Feast of St. Conchilla
History
The origin of the Feast of St. Conchilla comes from Journals of Axalrergad Conchilla, a Golden Dragonborn who once crossed the whole Al'biq desert with no stops for food or water, surviving only on the massive feast he had before his expedition, on his faith in Bahamut, and the power of his music.
Conchilla was a simple fisherman living in a small, unnamed village on the westernmost edge of the Pyrhian continent. One day while out on his boat, he had received a vision of "a great, platinum dragon made of clouds and lightning and spoke as thunder" who bid him deliver a message, warning of a rising energy of undeath at the heart of the continent, to an outpost in the Genfreet mountains to the East.
Conchilla knew only of the lands in between as completely parched of food and water and, from local folktales, ridden with vicious wild animals that could smell either for miles and would kill for the same. Being Kettodyn, the month of the mother of harvest and bounty, the idea came to Conchilla to feast on as much food and drink as he could before he set out. He would hold it all within his stomach and focus on slowly digesting it over the course of his long journey through the desert. He brought with him only the clothes on his back, some camping equipment, and a shell necklace to remind him of home.
The desert was generally silent except for the strong winds that whipped against the dunes. He learned from those winds that the shells on his necklace could produce different musical notes when the air passed over them in certain ways. Over time, he practiced with each and was able to fashion them into a rudimentary flute. As the loneliness and hunger began to creep in through the unbearably hot days and freezing cold nights, Conchilla pressed on, distracting himself with music played from his shell instrument.
As the stories go, Conchilla met with several adversities on his journey, each overcome in some way with the power of the music from his shells. Eventually he would make it to the Genfreet Mountains to deliver Bahamut's warning, preparing the peoples there for the threat of an undead uprising to come.
Execution
The Feast of St. Conchilla starts with a great feast in the morning followed by a long march. During the march, it is traditional for participants to create music by blowing into small, tone-producing shells, similar to those used by St. Conchilla on his own march.
Components and tools
The key components of the feast are:
- the feast itself, normally a bounty of food from the local region
- the small shells blown into during the long march after the feast, normally regional if available or imported if not
Observance
The Feast of St. Conchilla is traditionally observed on the last Mezday of Kettodyn.