Fête d'attente

Chateau de la Vigne is one of the original farms that dot the Southern Pennisula of the Continent. Beyond it's historical significance of being the home of Agusta Renard who founded the city of Port De Renard, he also began a tradition that has become a cherished piece of the year for the entire country of Galus. Before the vast hillside fields were filled with the vineyards that now grace the bluffs of the Mediterranean air, there existed dozens of families trying to grow staple foods like corn, wheat, squash, potatoes and tomatoes.

These farms as they built their city became the bread basket that the people needed, these original families still hold their place in the lexicon of the city and remain both powerful economic and political names of the region. But, this didn't stop the people from remembering those early days. In the Season of Harvest, the people celebrated their hardship, they joined together in camaraderie and thanked the gods for their good fortune for yet another year. A good year meant a bigger celebration, a bad year meant a more devote plea from the farms.

This began with a simple feast between the original settlers of the region, to bring joy into their houses while their fields fallowed during the Season of Waiting. Something to remember as the cold hurricanes battered the hills and cliffs that bring life to the soils and water in the spring. Over the years as the village that became the heart of the city, more people would appear at these feasts and join them as the families welcomed them with open arms.

With these feast would come a moment of quite as the moon began to rise over the seas to bask the hills in pale light. The families would make a large fire out of the husks of the largest crops they had grown in the year, they considered these the blessed of the crop and allowed their spirits to bless the soil once more through a ritualistic rebirth as their ash fell back to the earth. With much dancing and singing laced in fervent prayer, they would celebrate that hardship, be thankful for the full bellies and wait their turn to begin again the next season.

While the fair became the centerpiece in the public eye, the ceremony is never missed. The pyre that askes the gods to bless their fields with the blessed crops still occurs. Though, to those who attend the ceremony, note the much more somber tone of it all. It's never missed, it's never forgotten about, the ritual is the point of it in the end. A blurring of the life around daily routine mixed with the plea to the spirits who all grant their blessing to those who know.