In Suomen, it is the tenth day of Pimeyskuu, the dark month, and they are celebrating Long Night and the Festival of the North Wind. 🙂
~Ethelinda
Tag Archives: twos fun facts
TWoS Fun Fact #7
Birds are very important to the Suomilen people, who see them as being blessed by the Winds. They are not tamed or kept as pets, since to cage one is a grave sin. However, it is quite common in Suomen to plant trees or build perches and houses for birds, and to leave out food and water for them.
The Suomilen people rank different kinds of birds into a hierarchy of sorts, with ground birds that can only fly a little bit (such as pheasant or grouse) as Lesser Birds. If it is considered acceptable to hunt and eat any birds, it is the Lesser Birds, and some in Suomen would still consider that a sin. On the other end of the hierarchy are the Great Birds. These are any species that show a true “mastery” of flight (master of the Winds and air), usually meaning great maneuverability and/or the ability to soar through the sky for extended periods of time. The Great Birds include all of the raptor species, as well as gulls and swallows.
~Ethelinda
TWoS Fun Fact #6
The second draft of The Wizard of Suomen was officially finished at 11:16pm on June 4, 2015. It was 157,000 words, totaling 342 pages in a Microsoft Word document.
~Ethelinda
TWoS Fun Fact #5
Suomen has been settled for 361 years when the war with Galviren begins. Galviren has been settled for 577 years.
(Read: timelines are helpful and fun!)
~Ethelinda
TWoS Fun Fact #4
The number four is very important to the Suomilen people because of their beliefs in the Four Winds. They often structure things around multiples of 4 (their week is 8 days, and there are 4 weeks in each month, traditionally there are 4 Brigades in the Royal Army, etc.).
~Ethelinda
TWoS Fun Fact #3
The Suomilen people celebrate the beginning of the new year on the Spring Equinox, as a combined New Year/Festival of Winds celebration. Traditionally, it lasts for four days.
~Ethelinda
TWoS Fun Fact #2
The planet that Suomen is a part of has a slightly shorter orbit around its sun than Earth around our Sun, making their year about 355 days long. The Suomilen people divide this up into eleven months of 32 days each, with a “leap year” every fourth year adding a day to the first month.
(Yes, I spent time figuring this out. Because I could. More fiction soon.)
~Ethelinda
TWoS Fun Fact #1
The first draft of The Wizard of Suomen was officially finished at 1:48am on January 23, 2015. It was 148,259 words, totaling 324 pages in a Microsoft Word document.
(Thought I’d post some writing stats/world-building tidbits here and there, in case anyone is interested.)
~Ethelinda
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