The Fermentation Festival
Midway through the season of death each year, when leaves are turning but not quite yet fallen, the Kelunbar Gooseberries are dropping their juicy, red berries onto the forest floor, perfect for a bolet to enjoy. While fresh fallen berries taste delicious, if the mysums wait a few weeks for the berries to begin to rot and ferment then these berries become intoxicating.
Celebration
Once a bolet mysum clan has noticed berries falling, they spend their next few weeks guarding a gooseberry bush from grazing animals and birds. It is difficult and time consuming (more than one bolet has lost an eye to a particularly grouchy sparrow), but well worth the reward. After thirty-three days of guarding the bush, the clan begins their celebrations. They consume the now fermented berries until all of them are gone, usually in about a week. During this time the bolets dance, sing, and enjoy the feeling of drunken revelry together.The End of a Season
The Fermentation Festival marks the end of a year for the bolets. After their week of fun, the mysums then go underground to wait out the end of the season of death and the season of rest, avoiding and surviving these cold months. The Fermentation Festival is both a celebration of life and the enjoyment that it brings, and also the acknowledgement that all things must come to an end.What a special time of year it is when the gooseberries ripen and fall. If we can keep the birds off them long enough, then those lovely berries will leave us feeling warm and hopeful when we return to the tunnels before the first snow comes.-Hash, Bolet Mysum
Favorite Patch
Most bolet clans have a favorite gooseberry patch or bush that they return to in time to prepare for the fermentation festival. This bush has usually been guarded by a mysum clan for generations and the bush thrives off of the decomposition left behind by the clan. There is generally a clear difference in the size and production of a gooseberry bush that has a relationship with a bolet clan.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
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Author's Notes
This article was originally created for World Anvil Summer Camp 2020 for the prompt: Write about a food-focussed event in your world and describe how it's celebrated.