PlayOnline wrote:
The delightful Doll Festival takes the town by storm once more, with succulent sweets for all!
The astute adventurer is already aware that the Doll Festival is a timeless tradition originating in the Far East, kupo.
Pastries made of rice are eating in hopes for the health and happiness of young girls the world over, and delightful dolls adorn the shelves for all to see.
This fantastic festival has reached the Middle Lands in more recent times, but some knew of it even during the Crystal War, kupo. Of course, culture changes when embraced by a new environment.
But that's how the cookie crumbles!
Most incredibly important of all, kupo, is that celebrants enjoy themselves. And this year is no exception!
Read on for a stirring story about a Doll Festival celebration some twenty years ago.
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All it took was one of Kaark's magnificent dolls for my mother to start waxing poetic about her younger years.
The two of us were virtually inseparable. One day, a couple weeks after the Doll Festival had passed, he brought one of his goldsmith parents' dolls to show me. It was a regal figure, of the latest fashion with threads woven fine silk, and a countenance, he opined, that resembled my own.
I was all set to forgive him his usual capricious mischief, too.
What a mistake that would have been,
He flipped a brass switch in the back-why would a doll for the festival have a switch, anyway?-and the doll took several precarious steps forward. Eight...nine...ten...KABOOM!
"I rigged it with a self-destruct switch? Ain't it something?"
I burst into tears and my mother came scrambling over.
Kaark stood mouth agape, as if I hadn't the slightest inkling of what could be troubling me so. Mother sighed and shook her head.
"Dolls are supposed to bring people happiness. Do you think someone would be happy to see one explode?"
"...Y-yes...?"
"If you treat a doll right, she'll be your faithful companion for years to come. I think it'd bring a smile to your face, too, to see someone cherish something you made.
As she spoke, she reached up atop the chest of draws and pulled down the same tattered doll that we arranged for the festival ever since I could remember.
Its hair was starting to fall out, and even "interesting" would be too pretty a word for it. It was, Mother explained, a present the girl next door gave her when she was just a child. And so began her tale.
"Do you know what the Doll Festival is?"
"The what?"
"It's a festival especially for girls celebrated by people from the Far East. They adorn their house with dolls and circle around them."
"To a doll?"
"That's right. Their custom is to clasp their hands together and thank their dolls."
She lifted up her hands, clapped them together, and solemnly encircled the doll.
"That's so weird!"
"It's from a culture much different than ours, so of course it's weird! But it's fun, isn't it?"
"Yeah!"
Mother's friend was quite worldly for her age, and Mother looked up to her like an older sister. So of course following the girl's lead didn't strike her as one bit out of the ordinary.
Several days later, the girl brought over two old wooden dolls that she had made herself.
"Look! A prince and princess doll! Mom says that during the Doll Festival people in the Far East decorate their houses with them!"
"But if the festival is just for girls, then how come there's a boy doll?"
"I-it's not a prince it's...a servant! To bring the princess doll food!"
"Oh, that makes sense."
"If you want, I'll give you this one as a present," the girl said, proffering my mother the "servant" doll.
"Really? Are you sure!"
"Yeah! I want you to have it."
What the girl was unable to say was that she wanted Mother to have it in her stead.
That was the last Mother saw of the girl.
It wasn't until a letter arrive from the port in Selbina that mother finally understood why the girl had given her the doll.
She had to move to the Far East because of her parents' work, the letter said.
It was just after the Crystal War had ended, and postal services had not yet fully resumed, so Mother received the letter a full two months after it had been sent. Maybe she had already moved-there was no way to tell.
The season for the Doll Festival had passed, and the scars on the land had started to heal. Notions rebuilt, people recovered, and eventually my mother god married, moved to the markets, and gave birth to me. Word of this Far Eastern custom spread, and it was not long before each and every home had their own set of dolls specifically for the festival.
And each year, it was that tiny wooden doll that Mother brought out for decoration.
Monther gently released me from her embrace and Kaark smiled weakly.
"Sorry. I'll make you a new one."
Mother proverbially gave him the booth.
Kaark looked back, "I promise the next one won't explode."
"Th-thanks. And, uh..."
"Yeah?"
"It was quite pretty before it went boom."
He raised his eyebrows and smiled back weakly.
My heart skipped a beat.
Story: Miyabi Hasegawa
Illustration: Mitsuhiro Arita
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- Event Period
- Festive Decorations
Southern San d'Oria / Northern San d'Oria
Bastok Mines / Bastok Markets
Windurst Waters (north side) / Windurst Woods
Speak with any of these furry friends to obtain various Doll Festival-themed items for you to enjoy.
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