To understand the importance of Fern Day, I will take you back in time to before there was a Fern Day. To before we lived here on this Island, in this City. It was a desperate time then. We were refugees washed up on a shore of fate. There were hundreds of us camped out in desperate conditions in front of a giant wall with huge, towering gates. All we sought was a new home, another chance for some, the first for others. Some of us didn't even know how we had gotten there. Some, like I, had come after wandering aimlessly, brought there by the call of friends. My last home had sunk beneath the waves, as had theirs, and now we gathered, waiting. The one thing everyone was sure of, was that behind those massive gates, lay our new beginning, our new HOME.
There were many attempts to breach those gates, to storm those walls, all in vain. Many a hardy soul tried to follow the walls, to find another opening. The area around our groupings of camps were filled with swamps and heavy undergrowth, and finally a thick mist that was even hard to breath in. Yet despite this, refugees continued to come. Come and camp before the gates waiting. Attempts to tunnel beneath the wall were met with frustration as the wall seemed to extend underground. But we continued to try. In between trying we huddled around campfires, and shared stories of our past, and visions of the future home we sought behind the gates.
There were many groups formed there. The PropHats were an unusual order who managed to make various alcoholic drinks from the mushrooms growing there. They had a party almost every night and sometimes the breeze from their spinning beanies were the only air moving on hot sultry days. There were the newbies, who had come from nowhere, and didn't know why they were there, even what they were seeking. There was one tough pack that frankly scared most of the others. I myself was with a group of friends called the Caribers. We had all come from the Island of Club Caribe which had sunk beneath the waves. We sought the rebirth of our old world in this new one.
Finally a decree came down! The Chosen one's were gathered up from their different groups and moved to right in front of the gates. Surely it would be soon, our wait was at an end! I was among those chosen and we were told that we would now be called the 'Beta Testers' and that we would be the first to enter the gates. Yet the gates still remained closed! Forms were signed, physicals were passed. There was now a second invisible wall in the camp between those chosen and those who had not been. And time continued to pass, days, weeks..
Then the word came! We collected our meager belongings. Meager for some, you would not believe what I was bringing with me and we trooped through the gate to A Dock it was just a ship's dock on a tumultuous Sea. And then on the horizon, coming nearer, there she was. The Argo. She was not our home, but she would take us to it. It was a ship I could not wait to get on, but more importantly I was eager to get off at the other end.
We were given warnings before we boarded that it was our job to make the world safe for those who came after us. We had been chosen to pioneer this world. Most thought that this was a brand new world. But there were more than a few of us there who knew that it was an old world we were to make new. At that time, however, we did not even wonder what had happened to it before. All we cared about was our future on it and our now. We were ready for the challenge. There was so much in the way of supplies that the Argo also had to carry, that only one passenger at a time seemed to be able to board, and yet, we all seemed to be moving fast. It was probably our anxiety.
Finally, the beta testers, the chosen, arrived at their new home. As they stepped off the Argo in wonder, they stepped on ferns releasing a fragrance into the air. We had all been holding our breaths for so long, but now, finally, on solid land, on the soil of our new home, we let it out and we breathed in the fragrance of the ferns. The smell that forever after would remind us that we had come home.
This may not be the First Age of Avatars, and we may not be the last, but this is OUR time.
Our time to celebrate, rejoice, and remember how it started, and how far we've come.
There were many trials and tribulations in the coming months, and now the years that have followed that historic day. The Beta Testers had to take on the Crash Family almost every moment of their days. They met practically ever member, from the daughter, Graceful Termination, to the numerous sons. Memory Drain, the lag triplets, (Lag, Lag Bubble, and Terminal Lag), just to name a few. Not to mention the father Crash, and his two brothers, Crash Burn and Reboot. There was no turfs, very few containers. Not that the storage was an issue, most of our items were confiscated and still sits in the impound area but that's another story. Not even changing rooms. We had no seats even, so we all stood all the time and leaned against the buildings at night. There was no park, and most of the buildings were closed yet. Still we managed, and we made our home safe to be opened for others.
A year later, our home had grown and prospered so much. We chose to celebrate the arrival of the first to the world with Fern Day. To mark the memory of our coming. We didn't even know at that time, that our Fern Day coincided with another's, the Natives celebration of Fern Day. All we knew was that the Ferns were our strongest collective memory of coming home. And so now, every August 1st, we celebrate Fern Day. Ferns have come to mark our arrival to this land, and more than a few departures from our ranks. They provided coverage before paints when people were ashamed to be seen in the same clothes for so long. They provide sustenance to our pet teddies and lizards and have added flavor to more then one Beta Tester Refugee Stew. They can be found practically everywhere on the Island, filling the air with fragrance and happy memories. We celebrate our home, our lives, our friendships, and our future with Ferns.
May there be many more Fern Days to come.
Saturday