Maiden's Heart Festival
History
The Maiden plucked a flower from her heart and set it on the water, watching as it drifted downstream. Perhaps one day he would look out and see her blossomed feelings.The festival was born out of the tradition that a winemaker from a small town in Njirralde started. Every year he would brew a small amount of wine from a flower that grew by the riverside. After two years of fermentation, he would share it with the people in the town who would drink it along with a feast, turning into a celebration. Years after the winemaker died, his story was told and eventually turned into a fairytale as people added more fantastical elements to it. The tale told of a Maiden who had fallen in love with the winemaker. She was mute, unable to tell him how she felt. She formed a flower from her heart and let it drift downstream where it settled by the winemaker's house. Eventually, a field of the flowers bloomed there and the winemaker, who enjoyed watching them each year, decided to make a wine from them. Thus, the wine was born from the flowers which only bloomed on that riverbank. As the wine spread across the country, so to did the fairytale. Thus, a festival happens every other year. Wine brewed from the last festival is brewed and a new batch of wine is brewed for the next festival.
Execution
Morning
Everyone sleeps in for the morning. There’s no school so all the children in the neighborhoods gather together to make the paper flower boats and fill them with flowers. Sometimes we’ll be called in to help with the cooking preparations but I always get kicked out early from eating the sweets.One of the key features of the festival is the flower boats that drift down the canals to the city center. To keep the children busy and out of the way while the adults are busy with other preparations, the children will be tasked with making the boats. Clusters of children can be seen sitting in the parks along the canals folding boats out of thick paper and chatting noisily. Small treats to be sold in booths or placed on the banquet tables that can be eaten cool as well as preparation for the main courses that take a long time to cook begin are made in the morning.
Afternoon
Most people don’t have to work on the day of the festival so they spend the day cooking for the neighborhood feast. Mum works has her guard duty until the late afternoon though so we have to help Pa out with the cooking. I wish we could go out and play with the other kids.In the afternoons the entire family usually works on preparing meals. The scent of savory meats and sweet pastries fill the air as each household prepares a table of food to share with the neighborhood. If the children get in the way of cooking they’ll be kicked out of the house to go play with the others. They’ll sit at the tables lined up along the banks of the canals and play cards or board games to pass the time. Once the adults are ready to start setting the table they’ll either be dragged back to work or shooed away to play elsewhere.
Evening
In the evening we split up. Mum and Pa hang around the neighborhood and drink with the other adults. Leon goes off to tease his girlfriend, one of the Flower Maidens, while I have to drag little Cecile around the snack booths.The festivities really take place during the evening. Neighborhoods will have large feasts full of all sorts of food and in the city, there are stalls lined up selling snacks and others where you can try your luck at a game of chance. At the start of the evening, children will set off the flower boats they made on the canals. The boats carry a variety of edible flowers which will later be made into flower wines. Hydromancers among the people assure that they will stay afloat and head towards the city center. As the night winds down, Flower Maiden's put on a dance performance in the city center wearing the traditional Njirraldian dress with floral embroidery. Winemakers begin brewing the year's batch of Maiden's Heart Wine, with some putting on workshops where those interested can try their hand at making a bottle. Many people come to watch the performance and the winemaking after they've eaten, making it the highlight of the night.
Observance
The festival occurs every other year on the 12th of Pilsek. It is celebrated all over Njirralde but the biggest celebration is in Adeloar.
In cities without canals or a nearby river, a parade of flower bearers will deliver flowers from the outskirts of the city to the city center where they will form a tower of flowers. Most cities continue the tradition of brewing Maiden's Heart Wine and making dishes using the maiden's heart flower.
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