The Königin's Festival

The Königin's Festival is a festival that is held in Kredashmi, every year on the 12th of Eighthmonth. It is one of the longest-running events in the country, having been running, in both an official and non-official capacity, for over two-hundred years. Officially called the Festival of Fortune, the festival is meant to celebrate the work of the Guilds, their members and their apprentices.

History

It is a long-standing tradition in Kredashmi that the coronation of the Konig is celebrated as a public holiday. However, after the Raskvaerii Invasion and the crowning of the first Raskvaerii-Konig, Miron I, it was decided that declaring his coronation day as a holiday might incite riots across the country. It was proposed that an event should be created to celebrate Konigin Josefina Therese, the wife of Konig Miron, and daughter of the last Kredasene-Konig, Henrik Raelen. It was therefore decided that her birthday would be declared a public holiday.
Throughout her life, Josefina Therese made a point of being a tangible presence at her festival. Her husband, the Konig, kept a low profile and rarely attended. She encouraged people to wear white to the event, where pouches of coloured chalk were sold to the crowds. People threw chalk at each other and over statues, representing the joy and beauty that can be found in life even after the stress of the previous decades.
The death of the monarch marks the end of their commemoration date as a public holiday. Miron was killed at the Battle of Alahnis at the hands of Gerard Dunheuvelin and the Last Dunheuvelin Dragon. The coronation day of the new Konig Henryk was declared the new public holiday and was intended to replace the dowager Konigin's birthday. However, crowds still took to the street on the twelfth of Eightmonth that year, decorating statues and buildings with chalk paint. This occurred for several years after Josefina Therese's own death, until it was finally decreed that her birthday would remain a public celebration.
The Guilds have, in recent years, declared that they were going to encorporate a celebration of the country's good fortune into the date, and Konig Faustus officially renamed the event the Festival of Fortune. Keeping with the spirit of the original event, the Guilds have a competition each year to see who can create the most impressive dragon float. These are pulled through the streets during the Guild's parade, much to the glee of the crowds.

Please note, this is an incredibly rough draft of an article written for Summer Camp 2023.

Silkers' Rat by Caitlin Wright via Bing

Painted Statue of a Dragon Rider via Bing by Caitlin Wright

Statue of Josefina Therese via Bing by Caitlin Wright