Festival of the Seven Feathers

A yearly springtime festival celebrated in Sabha. This festival is based on the folk story of a shepherd who stumbled across a beautiful garden hidden in the desert, filled with lush greenery and fauna of every kind. The shepherd visited the garden often, and one day, came across a strange and beautiful winged creature. The creature was a bird with feathers of every color, jet, turquoise, scarlet, and lavender, and she sang the loveliest of songs. The shepherd became enchanted with the bird’s melody, and humbly requested a single feather to remember her by. For seven days, the shepherd visited, and for seven days, the bird gave the shepherd another feather. On the seventh day, the bird bequeathed the shepherd one final feather, golden and shining as the sun. As soon as the feather touched the shepherd’s hand, the bird transformed into a beautiful woman who called herself the Winged Queen, wearing a cloak made of thousands of feathers. She revealed to the shepherd that they had broken a curse placed upon her by an evil serpent. With her freedom, the Winged Queen flew into the sky, bringing thousands of birds and greenery into the Sabhan Desert. Each year, at springtime, she returns, bringing back the life and greenery wherever she goes.
Credit to Claire for the idea.

Execution

Festival goers may choose to dress themselves as birds, wear a cape covered in feathers, while children often dress up as shepherds and attempt to “win” feathers from selected adults, either by singing a little song or reciting a poem. Feathers are worn however you can manage, braided into hair, formed into a crown, tied to arms and pinned to garments, or even painted onto your body by street artists.

It’s custom for a group of performers to dress up in a giant serpent costume, similar to the style of a traditional Chinese Dragon dance and go around teasing the festival goers by trying to steal feathers.

Plays, tableaus, parades and vignettes are performed depicting the story of the Seven Feathers.

Historians argue that this story is cobbled together from several cultures, ranging from the fairy tales of the old Elflands all the way to tales of the original Goliath mountain tribes. Either way, it’s a story that allows everyone to take part in the celebration and enjoy the return of spring (except….perhaps the Yuan-ti).

The Goliath monarch may even participate, and bestow a small, solid gold feather upon a random child of their choosing as a sign of goodwill. Is it bribery? Propaganda? Who knows.

Primary Related Location

Orem

Related Organizations

• Sabha