Papaýala

Papaýala is a primarily Kala'adrin harvest festival celebrated in parts of Filia and Sona between 2 August and 12 August. It is the holy week of Míshikal (the Pioneer Dynasty god of plenty) and celebrates the peak harvest season for fruits. It also commemorates the old Filian myth of the Devayávan.
The most famous Papaýala celebration begins at and is hosted by Yava'manna-el-Filia, before spilling out into the streets of nearby Odaïsha.

History

The celebration of Papaýala has diverse and ancient roots. Ancient clay beads can be found deep in the soil of the old forests of Sona that closely resemble the bright, lemon-shaped hymnal beads worn by worshippers around Papaýala; diviners have traced these beads' origins back to the earliest human tribes in the Age of Tranquility. The dances and songs most associated with the holiday have evolved from sun elven folk tradition stretching back to the Uplifting of the Elves.
The modern celebration of Papaýala stems from the wood elf immigrants from Scalados, who brought the traditions of Daghnasadh along with them. These traditions merged over time with the sun elves' summer offering-dances to Míshikal and the legend of the Devayavan to create the holiday as is celebrated today.

Execution

Celebrants begin their pilgrimage towards the celebration with a prayer and song at dawn on 2 August. In Odaïsha, this journey always begins from the base of the Our Lady of the Bounty statue at the mouth of Odaïsha Harbor, and ends late that evening at the outer walls of Yava'manna-el-Filia. The pilgrims typically begin with a collection from the fruit harvest already in tow and collect more from farmers that offer it along the road or join the journey along the way. Once the pilgrims reach their destination, they gather all the offerings in a central location (the gates of Yava'manna-el-Filia, for instance) and leave them for priests, nuns, or temple maids to collect in the night. They camp outside of their destination and rise with song and dance in the morning. By noon, the priests have divided the blessings into thirds and laid out the pilgrims' portions for them to collect and eat.
More dancing and singing send the highest priests of the temple off to a sacred, secluded flower grove with the devas' portion of the offering. While the laypeople commune at the temple, periodically singing and praying, these priests pass each individual piece of fruit around in a circle amongst themselves, singing a short prayer dedicating each piece to a god before passing it around the circle to the next person. Each god is venerated in order: Mishikal, Danu, Dagda, (I think 4 more). These prayers alone can take well over thirty hours at larger temples, and the priests usually divide themselves and the bounties into small groups so that they can sleep in shifts.
Yávan dove are called to the grove and sent back to the temples as the prayers end, signaling that the pilgrims at the home temple should begin the pilgrimage to the grove. They sing praises to each god as they walk, eventually forming a loop around the sacred grove and circling it seven times while counting out particular mantras on their prayer beads. Once the cycle is completed, both the pilgrims and the priests return to where they camped on the first night of the holiday and rest in silence for two nights and one day.
After the rest period, celebrants process back through the city in a massive parade of song and dance. The brilliantly colored costumes worn in this period, hand-embroidered and trimmed with noisemaking beads and spangles, are often the finest clothing celebrants own. Priests hand out fruit along the route to all who ask for it. The remaining days of the holiday feature music, dances, games, and feasting shared by all members of the community; in Odaïsha, this massive festival is one of the most popular seasons for tourists.

Components and tools

Papaýala requires large amounts of fresh fruit for the offering rituals. In Filia, farmers and orchard owners tend to donate especially generously to large Papaýala celebrations (particularly the one at Yava'manna), both as an expression of faith and as a symbol of their status in the community (as generosity is typically seen as a marker of high morals and good fortune in Filian culture). One-third of the harvest is left as an offering to the devas, one-third of the harvest feeds the pilgrims and priests during their , and one-third of the harvest is passed between the pilgrims and the community during the processional at the end of the festival, to be shared and enjoyed by all.
Repeated prayers and songs are usually counted with specially-made prayer beads. These often incorporate the amanna bead into their design. Strings of prayer beads are usually intricate and personalized; bright glass and enamel, small semiprecious stones, bamboo wood, and coffee beans or other hard seeds are often incorporated into their design as well.

by fraboof

Pilgrims gathered outside the gates of Yava'manna-el-Filia in the early days of Papaýala.
—

Fruit offerings gathered to be sorted.
—

by சித்திரவீதிக்காரன்

The parade of the pilgrims leaves Yava'manna-el-Filia in the last stages of the festival.

Primary Related Location

Yava'manna-el-Filia

Important Locations

• Filia
• Odaïsha
• Sona

Related Organizations

• Aldanuvian Orders

Related Ethnicities

• Kala'adrin
• Sun Elf

Papaýala in other locales

This article largely focuses on the largest celebration of Papaýala, the one that takes place at Yava'manna-el-Filia. More remote communities of Aldanuvian faithful celebrate some version of the holiday as far south as Cortodán. With fewer priests and fewer donations to bless, the first rites of the holiday are usually much shorter, but the entire period is still considered holy. The additional time is sometimes filled with pilgrimages to particularly remote groves, and sometimes with additional days of dancing and feasting, depending on the community.