Mushroom Tuft
Mushroom Tuft is an event celebrated by the Faeries of Twilight Glade. It's a time for foraging, healing, art, song, and - of course - magic. Read or watch more below…
Towards the end of autumn in Twilight Glades there is a proliferation of unusual mushrooms. Many are edible and make a huge contribution to faeries' winter food store, so the mushroom season is vitally important to them. Of those mushrooms that aren’t useful as a food source, most are useful for healing or as ingredients in other potions and spells.
Burial Bell, Fool’s Mushroom, Leshavit’s Horns, Rhysa’s Spade, Spear Point, Sticky Kiss, and Queen’s Stare are all poisonous mushrooms, yet are still valuable. Some faeries use them as weapons, or in small doses within potions, or even as part of grander ritual magic.
Mushroom Tuft is an event celebrated on the second day of the month of Barkhollow. This allows the mushroom growth to be at its peak, but also gives the animals of the forest time to eat some too. From midnight to midnight, faeries scour the forest collecting as many mushrooms as they can. Some are tasked with gathering only healing mushrooms, while a select few concentrate their efforts on the poisonous varieties. The faeries sing as they go, choosing songs that feel right for the place they find themselves and the company they keep. They also heal as they go, treating sick and injured plants and animals without question.
The faeries take baskets of mushrooms back to Nightshade as they are filled, where Mushroom Keepers sort the different types. Teams of Faeries prepare the mushrooms for storage, while also cooking the mushroom-based feast for the following day.
When the gathering is completed at the second midnight, many faeries fall into exhausted sleep, while others join in with feast preparations. Some Faeries find themselves so exhausted (and potentially influenced by mushroom juice) that they create great works of art, poetry or music. This work is called a ‘Blooming’ and is highly valued by the community. Faeries view it as art in its purest form from nature, drawn up through the earth and expressed through the individual.
The day of the feast is quiet as the Faeries rest or create great works, then in mid-afternoon Faeries begin playing music as the inspiration hits them. The Faeries gradually come out of their homes to join in the choir of voices, where they sing old songs celebrating Mushroom Tuft and the harvest. After several hours the music stops and they begin their joyous feast, consisting of many mushroom dishes.
At the end of the feast Queen Diana is presented with the final mushroom from the previous years' feast, called the Final Grow, and she gives a speech about the importance of Mushroom Tuft to them all. She eats the Final Grow while the Faeries rejoice, and the party begins in earnest with drinking, dancing and singing to the following dawn.
