Canthan New Year

Canthan New Year is the celebration of the new year, where the people of Cantha prepare and partake in a great feast to honor the particular celestial animal who will watch over them during the coming year.

The lore indicates that if the celestial animal is satisfied with the meal, it will bestow good luck upon the populace for the coming year.

During the Canthan New Year, many activities take place around Shing Jea Monastery. Please see the Canthan New Year 2007 for details.

The Canthan New Year appears to be the starting point of the Canthan Calendar.

Schedule (2007)

 * Wednesday, February 14th: Redecoration of the towns, addition of some NPCs.
 * Friday, February 16th, Noon PST (20:00 GMT): Start of the event
 * Sunday, February 18th, 12:01 AM PST (08:01 GMT): first appearance of the Celestial Pig
 * Monday, February 19th, 12:01 AM PST (08:01 GMT): last appearance of the Celestial Pig
 * Monday, February 19th, Noon PST (20:00 GMT): Announced end of the festival.
 * Monday, February 19th, 5:00 PM PST (Tuesday, February 20th, 01:00 GMT): Actual end of the festival. A Lunar Gift Keeper was added to Shing Jea Monastery, 1 Red Gift Bag for 5 Lunar Tokens.

Schedule (2008)

 * Wednesday, February 6th: Redecoration of the towns.

Redecorated towns

 * Lion's Arch
 * Shing Jea Monastery
 * Kamadan, Jewel of Istan

Event-specific locations

 * Rollerbeetle Racing (Location)
 * Rollerbeetle Racing (Arena)

Quests
Sunqua Vale
 * Hapless Chong: Just My Luck

Shing Jea Monastery:

Plains of Jarin: or
 * Elder Nofuun: Douse Your Enthusiasm
 * Fehj: A Burning Desire

NPCs
For a listing, see: Category:Canthan New Year NPCs.

Lunar Fortune Giver
Location: Shing Jea Monastery Collecting: 3 Lunar Tokens Item: Lunar Fortune

Lunar Gift Keeper
Location: Shing Jea Monastery, Lion's Arch, Kamadan, Jewel of Istan Collecting: 5 Lunar Tokens Item: Red Gift Bag

Rollerbeetle Racing
Accessed by talking to the Rollerbeetle Trainer in Lion's Arch, Shing Jea Monastery, Kamadan, and the Great Temple of Balthazar.

Cost: Free

Prizes
 * First place receives 7 Lunar Token, 7 Gamer Points and 50 Balthazar Faction +50 Balthazar Faction for a "Flawless Victory" + 50 Balthazar Faction for every 5 wins in a row.
 * Second place receives 5 Lunar Token and 5 Gamer Points.
 * Third place receives 3 Lunar Token and 3 Gamer Points.
 * Fourth place receives 2 Lunar Token and 2 Gamer Points.
 * Remaining Players will receive one Lunar Token and 1 Gamer Point if they reach the end of the track within 30 seconds of 1st Place.

Additionally, the players with the top 100 scores at the end of the Canthan New Year 2007 event received a miniature Rollerbeetle that looks similar to Greased Lightning.

Rock, Paper, Scissors
Only available in Lion's Arch from Lucky Hochei. A simple game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Cost: 1 Lunar Token

Prizes
 * Win: 1 Lunar Fortune, 1 Sugary Blue Drink.
 * Tie: 1 Lunar Fortune.
 * Lose: knocked down.

Items

 * 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 or to play Rock, Paper, Scissors.
 * Miniature Pig: A random prize from using Lunar Fortunes, these are gold mini pets of a cute variety. Additionally players who were in Shing Jea Monastery during one of the Celestial Pig's appearances at a Celestial Feast have a chance of obtaining one if the district they were in completed all 5 dishes.
 * Lion Mask:Was automatically added to peoples' inventories that were in Shing Jea Monastery at the end of the event. It looks like a traditional eastern lion.
 * Miniature Greased Lightning: The Prize for the top 100 Rollerbeetle Racers.
 * Red Bean Cake: Sugar Rush

The Celestial Feast
2007: At the start of the festival an announcement was made and an 8-minute countdown timer started. The chefs started requesting required items. As items were provided, the chefs stopped requesting them. At the 1 minute mark, or as soon as all 5 dishes were prepared, depending on how many dishes the district managed to complete, participants received a number of Red Gift Bags and possibly a Miniature Pig. If the Celestial Pig was unsatisfied with its meal (ie, no dishes finished), it became angry and turned everybody in the district into warthogs for a very short time.

After the feast everyone in the district will receive a Lion Mask. For about 20 minutes afterwards the Celestial Pig will run around with a group of warthogs following it and fireworks will go off.

To create dishes to please the great celestial, the Imperial Chefs will be looking for these ingredients:


 * 1) Imperial Chef Yan (Appetizer)
 * 2) * Iridescent Griffon Wings
 * 3) * Tangled Seeds
 * 4) * Fiery Crests
 * 5) * Smoking Remains
 * 6) Imperial Chef Reun (Salad)
 * 7) * Alpine Seeds
 * 8) * Guardian Moss
 * 9) * Celestial Essence
 * 10) * Dragon Root
 * 11) Imperial Chef Jiong (Soup)
 * 12) * Archaic Kappa Shells
 * 13) * Mantis Pincers
 * 14) * Kraken Eyes
 * 15) * Naga Hides
 * 16) Imperial Chef Chen (Main Course)
 * 17) * Igneous Spider Legs
 * 18) * Ebon Spider Legs
 * 19) * Bonesnap Shells
 * 20) * Azure Crests
 * 21) * Unctuous Remains
 * 22) Imperial Chef Tian (Dessert)
 * 23) * Truffles
 * 24) * Ebon Spider Webs
 * 25) * Half-Eaten Blobs
 * 26) * Azure Remains
 * 27) * Icy Lodestones


 * All 5 dishes prepared: 1 Lion Mask, 16 Red Gift Bags, 1 Miniature Pig
 * Any 4 dishes prepared: 1 Lion Mask, 12 Red Gift Bags
 * Any 3 dishes prepared: 1 Lion Mask, 8 Red Gift Bags
 * Any 2 dishes prepared: 1 Lion Mask, 6 Red Gift Bags
 * Any 1 dish prepared: 1 Lion Mask, 4 Red Gift Bags
 * No dishes prepared: 1 Lion Mask, 2 Red Gift Bags, everyone briefly becomes a pig.

NOTE: You will receive 1 Lunar Token for each ingredient that you give to a chef when they ask for it. You can repeatably give the same ingredient for additional Lunar Tokens until the chef asks for the next ingredient. Once a chef moves on to the next ingredient you can no longer give the previous ingredient. Likewise you can not give an ingredient that has not yet been requested. To complete all 5 dishes, all ingredients above must be provided. However, it is not necessary that all ingredients come from one person; different ingredients can be provided by different people.

Celestial Animals
The month when a character is created determines their celestial animal.

Special events

 * Canthan New Year 2007
 * Canthan New Year 2008

Trivia

 * Canthan New Year is heavily inspired by the Chinese New Year. Not only do the dates match, the celestial creatures are also the same as the animals from the Chinese Zodiac.