The Ghosts of the Harvest
The Ghosts of the Harvests is the core myth in the Harvest Festival, recounting the tale of a group of kids who managed to drive away crop-eating ghosts by dressing up as monsters. It's a rather fun tale, recounted every fall to anyone who will come sit by the fountain and listen to the old story.
Summary
The story tells the tale of when ghosts started eating away at the freshly picked harvest of a town hidden in the woods. This, of course, was very bad for the town.
This reached the ears of a small group of kids, who prepared for the next harvest to attempt and drive the ghosts away. Upon the first day of the harvest, the kids dressed up as monsters and prowled the streets, going door to door asking for food and supplies to make more monster costumes.
More and more kids joined this midnight parade the next day, all under their monstrous disguise, looking for the ghosts. Sadly, none were found that day.
On the third day, almost all of the kids in the town had joined, and on this night hunt, they found the ghosts snacking on some pumpkins. The group's disguises were apparently convincing enough to scare the ghosts and drive them away, and so the harvest was saved. In their honor, the Harvest Festival was created, a tradition where the kids (and sometimes adults) dress up as monsters and go door to door asking for candy, and trading what has been harvested from the crops of that year.
This reached the ears of a small group of kids, who prepared for the next harvest to attempt and drive the ghosts away. Upon the first day of the harvest, the kids dressed up as monsters and prowled the streets, going door to door asking for food and supplies to make more monster costumes.
More and more kids joined this midnight parade the next day, all under their monstrous disguise, looking for the ghosts. Sadly, none were found that day.
On the third day, almost all of the kids in the town had joined, and on this night hunt, they found the ghosts snacking on some pumpkins. The group's disguises were apparently convincing enough to scare the ghosts and drive them away, and so the harvest was saved. In their honor, the Harvest Festival was created, a tradition where the kids (and sometimes adults) dress up as monsters and go door to door asking for candy, and trading what has been harvested from the crops of that year.
Spread
The story has spread across the world, the tradition along with it. Any village or city with crops has a harvest festival, and all of those festivals are to honor that same myth.
In Literature
The story has been written and sold in book form in multiple formats, and some have even put on small plays of the myth's events.
A happy ending and a tradition! I like it. I like that it leads to an event that resembles Halloween and it's familiar enough to imagine it, yet it is different enough to keep me interested, not knowing how thing would go for the kids.
I forgot to mention: I really liked the image :)
Thank you so much! I'm very happy with how it turned out in the end. I'm glad you liked the article! :D