Calendar of Events

[theharvestmods]

SPRING
- 15 - Animal Festival

Farmers and animal enthusiasts from a handful of the nearest towns and villages travel to meet in Bower Village's town square for a festival that includes competitive animal shows, pet trick contests, breeding and trade agreements, product sampling, and even a horse race.

- 20-21 - The Voting for the Harvest Goddess/God

For two days starting on the 20th, in preparation for the Flower Festival, a little wooden box with a slit on top, a stick of graphite, and a stack of slips of paper pinned under a rock are set on top of a crate next to the bulletin board in the Square. This is a ballot box for the voting for who in town will represent the Harvest Goddess at the annual festival in her honor. After the 21st, the box is removed, the votes are counted, and the star of the festival is contacted to get ready for the next day.

- 23 - Flower Festival

Before noon on the 23rd, the people of Bower Village gather flowers from their gardens, flower seeds from Lilia's, and water from the Grotto and meet in a decorated and fragrant Town Square for a ball in honor of the Goddess - the so-to-speak king or queen of which is the "Harvest God/Goddess" determined by the 20th-21st's voting. The God or Goddess shares the first dance with the Harvest King or Queen selected in the previous year's Autumn Egg Festival and is the first to choose their partner (or partners) in each of the dances afterward. Once the music stops, the townspeople plant their seeds in their gardens or scatter them in the fields and douse them with spring water.

SUMMER
- 3 - Ocean Festival

The beginning of the hot season is of course the most appropriate time for a celebration in and around the ocean. The festival starts at 11:00 A.M. at the beach - once it commences, the day's activities include fishing contests, boat rides courtesy of Wes, and, its most anticipated event, a swimming race.

- 17 - Firefly Festival

The Bower Village tradition of gathering around fresh water after dark to watch fireflies originates in a belief that fireflies' lights carried the spirits of the dead for their visits back to their living descendants' and loved ones' world. Though it's now thought of less as a communion with the dead and more a chance for a beautiful private night with family, good friends, and significant others, the festival's origins still give it a sober, reverent, serene, and intriguingly otherworldly atmosphere.

- 24 - Fireworks Festival

Louis and Saibara collaborate yearly on an elaborate fireworks show, a bold manmade counterpart to the graceful natural light show put on by the fireflies the week before. The town begin gathering at the beach at 8:00 P.M. to be there in time to see the display start at 8:30.

- 29 - Circus

Every Summer 27th, a wagon caravan works its way between the mountains to the cape and rolls to a stop in the De Sainte-Coquille Park. Come visit the next day, and chances are you'll catch a band of five strangers pulling ropes and hauling crates, erecting colorful stalls and, as the centerpiece of their setup, a tall, pennant-covered, yellow big top decorated with red embroidery. The next day, ringleader Oliver and his troupe put on a show for any Bower Villagers willing to pay a modest 3000G ticket fee to enter the circus grounds - with deals available for people who bring friends, family, or dates! The show is a two-hour spectacle of acrobatics, music, and - the troupe's specialty - animal acts, along with a different few bonus acts from guest performers every year, running from 8 o'clock to 10 o'clock P.M.; before and after, circus-goers may wander the midway, buying treats or souvenir plush dolls and becoming acquainted with the human and animal performers.

AUTUMN
- 5 - Art and Wine Festival

The season of color and indulgence begins with a celebration of beauty and craftsmanship that begins at noon in Town Square. The town craftspeople prepare special pieces to display and sell, and they're hardly the only ones who bring something to the festival - Lilia brings vases full of flower arrangements and ornaments, and Cliff brings his best wines and cheeses to share among the village, for example. Anyone with a creative or even simply beauty-loving bone in their body is invited to come and participate, whether they're there to share or appreciate. The Top Hat Circus's musician Chester, by the by, stays behind the rest of his troupe for this festival - and at sunset, he serenades the square with his violin.

- 18 - Egg Festival

A preparation for the Harvest Festival - if a quirky one to anyone from off of the Cape, rooted in one of its legends. Each year, early in the morning of the 18th, thirty artificial eggs are hidden around town. All participating townspeople are to meet in the square by 10:00 A.M., at the stroke of which the hunt for the one containing a little model "Blue Bird of Happiness" commences. Whoever finds the Blue Bird is named the Harvest King or Queen and the V.I.P. of the Harvest Festival on the 21st. Each person who found an egg is also awarded a prize per egg!

- 21 - Harvest Festival

The Harvest Festival aims for as much revelry as is deserved in the richness of Autumn, especially as in stark contrast to the season that follows. Like the Animal Festival, the Harvest Festival draws in a few from other towns to compete in the crop contests with categories in vegetables, fruits, and flowers and the cooking contest judged by Pierre de Sainte-Coquille; exchange information; and share their products. Most of those visitors leave Bower Village by afternoon so that its people can enjoy the last part of the festival in peace: at 4:00 P.M., a cauldron of water is brought out to the middle of the square and raised over a fire to boil, each villager in attendance brings an ingredient to add to the water with the Harvest King or Queen's approval (foraged food items and fish are perfectly acceptable - nobody would fault you for running off to the park for some chestnuts or olives if you forgot to bring something), and after cooking until dinnertime, the community-prepared Harvest Festival soup is served. The Harvest King or Queen, naturally, gets to serve and take the seat at the middle of the long table set up for the event.

- 31 - Pumpkin Festival

A last "hurrah!" for Autumn's bounty before Winter's snow blows in, and an outgrowth of popularity of pumpkins and apples as favorite crops and ingredients during the Harvest Festival. Traditionally, children spend the afternoon on the day of the Pumpkin Festival strolling together through town, picking up and sharing homemade sweets and custards in hollow pumpkins or pumpkin- and apple-shaped pots from each others' families. With the shortage of children on the Cape in recent days, the residents of Bower Village still engage in treat-making, but now take what they make to an evening potluck in the town square - apple cider, pumpkin soups and confections, and pastries all around!

WINTER
- 14 - Day of Harmony

A day to express goodwill and gratitude. By the fourteenth of winter, each of the people of Bower Village make it a point to prepare some sort of token for each of their neighbors to hand out as they run into them, like a basket of foraged flowers and berries, a handkerchief, or a pouch of candies. Most, however, prepare or purchase extra-special, personal additional Harmony presents for the people they are closest to.

- 25 - Starry Night

Every year without fail, the night sky is clearest and the stars appear their brightest on the 25th of winter, making it a romantic night to go stargazing. Even those normally bored by stargazing are encouraged to brave the cold, find a spot on the Cape or even a rooftop, and give the view a chance to impress them - someone seems to spot a shooting star every year, too, and with the night's atmosphere, who can say making a wish won't do any good?

- 31 - New Year's Eve