The Painted Festival is an annual event in Yarma celebrating the end of the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season. There is no fixed day upon which the festival begins, as it is marked by the arrival of the first rainfall after the yearly drought, but this is usually at the very end of the months of Fire's Grasp or the beginning of Rain's Call.
Much preparation and work goes into the festival. In the two weeks before the rains are expected to arrive, teams of masons and painters advance through Yarma, patching the adobe plaster of buildings where needed then applying fresh coats of bright paint. At the same time food is stockpiled and prepared for the feasts to come.
The Painted Festival begins as soon as the rains arrive, no matter what time of day it might be - all inhabitants of the city, but particularly children, wait eagerly as the smell of rain approaches and the cool air advances in front of the storm, but none start the celebrations until the first raindrops can be heard on their roofs or on the streets. Once the rain strikes, however, all the anticipation in the city is released at once, and the regular, mundane tasks of day to day life in the city are placed on hold. Parades, dances in the streets, and dazzling public displays of magic begin, all taking place outdoors as the water pours down. Feasts are held in the street, usually under tents or awnings so as to protect the food, but otherwise as exposed to the rain as possible. Fireworks are often launched into the air, the sounds of their explosions merging with the thunder. Bright colors are liberally applied to anything and everything during the festival. Body paint is common, sometimes used intentionally in elaborate designs and sometimes haphazardly applied as revelers toss paint at each other - either way, it soon washes off in the rain and needs to be put on once more.
It is common for people to travel from far away to take part in the Painted Festival. Akwarai and Kharakunite dwarves frequently attend, as to other peoples living nearby in the southern Sangora Desolation or in northern Brightmarch.
After a week of celebration, the festival ends and life in the city returns to normal, but the entire rainy season is a time of much merriment in Yarma.