Celebration Rule One: All food and drinks are provided for free, but wasting food is not allowed.
Celebration Rule Two: Due to limited positions and too many volunteers, those who sign up as volunteers must leave after working for an hour.
The chief explained the rules of this Winter Celebration to everyone. The first rule, needless to say, was a given; the people of the Rize tribe had not long been fed, and they would definitely not waste food casually. However, as soon as the second rule was announced, people began sighing in disappointment. In their eyes, it was an immense honor to work for Ina, but others thought the same, so limiting each person's work time to one hour.
Nevertheless, the joy of participating in the celebration dispelled this slight regret. Holding any ceremony or sacrifice in winter was unimaginable for the Rize tribe in the past. They revered winter, believed in winter, feared winter, but never celebrated it.
The despair that came with the severe winter was endless, and such days were still near, still able to awaken every Rize tribesperson from nightmares, fearing that their current life is a fragile dream.
This was precisely what Ina saw. They were too nervous, treating Ina as if she were a lifeline for the drowning. She wasn't sure if a celebration could loosen the tightly-strung nerves of the Rize tribe and make them realize that Ina wouldn't easily abandon them.
The Winter Celebration began!
Anty and Lesley, hand in hand, set off with the water bag their mother had told them to carry. Although they were employees of Dragon Flame Restaurant, they only vaguely knew the content of this celebration, aware that they had made a lot of candied haws, filling several straw racks.
"Look, those are our candied haws!" The celebration was near the cabins and summer houses, and Anty saw the striking candied haws before even arriving, their bright red lanterns, standing out conspicuously against the vast white snow.
The two first grabbed a skewer of candied haws. The young woman in charge of the candied haw stall was their neighbor, Sister Maya, which Lesley recognized despite the thick scarf around her.
While looking at the straw rack, Maya started speaking: "Which kind would you like? We have strawberry, a kind of red fruit called hawthorn, and another one…"
Lesley giggled, "I want strawberry! Sister Maya, you don't have to introduce it, we know what candied haws are~"
Maya also laughed, "Right, you are following the goddess, you've seen and learned a lot!"
Anty also smiled widely, choosing a skewer of candied hawthorn. Before leaving the stall, Maya reminded them, "First go to Uncle Iva's place and fill a pot with hot water. It's good to take a sip when you're cold or to warm up in the summer house."
Although it was not the coldest time of winter, there was still a chilling cold. However, there was no strong wind today, the sun was bright, and the sky was a clear, chilling blue. There was no better weather for a celebration.
Anty and Lesley obediently came to Uncle Iva's stall, where two stoves were boiling water. Uncle Iva, with a funnel in one hand and a large spoon in the other, asked each passerby, "Do you want barley tea or brown sugar ginger tea?"
"Barley tea!" Both girls exclaimed in unison. Even though they loved sweet things, the taste of ginger was just too strange!
While waiting for Uncle Iva to fill their water bags, Lesley took a bite of a sugar-coated strawberry and shivered slightly from the cold. She quietly said to Anty, "Today's strawberry candied haws are a bit different."
"How could it be?" The candied haws were all washed and strung together by the two of them, exactly the same as what they made with Goddess Ina.
Lesley squinted her eyes, "Maybe it's because of the cold weather. The frozen candied strawberries taste like ice cream~"
At this point, Iva had filled their water bags. He told them, "You can go to the left to watch the archery competition, and to the right is the skiing competition."
After discussing it, the two girls decided to go watch the archery competition first. Before reaching the competition area, they came across a stall with steam rising, a square metal table with several sections hollowed out, inside which was boiling soup. Skewers of meatballs and vegetables were placed on the tray next to it, and a banner with writing was hung above.
"Oden." The two girls read aloud, craning their necks.
"Did you eat breakfast this morning? If not, choose a few skewers to cook. Take them in a box to the archery competition, and it's so comfortable to eat while watching!" The auntie in front of the Oden stall warmly greeted me.
Every stall made Anty and Lesley linger. They chose skewers of fish balls, shrimp balls, mushroom balls, as well as radish, rice cake, and corn, filling up a paper cup. They ate the balls skewered with a bamboo stick. The balls rolled in hot soup, bringing out a rich and delicious taste. Several young people who were rushing to participate in the archery competition also stopped.
"That's the way. You need to be full to have the strength to compete. The archery competition starts when ten people gather, so there's no rush." The auntie was very happy to see more people stopping at her stall as if it proved she was doing a good "volunteer job".
Eating Oden on the way to the archery field, Anty saw the tall circular target standing in the distance before even arriving. It was adorned with many colorful balloons. The unique golden balloon was in the center, surrounded by blue balloons, and the most numerous red balloons were on the outer ring.
