The following message is posted on the bulletin board:
"I am honored to once again organize the Festival of the Dawning, a time and ceremony that honors new beginnings and the blessings of the Spring season. We honor the best of the human spirit during this time by exchanging tokens, in our case, bells. We share bells amongst one another when we begin a new venture, friendship, or relationship of some sort. It is also a time to recognize the way our friendships, relationships, and groups have grown closer and changed during the past year. I encourage you to offer a bell to someone who shares something personal with you, offers you assistance with no reward in return, or begins a new journey or venture with you. I also encourage you to take a moment to reflect with those close to you the ways you have grown your relationships and changed together as people.
At the end of this festival we will come together to honor the person who has received the most bells. This person is crowned the Monarch of Spring, a title that recognizes that their spirit honors the virtues of community and new growth of spring. This person shall receive a bag containing all of the festival bells, which we call the Heart of the Town. The Monarch shall be empowered to use the Heart to inspire their comrades over the following year, filling their hearts with hopeful energy. No monarch shall rule two years in a row. Although last year’s impulse to share the crown was admirable, I must ask that only one Monarch be crowned due to practical concerns. I am deeply grateful that I am able to engage with you all in this rite to hope and community."
-Ffion MacKenna
[OOG cultural knowledge: The festival is about meeting new people and starting new things together. If someone shares a personal piece of information with you, you should give them one of your bells (if you have any). Sharing goals and hopes for the future are particularly encouraged. If you and one or more people start a new friendship, group, business venture, what have you, the initiator should get a bell from someone else in the arrangement. This may apply as a way to reflect upon relationships built during the past year. Selling, stealing, or forcibly taking bells is taboo and considered deeply bad luck.]