The festival the villagers are celebrating is called Bel Tine, also known as Winternight. This is a celebration of the end of winter and beginning of spring.
The TV series premieres 31 years after the publication of the first book, The Eye of the World, in the year 1990.
Rosamund Pike, who plays Moiraine, delivers a narration at the end of the episode that normally comes at the end of the Prologue chapter of the books. This always follows the same pattern: "The Wheel of Time turns, and ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the age that gave it birth comes again. In one age, called the Third Age by some, a wind rose in [[a place]]. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning." The place the wind rises in changes from book to book to follow the plot.
The male channeler at the beginning makes no attempt to defend himself with the One Power. There is no sign that he is shielded. Liandrin approaches him without fear even though he is an unshielded male channeler. A woman can see if another woman begins to channel, but they can not see the weaves made by a male channeler, thus making them very dangerous for a female to approach.
The area the main characters live in is called Two Rivers. The specific town which these characters call home is called Emond's Field, which is not named directly in the TV show.