The rules were simple. Ten people competed together, each having their own mark on the arrows. Hitting the gold, blue, or red balloons were respectively first, second, and third place, each with a mysterious prize.
Even if they missed the target, there were consolation prizes.
In the sky, a golden balloon was floating freely. When Anty looked closely, she saw a small bird perched on it. Its feathers were the same dazzling gold as the balloon, giving the impression of a lone balloon magically suspended in mid-air.
There was nothing to be surprised about, as Goddess had already told everyone in advance that she would invite some special guests.
The Goldfinch was playing with the balloon. If it weren't for the string attached to the balloon, it would fly up into the sky. But it perched on the balloon, perfectly balancing it from rising or falling. When the wind blew occasionally, The Goldfinch would quickly take small steps on the balloon to maintain balance. It was enjoying its game immensely, oblivious to the four-winged Thunderhawk stealthily approaching.
A sly gleam flashed in the Thunderhawk's eyes as it stealthily stretched out its sharp claws toward the golden balloon beneath The Goldfinch's feet.
"Pop!"
"Ah!"
The balloon exploded into fragments, and The Goldfinch was so startled by this sudden change that it was completely dumbfounded. Its neck feathers stood up instantaneously, its black bean-sized eyes stopped blinking, and it even forgot it could fly, falling straight down like a plummet.
The White Feathered Pelican, which had been hovering below, opened its mouth wide and caught The Goldfinch as it fell, forming a round shape in its soft pouch.
"Hahahaha!" The two birds, who had cooperated to achieve this prank, laughed uproariously. The Goldfinch climbed out of the White Feathered Pelican's open mouth, pouting, "You're just jealous that I can stand on the balloon! While all you can do is flatten and burst them!"
"I'm going to tell with Lizard! You two juvenile jesters!" Unable to win against the two birds, The Goldfinch could only seek out the track of Lizard. Looking around, apart from the colorful celebration area, the rest of the land was blanketed in white.
The Goldfinch had to fly lower to distinguish the track of Lizard's figure. "Bighead~ Where are you~"
"I'm here!" The Lizard poked its head out from the thick snow. It was having a great time moving through the snow, almost as if fish was in the water. The Midnight Marsh never gets snow, so this was its first time seeing snow, especially such heavy snow that could bury it completely.
The excited Lizard emerged from the snow, causing chunks of snow to splash around. The unsuspecting Goldfinch was hit on the head by a fist-sized snowball, causing it to dizzyingly plunge headfirst into the recently softened snow patch left by the Lizard. All that was visible in the snow were a fluffy butt and two little paws struggling.
"Chuckle." The Lizard couldn't help but laugh for a while, then went over to pull The Goldfinch out. The Goldfinch sat on the snow, rolling about and spreading its wings, crying out, "Waaaaah, you're all bullying me!"
The Lizard hurriedly apologized, "I didn't notice you just now, you're too small."
The Goldfinch was not so easily appeased, "I'm always small..." It suddenly came up with a good idea: "If you want me to forgive you, help me teach those two birds a lesson. They dared to play tricks on me!"
As it spoke, the Thunderhawk and the Pelican were approaching from the distance. They looked smug, displaying something caught in their talons.
Tiny, honey-colored, hexagonal pastries, shaped like little beehives, were piled into a small mountain in a paper box. The Goldfinch could keenly smell the aroma of eggs and wheat.
"What's this?" asked the Lizard.
"It's called Honey Mini Cakes. Everything Lady Ina said is true, it seems we can also get food from those human stalls," the Thunderhawk explained, tearing off a small piece of honey cake to give to The Goldfinch. It opened its beak to taste the soft, sweet treat. Delicious!
The Thunderhawk waved its wings to express its amazement, "I saw a person pour a bowl of batter into a pan with many holes, and in no time at all, it turned into this delicious thing!"
As the Lizard said, "Of course, the food stalls are all set up by Lady Ina," it moved closer to the Thunderhawk. Seizing the opportunity when the Thunderhawk was about to place the box of honey cakes on the ground, the Lizard swung its tail and landed a hard blow on the Thunderhawk's rear!
The Thunderhawk was launched in a perfect parabola, landing in the snow in the exact same way as The Goldfinch had earlier. Due to the strength of the Lizard's hit, it even slid for a distance, creating a large pile of snow.
The Goldfinch clapped its wings in delight, "Great! That's what you get for bursting my balloon!"
The Pelican took a guilty step back, "I-I'm going to look for more delicious food!"