have persisted into modern Mondstat, although under new context and meanings."
The alchemist walks with an unusually hurried pace, along with his borrowed book still in front of his eyes. He weaves his way through the city streets with a memorised route, even managing to evade running children and wandering cats. However he finally does pause when he picks up on a distinct deviation on his route home.
On one of the porches and doorways is an impressive arrangement of pumpkin lanterns, dried leaf ornamentations and seasonally orange candles. As he looks around the house, he observes the rest of the street and their decorations. Though not as dramatic as the first home that he noticed, every one of them has a cosy or at least attempted embellishment. A few candles, at least one glowing pumpkin, one building even has a scarecrow guarding the balcony.
Albedo stands frozen admiring the colours, the lively yet serene atmosphere and the sound of families talking and laughing inside their homes. He lets out an unpracticed sigh of longing.
"The autumn, late October half of ‘Fünf Schutzmonde’ has been renamed to ‘Fastnacht’ which roughly means ‘the night to be foolish’. It carries almost the very opposite meaning compared to its predecessor, where instead of fulfilling careful rituals for one’s safety, it encourages absolute carefreeness and jovial celebration. As expected, it is very in the nature of Barbatos the God of Freedom and Song.
The fifth day’s custom of costumed performances has transformed slightly as well. After many years and generations it has shifted into a public and loud parade with music and theatre performance. According to folktales, this is a direct celebration and reminder of how Barbatos taught the people of new Mondstat to dance and freely enjoy the arts.
The spring half of ‘Fünf Schutzmonde’ has completely disappeared, and has most likely been replaced by the modern ‘Windblume Festival’. (Except for the custom of making pancakes for breakfast and having large banquets in the evening, a tradition which has instead been moved to October in order to retain it.)
While the dates don’t completely fit, the matching tone of celebrating spring and flowers do suggest a connection. It is most likely, and most believed, that this replacement took place to celebrate victory against Decarabian and the rise of Barbatos."
“Albedo! You’re back!” Klee greets with a huge smile as she opens the door for her brother.
“Sorry I’m so late Klee.” He ruffles her hair. “How was trick-or-treating? Did you like your costume?”
“It was so much fun! I got to see EVERYONE and I saw other kids' costumes, and then Klee got spooked by Razor because he almost looked like a REAL werewolf! Oh and I got soooo many cakes this year! Everyone was so nice!” Klee rambles as she drags Albedo by his hand to the kitchen to show off her bounty. True enough, her backpack is sitting emptied out and on the table is covered in enough cookies, wrapped cakes, candies and palm-sized pies to last her two months.
“Wow, that’a a lot.”
“I know. We’ll have to figure out a rationing system so she doesn’t overdose on the sugar. That wouldn’t be good for anyone.” Kaeya snickers from beside the stove.
“Kaeya... Hi.” Albedo greets more through a hug than his half mumbled words.
“Welcome home Mr. Overtime. Tired?”
“A little.” While back hugging Kaeya he looks over and deduces that dinner is going to be pumpkin soup tonight. That and Kaeya’s is not wearing his usual home wear. “You’re dressed up as well?”
“Aha, Klee insisted I put on the costume from our summer trip as well. So we could both be pirates.”
“I see.” Albedo unwraps himself off of his partner. “Do you need any help with dinner?”
“Nope, I’m pretty much done. Klee will clear up her bounty and help me set up the table, won’t she?” Kaeya turns the stove off and looks back at the little girl who was busy lining up her cookies by size and colour.
“Yes! Yes she will!” She immediately gets to work.
Albedo finally changes out of his uniform and takes a quick shower before coming back to the kitchen. He joins the other two behind the small, rounded table and they all dig into the brothy soup.
Albedo is the first to break the hungry silence. “I picked up a book about old holidays and traditions today. Did you know that the apple cinnamon fragrance was originally invented as a demon repellent before people started using it as a perfume?”
“Oh? I did not. Why the sudden interest in Fastnacht?” Kaeya reads the other too quickly for his comfort.
“Uhm, I got curious this morning. I never even heard of the holiday’s origin before, so I looked into it to pass some time.”
“Ooohhh, did you learn something fun Albedo?” Klee bounces in her seat.
