Springtime comes and with it brings tears,
as we lift up our cups in cheers.
We drink and eat and dance and play,
as spring beats back the winter's gray.
Brief respite to raise our morale,
the much loved onion festival.— Akrachia, The Festival of Tears
A Celebration of Spring
In
Zinato the winters are mild - at least since the end of the
Time of Darkness - but still considered unpleasant by many. The skies are often gloomy, the air filled with a light snow; the rivers freeze over and most of the wildlife goes into hiding - as do the people. The winters are quiet, save perhaps the sound of wood being split or the squeak of the snow under the foot of a lone traveler; just as the snow blankets the ground, it absorbs the sound.
When the
winter wind finally begins to give way, the people of
Zinato come out of hiding to watch the rivers thaw, the fields open, and the trees bud. This is cause for celebration which they do in a way that the people of other nations are often appalled by, a raucous event known as the Festival of Tears.
The Onion Games
The festival is defined by the presence of onions which are used for a wide variety of events. Each community has its own specific traditions or altered rules for their celebrations but common games include onion bobbing, onion bowling, onion chopping, onion toss, and onion tower among others.
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The Onion Brew
The coming of spring lines up well with the completion of the festival's signature drink, onion brew. It is created by distilling onions to the desired alcoholic potency and then adding the alcohol - which loses much of its onion flavour - to onion juice. The drink is generally considered repugnant by outsiders and even an acquired taste by the people of
Zinato.
Drinking one's first onion brew is a rite-of-passage and often happens between the ages of fourteen and sixteen - it also almost always causes the first-timer to vomit, some before it even reaches their lips.
"You ain't missing nothing kid, it is a rancid drink. If I could though, I'd go for a cup right now."— Captain Davetti to Reigus
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