Lexicon:Modern/Dar

Dar
Stage	Modern CLT
Pronunciation	/ˈdaɾ/
Part of speech	Noun
Etymology	from Middle Darknē, from Proto darkni (darkness). Heavily compressed through centuries of solemn use
Related words	Gaedhr, Endwr, Reimach, Yeirath

Dar — a festival day, the Darkest Day. Falls between Gaedhr and Endwr. Belongs to no month.

Notes

The only festival that marks no transition: it falls between two City months rather than between two aspects. Where the other four celebrate a turning, Dar marks the middle of the civic obligation — the hardest stretch of winter, when stores are low and the light has not yet turned. Reimach is when the dark breaks; Dar is when the dark is worst, forty-five days earlier. Alone among the festivals it has no astronomical anchor and nothing to observe for, so each city simply declares it. A purely civic act, and arguably the truest expression of the City Oathbond in the calendar.