A Guide Book to the Great Tree by Kathryn Huang Page A

sky for more dancing and fancy flying. By daybreak, most owls are exhausted and return to their nests and hollows for a most restful day of sleep.
    OWLIPOPPEN FESTIVAL
    The Owlipoppen Festival takes place on the night of the first full moon after Founder’s Night. It’s a minor festival, but also one of the oldest. I have loved going to this festival ever since I was an owlet. And even though I am a fully fledged owl, a ryb at the great tree no less, I have never ceased to get a thrill out of seeing all those colorful owlipoppen. While I am usually not a fan of ostentatious displays, this festival is just so full of history and artistic expression that I cannot help but love it.
    In this festival, elaboratly decorated owlipoppen—little owl dolls made from down, molted feathers, and sometimes twigs—are loaded up on makeshift rafts and sent out to sea with the tide with the wish that they take with them any bad luck for the coming year.
    This festival is steeped in tradition. It began in the coastal regions of the Southern Kingdoms thousands of years ago as a cleansing ritual. Originally, owls would gather their molted feathers and rub them all over themselves. Misfortune was thought to have been transferred to the feathers. The feathers would then be cast off into the sea, and the owl would have nothing but good luck throughout the year. Soon, owls who lived along rivers began to pick up the custom as well, sending their molted feathers downriver.
    This ritual evolved into the making of owlipoppen. These days, owls sometimes begin making the elaborate dolls weeks before the festival. They are often much fancier than the owlipoppen that parents make for their chicks. Feathers are dyed using the juices from berries and grasses. And if there are owlets in the family, they help to decorate the finished dolls with leaves, nuts, and small stones. The night before the festival, owls gather to make a raft. They tie sticks and twigs together with dried vines to make a large floating platform for the owlipoppen.
    On the night of the festival, all the owls in the community bring their owlipoppen to the shore and place them on the raft. Everyone admires the other owlipoppenand sings the “Good Luck Song” together. I had been fairly certain that the song is a recent addition to the festival. My research proved me right—it was written and first sung by Madame Uli Plonk, a singer at the great tree only two centuries ago.

Luck be in my feathers, sorrows I untether
    Luck be in my feathers for all that I will weather
    Gather at the waters
    Owls of all the land
    All my sons and daughters
    Let ill omens be banned
    Come sing a joyful note
    To help improve our lot
    Sorrows that yonder float
    Shall quickly be forgot
    Let the owlipoppen drift
    Toward the light of dawn
    In waters that run swift
    Our fortunes be redrawn
    Luck be in my feathers, sorrows I untether
    Luck be in my feathers for all that I will weather
    When the tide is right, the owl who has been designated as “Lucky Owl” for the festival (usually some sort of community leader), pushes the raft into the sea or river. As the owlipoppen float out over the water, all the owls who have gathered take to the skies and hoot and holler as loudly as they can to give any bad luck a proper sendoff. The night ends with the choosing of the Lucky Owl for next year’s Owlipoppen Festival.
    EGG FESTIVAL
    The Egg Festival takes place on the first equal-night of the year, when the length of the day is the same as the lengthof the night. It is the night that marks the beginning of spring—one of the most important times of the year for owls, for it is the time when most eggs are laid and the next generation comes into being. The Egg Festival celebrates this process.
    This is not a festival full of feasts and gatherings as some others are. It is one that is observed unfussily. Nevertheless, it is full of significance for owlkind.
    Rituals vary from region to