Reenactment Festival

In Willowshore, following a massive feast to celebrate the end of the season on the last day of spring, the town reenacts people being snatched away by “ghosts” (played by villagers in paper masks); the townsfolk then pretend to plunge into collective panic as designated wailers mourn loudly, while others play out a search and rescue effort.  This farce is believed to trick real ghosts into thinking that someone has already haunted the settlement and thus convince them to seek a happier village to inflict misery upon.  The abductees must spend the night wrapped in straw mats until they’re “ransomed” in the morning by the local in charge of that year's Reenactment Festival.