Water Feasts

The Water Feasts celebrate the annual flooding of the rivers in Antarak that makes their fields fertile enough to farm and is the only time when barely anyone will be working. People get three days off of their usual duties unless it is something absolutely vital: the day before, for preparation; the day itself, for the celebration; and the day after, for recovery and cleanup.

Execution

On the day of the flooding families will go throughout the day for picnics on the banks of the nearest river with traditional sweets and snacks of the day, keeping the meals light and easy to eat. It is after the flooding has occurred, in the evenings and nights, that things pick up. Adults will construct temporary floating rafts on the water and put floating lights in the water around them. It is on these sprawling rafts that people congregate with music and dances and alcohol, but the main highlight is the meat. Farmers, the wealthy and anyone who owns livestock will have picked an animal to slaughter during the day, with around a third being eaten by the family that day, often as part of the picnics during the day, and the rest brought to the rafts. Here any food is thrown together into huge metal pans or onto spits and cooked and distributed for free to anyone who wants it.
The day after, of course, is for nursing headaches and exhaustion while the temporary ramps are taken apart again and the furniture put away, the cooking utensils cleaned and packed up and any leftovers distributed to the needy.

Participants

Every person who is able to will take part, and everyone of every class takes part with no segregation between them, though children generally do not participate in the evening celebrations. People with vital jobs, such as healers and other civil servants, will take part in which aspects they can. Servants are explicitly allowed the days off, leaving the nobles to fend for themselves, though it is not uncommon in more relaxed households for servants to essentially be part of the family and take part in the celebrations alongside them.

Observance

The date of the flooding always varies slightly and are calculated by the scholars a few weeks prior to give people time to prepare. They occur in the middle-to-end of the thawing season (spring) and take place over three days, with the actual day of celebration occurring far into the night.