Canthan New Year's Festival

Journey to Shing Jea
The Celestial Pig descends
New Year brings our luck

Each year, Canthans flock to Shing Jea Monastery to prepare and partake in a great feast to honor the particular celestial animal who will watch over them during the coming year. This year's animal, the Celestial Pig, will descend from the heavens to enjoy Cantha's culinary delights. If satisfied with the meal, the Celestial Pig will bestow good luck upon the populace for the coming year.

The Canthan New Year's Festival event begins at Noon PST (20:00 GMT) on Friday, February 16, 2007 and will run all weekend, ending at Noon PST (20:00 GMT) on Monday, February 19, 2007. On Sunday, February 18, the Celestial Pig will drop from the sky into Shing Jea Monastery every three hours to sample Canthan delicacies. The feast culminates in dancing, fireworks, and the showering of the populace with gifts...but only if the celestial enjoys its meal.

While the bulk of the Canthan New Year's Festival, including the celestial feast, takes place in Shing Jea, Canthans living abroad have taken their customs with them as well. So expect Lion's Arch and Kamadan to host smaller celebrations, complete with traditional New Year's decorations.

But, if you want to dance the night away in your festival mask and have the chance to receive a special prize should every course of the celestial's meal be completed to perfection, you must journey to Shing Jea Monastery for the grand finale.

In addition to the great feast, look for a variety of festival-themed quests available from some colorful new NPCs, and don't forget to have your fortune read by the Fortune Teller wandering Shing Jea during the festival. If you're feeling up to a trip to the race track, you won't want to miss out on the inaugural running of the rollerbeetle races. This new PvP mini-game is sure to get your heart, and your rollerbeetle, racing.

So, mark your calendars and be sure to come help ring in the New Year, Canthan-style. You won't want to miss this brand new Guild Wars event!

The feast determines
Our luck for all the seasons
The chefs must not fail!

Festival Events

New Year's is at hand
A time for feasts, friends, and fun
Fortunes will come true

A great feast, amazing fireworks displays, new hats, dancing, fortunes, flying pigs, and a trip to the races...all this and more awaits you during the Canthan New Year's festival. Here's what you can expect:

• Every festival brings with it a variety of problems that can only be solved by enterprising young adventurers willing to undertake a quest or two to ensure the festival runs smoothly. Supplies of everything from red dye (for nian-scaring party attire) to fireworks (also used to frighten off the nian) will inevitably run low. And, speaking of the nian, you never know when, or where, these New Year's festival hating creatures might attack.
   
• For those who can't wait for the appearance of the Celestial Pig to find out how their fortunes will fare in the coming year, a fortune teller will be on hand to peer into your future and provide you with a very real, and legally binding, fortune. Whether your destiny bodes good or ill, you can be certain it will follow you as you venture into the world beyond Shing Jea. You may even find NPCs who need help dealing with their own fortunes.
   
• For you racing fans, make your way to the Rollerbeetle Racing Arena and sign up for the next available race. You will be outfitted in your very own rollerbeetle racer, complete with its own set of racing skills. Races will run...er roll...all weekend long as players compete for prizes, bragging rights, and the chance at one of 100 special prizes for the top times posted throughout the event. (Limit of one prize per account.)
   
• The Celestial Feast will give players the chance to participate in a cooking competition as they help chefs from across Cantha prepare various dishes for the five-course feast to be presented to the Celestial Pig. Will the chefs acquire all the necessary ingredients for their culinary masterpieces? If not, their dishes will surely fail to please the Celestial Pig. Chefs will reward player generosity with Lunar Tokens, while the Celestial Pig will reward everyone for each properly prepared dish.
   

Races will be run
Pigs will most certainly fly
Will you win or lose?

Festival Rewards

Rockets soar up high
Sparklers glint and poppers flash
Noises scare nian

Many quests and events reward players with special items only available during the festival. Here are some items you might be lucky enough to come across during the Canthan New Year's festival:

	Sugary Blue Drink: Just the thing when you need a quick boost of energy in town.
	Champagne Poppers: The classic party favor used to ring in the New Year in style.
	Bottle Rockets: A single-shot firework. Please point away from body.
	Sparklers: Shoots sparks around your body. Be careful not to stand near flammable objects.
	Red Gift Bag: Surprises come wrapped in red during the New Year's festival. Open for a festival gift or, possibly, a small fortune.
	Lunar Fortune: Will you have good luck or bad luck this year? Only your lunar fortune can tell you.
	Lunar Token: Collect these tokens throughout the festival and trade them in for prizes.

What will you collect?
Sugar for speed? Bags for greed?
Your fortune foretold.