The King's Share
The day after the The Feast of the Innocents, a different atmosphere pervades the air around the detritus of revelry. Food is gathered, and preserved, from the leftovers. Sedate processions of citizens clad in brown, rough-spun robes and hoods, then carry or pull (on little hand-wagons designed especially for this annual holiday feast) what is left of the vittles to the local magister's office; or post office, if the homestead is that far out on the frontier. They gather before the building, in a public square or park, and present the left-overs to the magistrate, chanting a hymn as one voice:
Take our food, take our lives, but you will never take our minds. Here's our grain, and our beasts, all cooked up for you to feast! Take our fruits, take our cheese, and our milk and honey please! We don't care, we're still free! Take it all, sire, take it, please!
This is the 'modern' version, edited over the centuries to more fit the social epoch's ethos. Originally, there was another stanza:
Here's my wealth, here's my hands! Greed filled nobles need their share! We don't care, we're still free! You can't take my mind from me!
More often than not, the magistrate accepting the provisions is the local Chancellor of the Exchequer.History
This holiday feast is a confluence of two separate events; a post-harvest feté, and a civil protest condemning the overbearing taxes of the then High King, a Cotnor noble with a sadistic streak that was extreme even for the Cotnors. The king was assassinated; and the following High King, a Grey, ensured the ritual continued.
Execution
The people of the local area gather up the leftover food from their autumn festival weekend, preserving it in special, airtight barrels. They then gather together in the public square that is mandated to be directly in front of any settlement's administration buildings. While there, they hold candles and chant mocking 'hymns' until the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or whomever is accepting the offering, emerges from the administrative building and accepts the food with a brusque nod, at which point a host of teenagers hired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer swarms the offerings and bustles it off to food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the area.
Components and tools
People use special, minimalist carts; and air tight barrels.
Observance
This ritual is observed the day after the The Feast of the Innocents.
Related Ethnicities
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