The Barnyard Bash

Traditionally

In early times the barnyard bash was an open and joyous thing, around harvest time in the Starberry Fields. It marked a time of peak abundance as crops grew under the weight of the dual suns.

On the day that the picking was about to start, when the gems had their most translucent skin, the people would gather early, moving from their sleeping quarters, or from rolls on the field should they have pilgrimed from afar. They would move to the main picking shed, its walls covered in murals of plenty and hard work, of squashing the gems in big buckets, and of people in the fields.

People would arrange massive blankets, covered in meals both brought in and cooked up the night before arranged in a circle. Each gatherer would feast before the sun rose before the blankets were piled up and the eating utensils gathered in their wake.

Strong armed people would haul this bundle through the path moving towards the most ancient of the starberry bushes (this would change as the bushes died and were replaced), while around the feast-bearers, the community would dance and sing and clap while uttering Elythera's name.

At the oldest bush, a cloth would be passed between celebrants, wiped over skin to collect the community's sweat, before the bearing tree beneath would be annointed with the sweat of the community. The soil before the bush would be dug up, and the organic mass would be burried before this old bush to help enrich the soil there with its bounty.

The field would be picked of ripe berries and a fresh cask of the wine would opened and passed between the pickers throughout the day by younger members as 'cup bearers'.

Modern Showing

While the first picking of the fields still holds special place, the celebration has been toned down, in accordance with both the secularisation of Levis and of the commercialisation of the Starberry Fields.

While there is a morning meal, it is a more modest affair, supplied by the villiage elders. People still come and sleep out to help with first pickings, but they come for the act and not the sense of community it brings. The meal blanket is still burried with any leftovers, but the cups and plates are not and are instead cleaned (with responsible use of the grey water of course). The ritual of taking the blanket to the oldest tree still exists, but the mood is less overly excessive, with some casual talking and a little light dancing. Energy must be preserved for the long day ahead.

Cup bearers still exist, though they carry water now, sometimes laced with honey should the previous season's yield have been a good one.

The exuberance of the morning has been replaced with a nighttime dance, the tables and casks pushed to the side as the bards of the region play and sing as the pickers drink and dance late into the night.

Elythera still gets her sweat one way or the other.