Eggster Festival

In ancient times, long before Famas was founded, there were many unusual animals in the lands of the Alliance of States. One of the most amazing was the egg-popper — one-eyed hares with chicken wings and crests.

Adults reached the size of a small dog, with a wingspan of about a meter. The more pampered an egg-popper grew with age, the older and wiser it became.

Even dry and dying forests, inhabited by flocks of egg-poppers, always became greener and grew thicker. Many other birds came to them, and other animals followed. The trees on which the egg-poppers built their nests became especially wide-branching and tall.

All this gave rise to the stories that egg-popper eggs held incredible powers — they promoted longevity and cured almost any disease. It was believed that a creature who drank such an egg at least once a year became invulnerable, for that period, not only to disease but to weapons. The shell was used to decorate armour and amulets, and it was a good tradition to bury a piece of one beneath the foundation of a house, so it would be safe and rich for all who lived or visited there. The nests of egg-poppers were constantly sought and ravaged; there were egg-seekers who dedicated their whole lives to it, earning great fortunes.

In time there were no eggs left from which young could hatch, and for at least two centuries nothing was heard of the egg-poppers. They were remembered only in legends and fairy tales — these strange hare-hens of the old world.

Then word got out that a pair of egg-poppers lived in the mountains south of the Alliance. Before any of the many hunters and scientists could reach them, the animals were caught by Samon's subordinates and brought to Famas.

A spacious reserve was set aside for the last two egg-poppers, outside the residential areas, north of the Niprod River. Within a year, thanks to the strange properties of the creatures, the trees inside grew more splendid than before, and the grass, flowers, and saplings began to push through the fence. In a few years it had turned into a small, beautiful forest — and the locals of Famas began to hold a festival in it, which later became an annual event.

Plush egg-poppers are placed on many of the trees, nests built for them, and large multi-coloured eggs filled with candies and coins set inside. Adults and children alike try to hit the nests with stones and break the eggs open for the gifts. They shake the trees, climb them. Sometimes an egg turns out not to hold candy at all — and here and there you can see people with whites and yolks running down their heads, or with a piece of shell that has fallen from above.

Various game sections are set on the lawns. In one, near knightly tournaments are held — creatures on bicycles (sometimes roller skates) charge at one another and try to catch the rival in the face with a raw egg. In another, a mechanical egg-popper flying several metres up drops eggs on whoever runs and shouts beneath it.

Nothing is thrown at the youngest children, as a rule, to spare them from harm or fright; instead workshops are held where they paint the same kind of eggs themselves.

The Eggster Festival is traditionally held in spring, but piñatas in the shape of eggs and stuffed with candies, and hats shaped like raw eggs, are popular at celebrations throughout the year.