En Passant

Celebration of the coming of age for girls, the ceremony which marks their passage from a child to a woman. Typically given within two weeks of the girl's 16th birthday, it is only after completion of this ceremony that the woman is considered eligible for marriage. The En Passant is celebrated with a large party, including all of the village inhabitants (or quarter, in cities), with the girl clad in her brightest and best woolen clothes. All attendees of the revelry traditionally present the new woman with a gift which will help her in her future years, either domestically or financially. It is said that this tradition actually began in Farin, and indeed is practiced there and in many of the larger cities of other Duchies.