Food
Most people in the city eat simply, with a focus on soups and stews, black bread and porridge. They drink thin wine and mead, saving medvuka (a fermented honey drink with spices) for special occasions and the depths of winter. Kvass, a sort of liquid bread, is also drunk and often forms a sizable chunk of the poor's diet. The drink is so ubiquitous however that it is drunk for breakfast by pretty much everybody, and is supplemented by fruit or meat.
The local farms produce cabbages and root vegetables. There are species of stunted grains that managed to ripen despite the harshest wind, ensuring the city has rye and barley. The fine white breads and heavy fruit loaves favoured by the well off rely on imported grain and dried fruits from the west whilst noodles have been appropriated from eastern merchants and turned into a local delicacy. Local orchards grow apples and pears, which are seldom fermented as they are highly valued as fruit. The most common way for them to be consumed is with bread and honey.
In terms of meat, sheep and goat are favoured during the summer and beef during the winter after the herds have been culled. In times of great distress, horse is eaten, but they are generally considered too important to waste on mere food even when famine threatens. Much of the meat finds its way into pelmeni, meat-filled dumplings which are considered quite a delicacy, and on the city's high days haunches are cooked in porridge.
In contrast, when famine strikes many of the city's burghers are forced to subsist on a diet of birch bark pounded into pulp, mixed with husks and straw. An unsavoury meal at the best of time, it seems to slip the minds of all people that this meal is not uncommon in the shanty towns at the best of times as well as the worst, and only the Temple of Merida makes an effort to alleviate the situation by providing thick broths and hard bread for the people there.
Fashion
Clothing in the city is made from wool and linen and tends to be dyed red, green or, of course, blue. Black and purple cloth is very rare indeed and stands a mark of great wealth as does the presence of a great deal of leather, unless it's armour, or even a small amount of silk. Women wear long gowns that tie in various places with complicated knots and buckles, and head scarves. Men wear hose and long coats that end at the knee. Again, they are tied or buckled, owing to a lack of buttons. They wear round hats, which are often lined with fur. Both sexes layer their clothing, wearing plain linen undergarments under their richer outer clothing. One effect of this is that the outer clothing stays relatively clean as it collects the dirt from the street and the linen garments absorb the odours of the wearer.
In winter, cloaks become an obligatory form of clothing to keep out the cold. Made of the heaviest wool they are often lined to make them more waterproof and brightly dyed and patterned. Fur too, is common in this season and the pelts of bear, wolf, lion, beaver, and tiger are seen in Sharoban's streets as part of one piece of clothing or another. The rarest of these furs is the white wolf and as a consequence it is mostly commonly seen around the Keep and the Old City. The white wolf's fur is a sign of nobility and generally the entire skin will be used for a cloak, rather than simply lining a woollen one.
On holidays, everyone wears blue, especially on the annual celebration of the city's founding. Beyond that there is no particularly rhyme or reason to colour choices, though rich people often sport clothes with gold thread embellishments.
In terms of footwear, both men and women wear boots in the main, reserving less sturdy footwear for dances and parties. It is customary to change shoes upon arriving home, so as not to track the street inside. Most people wear either sandals or soft linen shoes about the house and it is considered rude not to wash your feet upon arriving home. Most households keep a jug and ewer of water by the front door. Apart from during the winter children often go barefoot or wear soft moccasins as it is not being seen as worth the money to purchase shoes that will have to be discarded within a season. In winter they wear hand me down boots, stuffed rags and straw. During the rainy season when the ground is often turned to mud, women wear pattens to keep their shoes free of mud and other things.
Turning to armour, the leather that does not end up in boots or horse's tack is boiled and turned into tough leather jerkins. Metal armour is still quite rare for common soldiers and chain armour coats are reserved for the important soldiers. Whilst there are stories of heavier armour, there is little appetite for such innovations in the city's military: Sharoban's fighting force is designed to fast and light; they depend on the ability to travel fast and anything that will slow them down is viewed with suspicion.
Traditions
Outside of the holy days there are many opportunities for the people of Sharoban to meet, socialise and fall in love. Whilst the winter drives people off the streets, spring and summer are the traditional time to meet and if you are lucky, fall in love. Taverns are permitted to stay open a few hours after sundown, creating a drinking culture that relies on drinking strong liqueur very fast. It's very popular with the young, but the Guard is less enthusiastic, just because of the amount of work it can make.
Dances are popular, whether they recall the traditions from before the city was founded, like the Blessing of the Orchards, where the young women dance amongst the trees until the point where the young men chase them, or are part of the burghers' established social calendars. The guilds hold dances for the journeymen and it is here that the strongest influence to arrange matches comes into play, as the guild masters try to find suitable matches for their proteges and to protect guild secrets. Consequently matches within guilds are the most common, with a few between allied guilds taking place every year.
The nobility hold dances too, but these are much more formal and carry different stakes. It is true that for the young the first dances of the season will often be the ones where their partners are selected by their families, and frequently where they find the people they will have quiet affairs with once they are married. But many of these parties have a political dimension that goes beyond affairs of the heart. Treaties and trade deals are discussed, diplomacy is practiced and the steps of the Great Game, which Sharoban tries so hard to stay out of are danced as deftly as the steps of the rondel.
Within military circles, the focus of socialising is usually the Dinner, taking the opportunity to gather about the table and share food and stories with comrades. Amongst the Wind Strikers there are two grand dinners, one at the start of the war season and the other at the end. Both are solemn affairs, where death is acknowledged tales of heroism exchanged and, to lighten the mood, games are played.
Next week we'll look at romance, marriage, childbirth and child rearing.
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