2026 Star Festival Prompt
The Wishing Tree (1): A Destiny City Star Festival Tradition to be held every year; In Town Square, there is a beautiful tree with spreading branches. It is tall, but the lowest branches are easily reached. The city has decorated the tree with small, starlike ornaments and glistening lights. Thick leaves and beautiful purple flowers dangle from the branches, along with a myriad of different colored papers with handwritten wishes. Next to the tree is a stack of blank paper with twine attached, and a handwritten sign that explains:
Write your wish on a sheet of paper and tie it to the tree. Take one wish off the tree and do your best to grant it. When you have granted the wish, bury the paper in the park.
The papers are biodegradable and filled with seeds. There are no rules for wishing, but you are encouraged to wish for something vague enough that it can be interpreted in many ways so that it can be granted; you do not write your name on it, but it is encouraged to write something that doesn't wish for self gain, but rather something that can make the world a better place. Some wishes dangling from the tree already include things like "I wish there wasn't so much litter in the park," "I wish someone would clean the graffiti off the old historic buildings," and "I wish there were more volunteers at the shelter."
If you choose to use the Wishing Tree, what do you wish for? If your wish is private, you may write it on the paper and choose a spot in the park and bury it yourself instead of hanging it on the tree.
Write your wish on a sheet of paper and tie it to the tree. Take one wish off the tree and do your best to grant it. When you have granted the wish, bury the paper in the park.
The papers are biodegradable and filled with seeds. There are no rules for wishing, but you are encouraged to wish for something vague enough that it can be interpreted in many ways so that it can be granted; you do not write your name on it, but it is encouraged to write something that doesn't wish for self gain, but rather something that can make the world a better place. Some wishes dangling from the tree already include things like "I wish there wasn't so much litter in the park," "I wish someone would clean the graffiti off the old historic buildings," and "I wish there were more volunteers at the shelter."
If you choose to use the Wishing Tree, what do you wish for? If your wish is private, you may write it on the paper and choose a spot in the park and bury it yourself instead of hanging it on the tree.
Ginyami was surprised to find that the Tanabata tradition from Japan of writing wishes and putting them on a wishing tree to be granted was also practiced in the United States. In fact, he was surprised they held a Star Festival at all, though it seemed to be a regularly-held annual event. Then again...with a name like 'Destiny City', he supposed it was rather fitting.
He accepted a gold star charm from a vendor he passed and thought how much he would like to explore the festival with Sara. He hoped they would get a chance to do that one of those days since even though Tanabata itself was supposed to take place on the seventh day of the seventh month - July seventh - this particular star festival lasted practically a whole month between June and July both. It was nice for those who didn't have much time on their hands because they could try to find time within their busy schedule somewhere within the span of a month rather than having to try to spend one particular day with their loved ones. Unlike Orihime and Hikoboshi, if the Destiny City residents wanted to take part in the Star Festival with those they loved, their time with said loved ones wasn't restricted to just the seventh of July.
After going through the stalls and games and vendors, Ginyami stopped at a wishing tree and read the handwritten sign that explained to anyone unfamiliar with the tradition of the tree what it and the many colored papers nearby were for. He wondered vaguely what kind of tree it was to have purple flowers. Then he turned to the stack of blank paper with twine attached and examined it, noting the papers were embedded with seeds and biodegradable. It was nice that the festival was very environmentally conscious as well for the most part. That would have definitely been something that Japan would have approved of Destiny City for.
Taking one of the pieces of paper, he thought a moment about what wish to right on it. It had to be something someone could take off the tree and try to grant, so it couldn't be too specific. After a minute or two, he wrote down, I wish everyone would strive to be better people so that the practice of taking advantage of those with good hearts could cease to exist. He, of course, had Sara in mind when writing the wish as he considered Sara to be one of the rare people with good hearts left in the world. Ever since he had discovered it, he had known he would do anything he could to protect that good heart.
Ginyami, satisfied with his wish, tied it to one of the lower branches of the tree with the twine attached to the paper. Then he looked through the wishes on the tree for one he thought he could manage grant, carefully took it down, and continued on his way, eager to make plans with his fiancé to come to the festival as soon as he got home to tell him about it.
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((The End))
