Thea Harrison

As seen in True Colors, the Elder Races have their own Christmas celebration called the Masque of the Gods, which culminates in the Festival of the Masque, a masked ball on the winter solstice. For this entire week, join us in celebrating the Masque with seven days of winter solstice giveaways. Every day you’ll have a chance to enter to win a gift pack that includes one copy of Lord’s Fall, a bookmark, dragon soap made by Thea Harrison, a coupon for 30% off the Elder Race novellas (including True Colors), and a holiday card from Thea. To enter, just comment on the daily posts and then enter your information via the Rafflecopter form (embedded at end of the post). You can gain extra entries by tweeting about the giveaway and signing up for Thea’s newsletter.

Once again, thank you all for your interest in Thea’s novels and happy holidays!

The Festival of the Masque

Welcome to the last day of Thea Harrison’s Seven Days of Winter Solstice giveaways. Hooray! Today is the Winter Solstice, the day when the Elder Races host the Festival of the Masque. Since this is the last day of our giveaway, let’s talk about the Elder Races holiday celebration, the Masque of the Gods.

The holiday celebration is called the Masque of the Gods because it’s said one of the seven Primal Powers attends every Festival of the Masque. The Primal Powers are the “linchpins of the universe,” (Oracle of the Moon) that give the world Form. The seven Primal Powers are:

• Taliesin, the god of dance who set everything in motion;
• Azrael, who is Death;
• Inanna, the goddess of Love;
• Nadir, the Oracle;
• Will, the god of Gift;
• Camael, goddess of the Hearth; and
• Hyperion, god of Law.

As Thea wrote in The Mysterious Tarot Deck, the Primal Powers are connected to the major arcana of the tarot. In the Elder Race novellas, True Colors, Natural Evil, Devi’s Gate, and Hunter’s Season, all the heroines are influenced by or use the tarot deck in some way.

Like Dragos, Rune, and many other figures in the Elder Races, however, the Primal Powers are ancient beings occasionally worshipped as deities by humans as well as the Elder Races. Inanna was the most important goddess in Sumer and Akkad, two ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia, and is often represented by a star (Venus). Both Azrael and Camael are known as angels from ancient Jewish tradition, Hyperion is a Titan from Greek myth, and Taliesin is a Welsh figure about whom many legends are written, including tales of how he assisted King Arthur in Camelot.

Masks are traditionally worn at the Festival of the Masque because the attendees dress up like the Primal Powers in keeping with the tradition of their attendance. The Masque begins with a process of the “gods” and ends with an unmasking at midnight. Of course, Dragos (who might be a Primal Power himself?) hosts a Festival of the Masque at Cuelebre Tower where one might find the actual Powers in attendance.

To enter the last day of the Winter Solstice giveaway, tell us which character from the Elder Races you’d like to dress as for your own Masque! Thanks for celebrating with us this week and happy holidays from Thea Harrison!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Remember, you must enter using the Rafflecopter form. Winners will be randomly selected and notified December 23rd. All contest entries close December 22nd at 11:59 MST. This contest is open internationally.