“Well, I know now that the tradition of costumes comes from people’s attempts at confusing demons, like a disguise. Weirdly enough though, I couldn’t find anything about trick-or-treating.”
“How old was the book you were reading?” Kaeya smirks.
“...Less than a century old I’m sure.” Albedo shifts his attention to the soup before slightly changing the subject. “Have you ever gone trick-or-treating before?”
“Oh plenty of times, back when I was really young. Diluc and I used to scan the streets for every type of treat we could find.”
“You and Mr. Diluc used to go trick-or-treating together!? What were you dressed up as?” Klee asks with shining eyes.
“Many different things. A ghost, a pirate... one year I even went as a salamander. Nine-year-old me was terrified of those things.”
Klee giggles loudly at that.
“Tonight must’ve been nostalgic for you.” Albedo looks at his partner as he props his chin on his hand.
“It was.” Kaeya smiles softly, quickly getting lost in thought.
“Klee needs to go to the bathroom!” The kid announces importantly and starts to climb down her chair.
“Alright, have fun.” Kaeya waves her off as she runs away.
“She’ll start saying the same thing to other people if you keep that up.” Albedo warns lightheartedly.
“And it’ll be the funniest thing in the world.” Kaeya snickers to himself again, then watches his partner stirring his bowl of soup with a heavy head. “Are you alright, love? You look like you have a lot on your mind.”
“I do? Sorry, it’s nothing.” Albedo visibly thinks for a moment before changing his mind. “If I may ask, what was it like for you when you first came to Mondstat? Your first holidays and festivals like these?”
Kaeya leans back against his chair and folds his arms thoughtfully. “Hmm, I’m not entirely sure. I was quite young back then so maybe it wasn’t jarring as it would be for me now. Everything was new to me those days, and when you’re a kid holidays always come with games and treats so it’s easy to fall in love with them.”
“That makes sense.” Albedo falls silent again.
“Is it annoying and strange for you right now?” Kaeya tries to get him to speak a bit more.
“No. Well, it’s a little strange, but that’s because I’m still getting used to there being so many people and so many customs to keep up with. I just... I feel so far away from everyone every time these kinds of events come around. I don’t care about Fastnacht, it means nothing to me and I can’t make myself feel excited for it. So I know I’m different from everyone else.”
Kaeya speaks after a short silence. “I get it. But, it’s ok, you know? You don’t have to care. To be honest I don’t either. I just have a lot of fond memories.”
“I wish I could though. I wish... It’s still lonely. Outside the decorated houses. I don’t even have my own history that would matter to me so much. It’s hard trying to learn how to be a human when you feel like you’re never going to belong anywhere.”
Kaeya smiles warmly, reaching to gently hold Albedo’s hand on the table.
The next morning they will all wake up late in the morning, to bards singing and bands already fiddling. They will stay in their cosy pyjamas all noon, fry some thick buttery pancakes and eat them up for brunch. They will divide Klee’s bounty up, allowing her to choose two treats a day and to give one up to someone else of her choice. The Spark Knight, with some reluctance at first, will eventually agree with the conditions.
“Long traditions like these are too big to get attached to like you would if you were born here. It’s not your history, it’s not your families’ stories, it’s not about you at all. You’re a stranger, in a strange land that cares about things that you don’t.”
Then in the afternoon they’ll go outside in warm, autumn coats and take to the festive streets. From noon till dark evening, they’ll watch musicians, storytellers and dancers move together in a unanimous, anarchic parade.
The clinging and clanging of bells, pots and spoons. Colourful, shifting shapes of dancers in long robes and scarves. Strange, uncanny yet dreamlike reactions to handmade masks of animals and vague humanoids. People will be singing and yelling, out of tune and without rhythm, creating a magnificent cacophony of noises and human voices. It will be pure, colourful, unpredictable chaos. The city of freedom as its most unhinged and authentic self.
“But they still happen, traditions and holidays, like the seasons. They don’t mean anything now, but as the years go by you’ll start making memories that will mean something to you. Maybe one day, much later, they’ll remind you of an old life. These years and days that you’re living right now. And then you’ll also get excited with those you share them with.”