yilSayohi

YilSayohi is a fictional term used in worldbuilding and speculative fiction to refer to the annual cycle and the festival of renewal in an imagined culture. In the source material, the concept encompasses both the seasonal rhythm and the ceremonial practices that accompany the turning of the year.

Etymology: The name comes from a constructed language spoken by the fictional people. Etymologists within the fiction gloss yil as "year" and Sayohi as "song" or "voice"; however, there is no single canonical spelling or pronunciation across texts, and variants exist in dialects and fan translations.

Cultural context: YilSayohi festivals mark transitions between seasons, typically occurring at the onset of spring or harvest time. Rituals include communal songs, a circular drum circle, and the sharing of seed tokens representing renewal. The event reinforces communal memory and intergenerational knowledge transfer.

In literature and media: The term appears in several novels and worldbuilding compendiums, often used as a symbol of renewal or cyclical time. Variants include "Yil Sayohi" with different diacritical marks. Because it originates in fictional works, there is no real-world ethnographic authority for the practice.

Related topics include conlangs, worldbuilding, and seasonal festival traditions.