Summer Event: The Turtle Festival!

9 min read

Deviation Actions

Windsonde's avatar
By
Published:
844 Views
Once a year, sea turtles come by the hundreds to lay their eggs on the shores of Windsonde.  Gryphons consider these hidden eggs a rare and delicious treat!  At this annual time of plenty, all the aeries come together to feast and relax on the shores of the sea.  The turtle laying coincides with the season of Norflaut, a time of heat, coveting, and spoiling windsonde.deviantart.com/blog/…

Long before the three aeries were formed, there was competition for food between the independent gryphons of Windsonde.  The yearly turtle laying was a time when such rivalry was set aside, because no one gryphon could eat as many eggs as it was possible to gather without the eggs spoiling first.  The Turtle Festival reminds everyone, young and old, not to be too greedy or take more than one needs.  Leaving excess eggs in the sand means baby turtles in two months’ time—and more turtles to lay eggs in future years!—instead of a smelly basket of rot.

The annual Turtle Festival is held on the southern coast of Windsonde.  Many traditions related to the turtles and the beach have developed over the years.  Young gryphons dash around with friends, combing the shore for as many shells and seaside novelties as they can find between gorging on eggs.  They trade these between each other and there are prizes at the end of the day for the strangest objects found.  Building sand sculptures is another popular young gryphon activity.  This tradition is a holdover from the days when solitary families rather than whole aeries dug for eggs.  Back then, the adults would do the digging while their hatchlings pushed the extra sand into piles away from the hole.  Now, young gryphons decorate their piles with kelp, sea grass, shells and rocks till it resembles an animal, a fortress, or a silly version of a famous gryphon.  Sometimes they incorporate one of their friends by partially burying them under sand!

Adult gryphons participate in fun informal competitions.  Large polished turtle shells are used for a sport similar to skimboarding (see what skimboarding looks like here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IQNzp… ).  A bit of good-natured ridicule usually accompanies this event, since turtle shells tend to skim right out from under a gryphon’s feet!  Loud cheers go out to the most graceful—and the most spectacularly embarrassing—runs.  Another competition takes place at the slick clay deposits on the eastern end of the beach.  The pale white clay is used for painting washable designs on feathers, and for the infamous Turtle Festival mud wrestling!  Windsonde’s toughest gryphons love to show off during this event, but wrestling in the slippery clay requires as much technique as brute strength.  Using beaks, claws, or talons against your opponent is forbidden during this event.  Afterward, participants engage in vigorous splashing in the sea and a quick rinse under freshwater Hawksbill Tidefall (examples of tidefalls upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… brianfeulner.com/theintrepidso… ) to clean the mud off.  

As night falls and the Turtle Festival comes to a close, one special event remains: the Noctiluca Tide.  This natural phenomenon is named for the millions of tiny noctiluca that bloom near shore after the turtles leave and create beautiful bursts of glowing light www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN1Yxq… most gryphons—particularly the young ones—are busy creating dazzling designs by dragging their talons or tails through the water, a few adults remain on shore to take advantage of the empty beach and romantic light display.

Meanwhile, the Tookie Island version of the Turtle Festival has no interwoven message about not taking more than you can use.  Quite the opposite!  A mainland scholar who witnessed the event described it thusly in his text on Tookie customs:  “Once they have gorged on as many eggs as they can, the Islanders inevitably begin throwing the excess at each other.  Though they initially form small teams, turning on your allies appears to be a pivotal part of the Great Egg Fight.  As I understand, the goal is to leave the beach covered in less yolk than the other Tookies.  Unfortunately, I was pelted with eggs when I attempted to interview an Islander about this tradition, and was forced to flee the beach.”


