Festival of the Returning Swallows

Celebrated in the spring when the sparrows return to a particular area. The exact date of the festival varies by region dependent on the birds arrival.

Execution

The swallows usually arrive in large flocks numbering in the hundreds to thousands, so it is not hard to determine when they have arrived.  Once they have been spotted, especially in rural areas, farmers and villagers through a celebration as the return of the swallows heralds the spring planting season has begun.
Most of the celebrations are traditional in nature and involved music, dance, and a ceremonial planting of the first crops, usually in the corner of the village green.  Celebrants decorate their homes and themselves with feathers of many different birds that they have access to, often these are just chicken feathers as they are the easiest to come by for most folks. Boys play games trying to snatch feathers from each others hair, and girls try to find the purest, most perfect feather, to present as a gift to their parents, if they are young, and to a special boy, if they are old enough to start courting.