Glacier Spirits Festival



The Glacial Spirits Festival is a celebration held in the Southern Water Tribe, founded to bring the north and the south together and preserve the balance between them as well as the spirits. It is considered by the more spiritual, such as Northern Water Tribe Chief, Unalaq, to be one of the "most hallowed times". The festival ends on the day of the winter solstice.

History
Six months after the end of the Anti-bending Revolution, Avatar Korra, Tenzin, their friends, and their families attended the Glacial Spirits Festival. During the festival, Korra learned from her uncle Unalaq about the spirit attacks on ships in the southern waters. It was also revealed that Tenzin and her father, Tonraq, were responsible for her isolation in the South Pole, not Avatar Aang as she had previously thought. At night, when a spirit attacked Korra, Mako, Bolin, Tenzin, and Tonraq all tried to assist her, though unsuccessfully. Only when Unalaq intervened did the spirit calm down and eventually depart. This led Korra to undertake tutelage by Unalaq, as he had previously offered to teach her.

Purpose
Originally, the festival was a solemn time for fasting and meditation, during which tribal elders would commune with the spirits. As a result, spirits would dance in the sky, creating beautiful displays of light. By 171 ASC, the festival had became a frivolous carnival; it spurs recreational games, including water guns, where stuffed animals, such as flying bison, are offered as prizes. Fried foods upon sticks and cotton candy are offered as snacks. Also, a royal feast is held in honor of the respected chiefs of both the Northern and Southern Tribes. This banquet includes the presence of numerous attendees during which animal shows may be featured. The festival, while originally for the Water Tribes, is open to all foreigners wishing to attend.

Trivia

 * Chief Unalaq theorizes that the deterioration of the festival's spirituality is one of the reasons angry spirits are roaming the southern waters around 171 ASC, stating that these traditions have a purpose.