The day after the dreaded Witching Night (1st of Nachexen) is known as "Year Blessing." People emerge from the safety of their homes to celebrate both the fact that they survived and to ask the goddess Verena to bless the coming year with acts of justice and bursts of wisdom and knowledge. This is a solemn time, with the reading of passages and offerings of incense, wine, and parchments inscribed with holy sayings burnt up in fires. Old grievances between neighbours are brought up before Priests of Verena, in hopes of settling them to clear the following year. However, because grudges run deep in the Empire, many of these feuds are left to stew for years, with no foreseeable resolution.[1a]