May eighteenth was the God of Wealth Festival.
The festival owed its origins not to legend or myth, but simply to a pun.
"Five-one-eight" sounded like "I want to get rich." It had an auspicious ring to it.
Lord Wenchao had supposedly proposed the festival. That extraordinary man, with his playful sense of humor, had dreamed up all sorts of odd holidays: Singles' Day on November eleventh, Lovers' Day on May twentieth, Gossip Day on August eighteenth... Most existed only in his stories, but as the years passed, a few gradually gained public acceptance.
The most famous was not the God of Wealth Festival on May eighteenth, but Lovers' Day on May twentieth.
This world had neither Valentine's Day on February fourteenth nor the Qixi Festival on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. May twentieth was the only holiday for men and women to declare their love.
Every May twentieth, many places organized group outings. Young men and women exchanged gifts and pledged themselves to each other, while married couples often took their children out for a walk or a picnic.
It was early summer, and the weather was pleasant. Even in the Northlands or You Province, it had grown warm enough to go outside.
People in Northern Youzhou celebrated the holiday too.
By comparison, the God of Wealth Festival attracted little attention.
Everyone wanted to get rich, of course, and the God of Wealth's temples were always thick with incense smoke. But the people of Great Xia were reserved by nature.
Offering a stick of incense at the God of Wealth's temple and saying a prayer was how most people in Great Xia celebrated. Compared with the crowds of young couples who would go out together two days later, today's festivities were pitifully modest.
Outside Great Xia,