Gardtide

Gardtide is a spring festival that is celebrated in numerous Bayard cities across the Iliac Bay on the first week of Rain's Hand. The festival traditionally culminates on Loredas, with the festival's two key events, the Burning of Effigies and the Maiden's Run.

The festival has its origins in the Breto-Nedic worship of the flower goddess Druagaa, but worship of Druagaa today is nearly extinct. Despite this, the festival itself is celebrated with much fanfare as heralding the end of the dark and rainy winter months.

Druagaa herself, known alternatively as the Lady of Flowers, the Blooming Maid, or the Petal Queen, is one of a number of Nedic deities who are believed to have been adopted into the pantheon of the Divine Court (as a lesser courtier) through natural syncretic processes. Unable to suppress the popularity of her festival, and the rituals surrounding it, the Faith simply chose to co-opt her as best it could, entering into an uneasy toleration of the old tribal customs so long as they did not stray into outright worship.

Today, Druagaa is considered no more than a minor spirit or deity, granted the title of Lady as with so many other courtiers of the Lords Sovereign. Even among seasoned religious scholars, Druagaa is not a familiar name. The study of the history of her worship is next to nonexistent, and even in the city of a thousand cults, few have heard her name even in passing. Were it not for the festival of Gardtide, it would seem that she has gone the way of the Nordic Jhunal.