PARTICIPATION:
Each gryphon will be assigned a partner in their age group (young or adult/final stage), except for Tookies; creating an image for the Tookie Island Egg Fight can be done "just for fun," without sign up.  Grandesque, Skrekrill and Twistoult participants will draw their gryphon and partner enjoying one of the age-appropriate Turtle Festival traditions; mud feather painting, digging for eggs, the Noctulica Tide, and general frolicking at the beach are activities open to both age groups!  Images must be up to Windsonde's standards. This means fully colored and shaded, with a complete background.  You can include other Windsonde gryphons in the picture, but you and your partner should be the focus.  Newer members can see the amazing results of the last event here: windsonde.deviantart.com/galle…

To sign up, simply comment on this blog with your gryphon’s name.  You can sign up with more than one character if you have multiple gryphons, but you will need to do a separate image meeting Windsonde quality standards for each.  The deadline for sign up is August 6, partners will be announced August 7, and your event images will be due September 17.  Have fun!

ADULTS PARTICIPATING
Bailiwick's Grimmald fav.me/d2y47w2
Ciameth's Valcauroch ciameth.deviantart.com/art/Val…
WerewolfStripclub's Kerberos laceddog.deviantart.com/art/Ke…
Raicoh's Bellicose fav.me/d3gi2bd
rice-chex's Syam eviri.deviantart.com/art/Syam-…
comixqueen's Reva fav.me/d2zcbm2
ErithacusCreations's Roc reikimurasaki-ookami.deviantar…
adubioussoul's Emese d-butterflywolf.deviantart.com…
khyterra's Rakhamat fav.me/d37cy4x
IchikoWindGryphon's Skeiiya fav.me/d2z7yqy
Ciameth's Kiya ciameth.deviantart.com/art/Kiy…
Rekyrem's Gozah fav.me/d413gqf
Skysealer's Skooma skysealer.deviantart.com/art/S…
bolthound's Adoerak bolthound.deviantart.com/art/A…
Quisum's Dom quisum.deviantart.com/art/Dom-…
rydicanubis's Skerry rydicanubis.deviantart.com/art…
rydicanubis's Berraluth rydicanubis.deviantart.com/art…
MidnasShadow/FootyBandit's Giovanni midnasshadow.deviantart.com/ar…
BGArts's Verlidaine bgarts.deviantart.com/art/The-…
Supaslim's Briggen supaslim.deviantart.com/art/Br…

YOUNG GRYPHONS PARTICIPATING
rice-chex's Kailani eviri.deviantart.com/art/Kaila…
Shadow-and-Flame-86's Milvus shadow-and-flame-86.deviantart…
LeccathuFurvicael's Augi fav.me/d30i9ec
Thessur's Gariss fav.me/d39bcio
Mukuo's Samael fav.me/d3d7660
FablePaint's Soolee fav.me/d3gourm
khyterra's Karkaros khyterra.deviantart.com/art/Ka…
RRedolfi's Braenwyen shadechristiwolven.deviantart.…
Marbletoast's Tanq marbletoast.deviantart.com/art…
Arkatrine's Indira arkatrine-the-unpure.deviantar…
Kyrrahbird's Krenari jessica1003.deviantart.com/art…
SleepyFoxes's Blight sleepyfoxes.deviantart.com/art…
merrypaws's Nona merrypaws.deviantart.com/art/N…
WannaBeRainbow's Arcadia wannaberainbow.deviantart.com/…
bolthound's Aurora bolthound.deviantart.com/art/A…
hoofandsnort's Vakia hoofandsnort.deviantart.com/ar…
ErithacusCreations's Taka reikimurasaki-ookami.deviantar…
KestrelWings's Cadence kestrelwings.deviantart.com/ar…
Ranya-Ni's Keilos ranya-ni.deviantart.com/art/Wi…
Squizilla's Tiberius fav.me/d30uhee
Paper-Rabbit's Amini fav.me/d3468o8
Sentinel-Nyx's Zephyr fav.me/d38qlyg
oceanfantasy's Jaze oceanfantasy.deviantart.com/ar…
ObloquyCondemed's Drust obloquycondemed.deviantart.com…


Edit Aug 7: Closed to sign-ups!
© 2011 - 2024 Windsonde
Comments111
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
sparrowstampede's avatar
Requesting-- Can there be any little extra tidbits about the Tookie Island Egg Fight? :D Like, is it an official Chief Tookie sanctioned island-wide hog-wild egg-stravaganza of feasting and flinging?