The Festival of the Tartuga

"Oh Joyous day" The tall dark man in a long robe shouted through the streets, with a large sculpture of a dragon being carried behind him. He grabs a child and spins her around, shouting "Celebrate child, it is the day of Tartuga, the mother of us all", the child screams and squeals with laughter, and jumps up and down when she is finally placed on the floor. The parade continues throughout the town, ending at the town hall, where the robed man takes his place on the podium.
"You all know why we are here today, to celebrate the birth of our mother Tartuga" The crowd whispers "Our Mother Tartuga" and the robed man continues. "But in case the tale of our mother has slipped your mind, I shall retell it for you. One thousand years ago today, our mother Tartuga was created. She materialized from all the good she could gather in the world, and became a pinnacle of peace, light and hope. But, others did not see her this way. You see, our mother Tartuga, took the form of an elegant dragon, and the humans allowed themselves to be consumed by fear, and hatred, they hunted our mother down, and slaughtered her in cold blood." A gasp came from the crowd. "But even in her dying breaths, she vowed to protect us and watch over us. That is why we celebrate today ladies and gentleman. That is why we make sure that her memory is not forgotten. Now please, join me in prayer."
After the ceremony, it was getting dark, so families rushed home to complete the day, by drinking hot red wine and reading excerpts from the sacred text. The wine is a symbol of the blood spilled by Tartuga the day she died, the heat meant to make the drinker feel warm and safe. Well, that's what the robed man said anyway. Who knows, it could all be lies.

History

This tradition started on the year anniversary of Tartuga's death. The human's realized their mistake after a year of plague, and began praising Tartuga in hopes that she would take pity on them and wipe the plague. It worked, so since then they've been praising her, hoping for good health. In the parade, there used to be an effigy of Tartuga that was stuffed full of gunpowder, thrown up in the air and then burned, but this was cancelled after the Great Tartuga fire of 1606, the robed man assumed it was because it displeased Tartuga, not the fact that it was on fire.

Execution

The timeline goes like so: 6am - The morning bells are rung. 6:30am - Locals are expected to gather around their front doors and sing hymns into the streets. 9am-7pm - A 10 hour long service made to praise Tartuga. 8pm- Residents are expected to drink the wine and read the sacred scripts. 10pm- Prayers and Hymns are said into the street while holding candles, to provide hope to Tartuga.