Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: As so many devotees of Shar keep their faith secret (and this secrecy is encouraged by senior clergy), the Sharran faith has no set holy days aside from the Feast of the Moon. To Dark Followers (the faithful of Shar) this holiday is known as the Ris- ing of the Dark. They gather on it under cover of the more widespread venerations of the dead to witness a blood sacrifice and learn of any plot or aims the clergy want them to work toward during the winter ahead. The most important Sharran ritual of worship is Nightfall, the coming of darkness. Clergy hold this ritual every night. It consists of a brief invo- cation, a dance, a charge or series of inspiring instructions from the god- dess spoken by one of the clergy or by a raven-haired female lay wor- shiper, and a revel celebrated by eating, drinking, and dancing together. Lay worshipers must attend at least one Nightfall (or dance to the goddess themselves) and must perform-and report to their fellowsóat least one small act of wickedness in salute to the Lady every tenday. On moonless nights, Nightfall is known as the Coming of the Lady, and every congre- gation must carry out some significant act of vengeance or wickedness in the Dark Ladyís name.
The most important ceremony of the priesthood of Shar is the Kiss of the Lady, a horrific night-long revel of slaying and doing dark deeds in the name of the lady that ends with a feast at dawn. Kissmoots are scheduled irregularly, whenever the priests of Old Night decree. Increasingly the rival clergy of the Embrace have been proclaiming that this ritual be cel- ebrated at different times than those decreed by the temple of Old Night
