The Last Heat
The Harvest Drinks
"The Connection" and "The Last Heat" are Grayburn's representative drinks of the first and second harvest festival respectively. The Last Heat is an overall term covering any type of hot spicy drink, originating from the northern parts of Grayburn. It is drunk at the very last day of the second harvest festival, representing the last shared heat before everyone goes home and prepares for the Cold season. Because it is prepared with local ingredients, which are donated in varying quantities by locals, its recipe not only differs from place to place, but even from year to year.History
In the northern parts of Grayburn, the Cold season involves snow and periods of freezing temperatures. Knowing the Cold season is about to arrive, the second harvest festival is celebrated with many hot meals and shared fires. A tradition formed to consume a hot beverage at last night of the festival. It is unclear when this originates from, but it appears to have been long before the first working steam engine was produced in 1 SY.
As Grayburn became more and more connected, with people spreading around, the northern harvest festival traditions spread. In the end, they ended up adapted all over Grayburn, despite them not fitting local circumstances. Even in the smallest villages near the humid rainforest, people will still consume a hot drink at the end of the second harvest festival.
Observance
The Grayfolk have two harvest seasons, the first just before the hottest period of the year, the second shortly before the Cold season. In both harvest seasons, after trading at towns, harvest festivals take place at all settlements. At the first day of the harvest festival, people will donate ingredients for The Last Heat. At the last day, the drink will be prepared and handed out.
People will receive equal shares, until finally not a single drop remains. If one of the ingredients was donated in such excess that the drink would be dominated too much by it, the excess usually is donated. All other ingredients would end up consumed.
In villages, the donation is at a single point. In towns and cities, one's prefered bar or tavern would be the place to donate. The middle class and upper class buy ingredients instead, handing the same amount as they spent to The Gray Church.
Various Last Heat recipes
- Hot Amber
- Carrot juice
- Pear juice
- Cloudberry liquor
- Various spices
- Red Tea
- Herbal tea
- Red berry juice
- Fermented sugar beet
- Egged Honey
- Eggs
- Milk
- Sugar
- Honey
- Cherry liquor
- Pepper
Related Ethnicities
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