Book 19: Home

Oakley

The wedding ritual always takes place during the last full night of the Harvest Festival. Tomorrow, and well into tomorrow night, everyone from the tribes and packs scattered across the Deadlands will pack up and depart for home, wherever that may be. 

I’ve always been fascinated by weddings here. It’s a group ceremony with all of the engaged or handfasted couples who met and married quickly over the winter months, and occasionally the mates who met during the spring mating balls. Mates who met during this festival season’s mating balls also, occasionally, have a chance to join the ceremony, but some do wait until next year, choosing to handfast so more time can be taken to pay bride prices and make dresses for the grand event. 

The whole pack comes to watch the ceremony. The wedding takes place on the top of the hill the festiva