MidSummer Festival

Midsummer in Shadybrook is a festive time when farmers sell their excess crops at market and the people of the village celebrate the gods' bounty in a weeklong festival. This year's festival is particularly special for a number of reasons. Most importantly, the village has invited a delegation from the Werruen to come to Shadybrook to discuss a possible alliance between the barbarian tribe and the people of the village. The recent hardship caused by the Dragonwar has folks wondering if the barbarians will attempt to raid, but the mayor believes the barbarians can benefit from trade with the village and help fend off the depredations of the orcs and other dangers out in the Wild Lands.

Rolf Bent-Axe, the chief of the Werruen, has agreed to attend the festival along with some of his people, including the sorceress Vosta the Veiled, his advisor. All preparations have been made to welcome them, but resentment still simmers beneath the surface. Some villagers believe the barbarians killed Mika Pharos, the beloved local cleric and healer, during a raid on an outlying farm. Pharos would have presided over the festival this year as he had many times before. Now the traveling priestess, Lowra Skerry, will do so, assisted by Mika's young replacement at the temple of Mikol, Adair.

Events of the Festival:

Opening Parade:

The villagers of Shadybrook and many surrounding villages gather in the market square for this celebration, and then they walk in a procession led by Lady Elysa and the priests of each local church. Commonly the Baron sends a representative, and other community leaders from Shadybrook and surrounding villages are present at the head of the parade. Even the local monastery sends a few representatives. The parade happens late on the eve of the fair's opening. Each of the parade-goers carries a candle or torch, and the procession begins just at dusk. The path is from market square down hill to the ferry and then along the south (Bridge) road to Archer's Field. Here, a large bonfire has been readied. All the torches and candles are thrown on the fire, providing light and warmth for the dancing and merry-making that follow. As the parade progresses through town, blessings are said by the priests that ensure the village's well-being and fertility for another year.

Well Dressing:

this activity is carried out in many small towns and villages across Greenvale, but particularly in the north-east Counties. Each town or village will have a central well or a particularly well-known source of water that is important to the community. Some of these chosen water-sources are springs or ponds rather than wells.

No one knows when the custom of “dressing” began, but it has gone on in Shadybrook since the re-founding of the town some 50 years ago. In fact, there is evidence that the ritual was commonly practiced during the Second Empire and may have been going on for hundreds of years.

Well-dressing consists of building a structure over or around the well. Sometimes these are flat panels of wood covered with wet clay and then decorated in pictorial style with natural materials such as flower petals, berries, leaves and moss. Other structures are three-dimensional and actually enclose the well-cap. These are made with a door or entrance to allow access to the water, and are fairly open, airy structures. They are woven of branches and covered with greenery. Sometimes picture panels are set into their sides. These well-dressings only exist for a few days or a week before fading and being removed until next year.

It is believed that the purpose of these dressings is to remind any fey or nature spirit(s) in the area that this particular water-source has been deeded to human use. Often the very traditional picture panels reflect some sort of local story of this nature – that a dryad or nixie ceded the water to the newly arrived humans in return for some other favor or protection. Whether these promises have been kept and whether the fey still lives in the area is often an unknown.

Shadybrook in particular dresses their well in the market square each midsummer in conjunction with their annual village festival. They build a quite elaborate open framework with six sides that holds five separate picture-panels. These panels seem to tell a tale of two human groups and a fey creature forming a pact to protect the well and to forever allow the fey to dwell deep under it. However, the fact that these panels are ephemeral, made and remade each year by new artists means that any historic meaning has probably been either lost or distorted over time.