Ratmas Day 7: Ratmas Markets and Feast events

This Ratmas, a limited number of visitors from all across Panem are invited to visit the winter markets and festival, hosted by District Eight and sponsored by the Capitol.


Packed into the town square and sprawling into every adjacent side street, rows and rows and rows of wooden stalls display the wares of artisans from all over Panem. Nestled amongst them are stands offering all manners of food and beverages: giant pans filled with roasted vegetables, steaming vats of mulled wine and hot cocoa and spiced cider, large sausages stacked together in neat pyramids, poultry and fowl skewered together on a rotisserie, potatoes smashed flat and fried and served with cream, dough balls oozing with jelly, steamed rice flour cakes shaped like chickens and cows and sheep, strips of sugar-coated dough wrapped around wooden rollers and cooked over hot coals, and anything else you could possibly think to want. Buskers and carolers have set up on any street corner they can find.

The whole world is wreathed with evergreen boughs and festive garlands, decked with baubles and ribbons, illuminated with string lights and candles. A fresh blanket of snow covers rooftops and untrodden paths, hanging icicles turning awnings and overhangs into toothy smiles.

In the evening, a bonfire is lit in the center of the square, an offering light and warmth to keep the winter at bay.


All sorts of activities have been organized throughout the District for the duration of the festival:

* Market stalls
* Nightly bonfire
* Small fairgrounds, featuring a petting zoo furnished by District 10
* Several carnival rides: a carousel, a slide tower, a giant swing
* Carnival games
* Frozen pond designated for ice skating
* Sledding hill
* Beerhall tent, featuring long tables and benches to enjoy your food and beverages out of the snow
* But there definitely isn't a black market

Featured event: The Ratmas Eve Feast

The featured main event, however, comes in the form of a grand feast held on Ratmas Eve. This event is compulsory for the 80th Hunger Games tributes. Though the Ratmas Eve Feast is limited to just tributes, the pre-dinner cocktail hour will be attended by Capitol elites, gamemakers, victors, and the tributes themselves. Tributes may optionally bring one guest to the cocktail hour. Attendees will be seen to by stylists to ensure they're presentable for television — after all, it would be a shame if event like this weren't broadcast nationally. And whoever designed the seating chart certainly had good television in mind: tributes seem to be arranged largely based on what will generate the most compelling airtime, especially seating tributes near their killers and rivals.

Which lucky citizens may visit the festival?

* Capitol citizens
* Tributes who competed in the 80th Hunger Games, along with one (optional) guest for each
* District citizens selected to sell their wares in the market
* District citizens volunteering for setup and operations labor
* District citizens who enter and win the lottery for tickets
* District citizens who pay the right bribes to the right people

(Note that you may send any characters you like to the Ratmas Markets for any of the above reasons - these are listed for IC purposes.)


What sort of accommodations can be expected?

Abandoned textile factories and warehouses have been converted into temporary housing. Wealthier citizens may find themselves with hastily erected walls, but most of the "rooms" have been created by hanging bolts of fabric from the ceiling pipes.

See also:

Market Booths
Black Market