Firenchawn Festival

Fun & Fungi

Written by Endrise

People have to find a way to stop focusing on the horrors of the caves. If it means celebrating the harvest with one, let them be.

— Elder Drow

Even though the Subterrane is a harsh place for its inhabitants, it does not mean it's a joyless one. To ease the troubles of survival, Drow celebrate a good harvesting season with the Firenchawn Festival. Through ale and festivity, they celebrate the success against the hardships.

And at the center lies one of their more popular boogiemen: The Firenchawn.

Festival of Fungi

The Harvest

The festival takes place near the end of the harvesting period of a Drow city. If there's enough food to get around, One can see it as a blessing of Wynn'Oana to celebrate with a feast.

The yearly supplies get stored away while the excess is prepared for the feast. A common theme amongst meals is mushrooms, which do make up a large part of their diets. Everything from stews with a side of shroom to Mushroom Beer.

The Feast

During the feast, people both young and old, high and low society gather around to party until the candles run out. Gathering at a city centre, large banquets served to citizens ready to chew down. For a few hours, people can relax and have fun.

Entertainment is also present in the form of theatre and music, singing songs of Drowkind and telling the tales of myth and history. Combined with the magical history of Drow, it leads to shows that light up the city in arcane colours.

The Beast

The festival always ends with the thing it is named around: The Firenchawn. Each year, a Drow gets picked to play it, dressed up in rags and with a mushroom-shaped cap.

From there, they jump on the central table and shout out the following words:

Fear me fiends, the Firenchawn! For we have come to feast and fester our fungal foulness on your flesh! Flee as you may, we will find thee!

— The "Firenchawn"

From there, it becomes a chase scene across the whole city, with people running in a stampede to not get touched. A few cities even use several Firenchawn actors, often to make it easier to hunt.

If somebody gets caught, they have to wear for the rest of day a mushroom-shaped hat and can join the hunt. After an hour or two, the roles get reversed as the citizens can chase the actors with sparklers, lights and torches alike.

Forcing the Firenchawn back into the city center, there the costumes get burned on a fire. Once the flames died out, the festival is over and people go back to their usual lives.

Primary Related Location

Subterrane

Celebration Date

End of the harvest period

Celebrated by

Drow