Canthan New Year - the Festival Finale!

The finale of the New Year's celebrations is the visitation of the deity of the year - in this case, the Celestial Pig.

Traditionally, chef's prepare special dishes as offerings, in exchange for health and good fortune for the coming year.

Having completed some of the festival quests, you'll have acquired a stack of Lunar Tokens. You'll need these ;-) By the Festival Coordinator are the five chefs - if you talk to them, they'll tell you what ingredients they'll need.

When the hour approaches, the Festival Coordinator starts a countdown, and the chefs start calling out for their ingredients. Everyone piles over and makes sure they have what they need, so that they can prepare their dish.

When the countdown reaches zero, the Celestial Pig appears! He visits each chef in turn, and they describe their dish before offering it up to the deity.

If all 5 chefs have completed their dishes, the Celestial Pig bestows his blessings, in the form of a special Pig mini-pet. It's not just in Halo where Warthogs rule, you know ;-)

The Emperor also bestows his blessings, and if you have enough Lunar Tokens, you get a special festival mask, as well as 16 lucky red goody bags. Inside each red bag are 3 fireworks.

The Celestial Pig then summons his Warthog attendants, and runs around the monastery, sharing his blessings, and letting off a tonne of fireworks. Great stuff.

Me, I 'pigged' out on some Red Bean Cake, which has a great effect - a sugar rush which boosts your speed in towns by 25% for 5 minutes ;-)

I then partook of some rice wine, which is a personal favourite:

And then I had some more:

And then I had some more:

At which time it was hard to move, and I kept on sitting down without meaning too.

After things had died down (and the rice wine had worn off) I paid a visit to the Festival Hat Maker in the main square. For a small fee they will duplicate any hat designs you bring them.

I've got 5 Lion Masks to give away to the first 5 Guild members who ask - form an orderly queue! I may also have some rice wine and fireworks to share around too ;-)

Cheers,
TOM

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