The Great Harvest Holiday

The most important holiday of the grifix, it is held during the Autumn Equinox. It starts a day before the Equinox and ends a day after it.

Day one

During the first day, the young grifix (over 12 years) that don't have a settled sphirix shape get through some trials, that decide which of them has gotten to maturity. The trials are decided by the elders and may be different or the same as last year.

 

Day two

In the equinox day, those who passed the trials get through a ceremony where their Sphirix settles to their final shape. It is called The Sphirix Shape Ceremony. The ceremony starts right after the sunset. The young grifix get into the Healer’s Hut, where the healer prepares a potion that makes a strong smoke that puts all the grifix in a trance. During the trance, the Sphirix have no conscious control on their shape shifting. In the end they settle to their final form (which is always the best for them. It is actually chosen by the Sphirix, but the choice isn’t made consciously.). This is the most important step in the grifix's lives. The trials in the first day have the role of picking only the grifix that are prepared to go through the ceremony, otherwise they could get traumatized.

 

Day three

On the last day the whole village celebrates those who got through the ceremony. During the day, there are traditional pumpkin foods and a lot of fun stuff. The whole village is decorated and everybody celebrates. There are contests (like pumpkin pie eating contests,  races etc.) and fun games (like picking apples from the water with your mouth, archery, etc.).

In the evening, the grifix that passed the ceremony paint flags with the animal their sphirix settled to. After that, the Healer and the Healer’s Disciple (which can see the sphirix) paint their bodies with the markings their sphirix have. After that, it starts a tournament where the males that passed the ceremony race in wrestling. For the females, it is marked a route through the forest, where they race in flying through the trees. The paintings that were made earlier on them have the role to protect them and secure their victory. The flags of those who win are exposed near the fire in the center of the village for the whole year (that’s a very big honor).

After the sunset, the little griffix (those younger than 12, and those that failed at the trials from the first day) go trick-or-treating to celebrate another year of childhood to come (because this holiday isn’t only about the ones that get over the maturity trials, and kids have to enjoy it too). In the head of the group is the Ringer, wearing necklaces and bracelets with loud bells, so the one to which the group is sent can hear them. The Ringer is the youngest of the group. Among the group is the Trea-coll (short for ‘Treasure Collector’), carrying a large bag decorated with beautiful embroidery.

The group is seeking around and singing songs. When someone opens (everybody does), they say “the good came to us these days, give us treasury or good will not come to you!”. The griffix gives them fruits, candies, pumpkin desserts, etc. At the end, they share everything in equal and go at The Fire in the Center of the Village along with all the other grifix, and enjoy their “treasure” while listening to stories told by the old grifix.

Traditional food: the food of this holiday is mainly based on pumpkins. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin juice, pumpkin barbeque, etc. They also eat a lot of Spinach Salad along with all those pumpkin stuff. (The spinach saalad is made using raw spinach, so it's crunchy and nice)

 

Thanks to glitchthunder for the amazing idea to create this holiday, and also helping me to come up with amazing traditions for it ^^