Not much is written in many fantasy (or other fictional books) about foot staples of the world. I try to correct that oversight by describing the cultural importance of things like grain and what different regions have for food. I was posting recipes that would come from different regions for a while until I kinda ran out of recipes because life got complicated. I'm hoping to resume this on a semi-regular basis in the fall after the kids go back to school.
Wheat in the central Evandari kingdom of Dakon-Bar is the primary grain staple but in the northern region that is the foothills of the Dragon's Teeth mountain range, barley and oats play a bigger role. Both of these grains ripen at approximately the same time (for the sake of my story's world building. In actuality, they ripen on slightly different schedules) and can be planted both in the spring and in the autumn. Seed put in the ground in autumn will winter over in the fallow fields and come up in spring to be ready to harvest approximately in mid-summer. Seed sown in spring pops up in autumn.
The first harvest is of great importance to the people of Dakon-Bar. The First Harvest Festival is accompanied by feasting, bonfires, and feats of athleticism. The final sheaf of grain in the field is gathered by the people and presented with great solemnity to their liege lord as tribute. While the grain is commonly taken in as tribute, this ritual tithe is one that formally acknowledges the bonds of oath between liege lord and their subordinates down to the level of serf.
During the First Harvest Festival, it is common for squires to receive knighthood and for apprentices and journeymen to advance in rank in their guilds because they are recognized as completed their required season(s) of service for advancement. Many of the common folk count the First Harvest as their date of reckoning for the sake of their age, but this tradition is fading out and being replaced by counting Winters, as is done in many of the other six kingdoms of Evandar.
Where the final sheaf of grain is presented as tribute to the liege lord, the first one is dressed in ribbons and paraded around the field and town until it is presented as an offering to the goddess Roen. This offering is a celebratory thing, unlike the solemnity of the tribute to the liege lord. Songs accompany the first sheaf and people will bear torches with it in the course of its journey from the field to the temple. The torches represent the light of Sigurt, Roen's consort. It is a ritual protection of the fertility of the harvest from the withering touch of Morguthu, the god of decay and darkness.
The first sheaf of grain will remain in the sanctuary of Roen's temple until it is time for planting. Then seeds will be given out from the sheaf to the people to perpetuate the prosperity and fertility of the harvest later in the year. If a community receives but one seed, it doesn't matter because the single seed carries the blessing of Roen to the entire field. Grain storage silos are dedicated to Roen and considered holy places, as are that which is associated with processing raw grain into foodstuffs. (That, however, is a topic for another day.)
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