The Garden Awakens

This article is about the drop. For the extended play, see Minecraft: The Garden Awakens. For the skin pack, see The Garden Awakens (skin pack).
The Garden Awakens
1.21.4_banner.jpg: Infobox image for The Garden Awakens the theme in Minecraft
Bedrock_1.21.50_PatchNotes.png: Infobox image for The Garden Awakens the theme in Minecraft
Release date

December 3, 2024

Version(s)
Preliminary
name(s)

Winter Drop
Vanilla Holiday Update

Key art
There are guides for this update!
 
See Java Edition guides/The Garden Awakens and Bedrock Edition guides/The Garden Awakens for a guide to all of the new features introduced in The Garden Awakens.

The Garden Awakens is a game drop released on December 3, 2024, as Java Edition 1.21.4 and Bedrock Edition 1.21.50. It focuses on the pale garden, a biome that is home to a mob called the creaking, and other related blocks. It was announced at Minecraft Live 2024.

In an official and publicly shared survey about Minecraft Live[1][2] and in file names on Minecraft.net,[3][4] the drop was referred to as the Vanilla Holiday Update. During development, it was referred to as the Winter Drop, the name of the corresponding experiment in Java Edition. The final name and release date of the update were revealed on November 27, 2024.[5]

Experimental features for the drop have been released prior to the finalized release as part of Java Edition 1.21.2.

Additions

Blocks

Creaking heart

  • A "living block" found most of the natural pale oak trees, covered on all sides by pale oak logs.
  • Only activates when placed between two pale oak logs in the same orientation and can't be deactivated unless the block is broken.
    • Spawns creakings at night when activated and links itself to them.
  • Drops resin clump and experience when broken without Silk Touch.
  • Can also be crafted using two pale oak logs and a block of resin.

Eyeblossom

  • A new flower found in the pale garden biome.
  • They exist in two variants: closed and open.
    • Eyeblossoms transition between the two variants based on the time of day.
      • During the night, eyeblossoms become open.
        • Will attract bees, however they get poisoned when fed or pollinate the flower itself.
      • During the day, they become closed.
        • Cannot attract bees.
    • In dimensions that do not have a day/night cycle, they remain as-is.
  • Eyeblossoms planted on the ground communicate with each other, helping each other to open or close.
  • Can be use to make suspicious stew which faves it Blindness or Nausea depending on the variant.
  • Can be crafted into orange or gray dye depending on the variant.
  • Emits ambient sounds when on top of pale moss block.

Pale hanging moss

  • A vine-like block generate beneath the pale oak leaves and logs.
    • Emits creaking sounds when place to its corresponding block.
  • Does not grow naturally.
  • Cannot be climbed.

Pale moss block

  • A pale variant of the regular moss block.
  • Generates in large patches under the pale oak trees.
  • Unlike regular moss block, it can be burned.

Pale moss carpet

  • A pale variant of the regular moss carpet.
  • Unlike regular moss carpet, it can be burned.
  • When placed, pale moss carpet grows up to two blocks on the solid faces of any block that borders it.
    • Pale moss carpet can be bonemealed to grow to full on all solid faces of any block that borders it.

Pale oak wood set:

Resin family of blocks:

Items

Invicon Creaking Spawn Egg Revision 1.png: Sprite image for Creaking Spawn Egg Revision 1 in Minecraft Creaking spawn egg

Invicon Resin Brick.png: Sprite image for Resin Brick in Minecraft Resin brick

Mobs

Creaking

  • A hostile mob that spawned by active creaking hearts during the night or thunderstorms.
  • Only moves when a player is looking away from it.
  • Naturally indestructible.
    • Can only be killed by destroying its respective creaking heart. Can be damaged if spawned via the spawn egg or the /summon command.
  • Emits particles that lead to its creaking heart when hit.

Non-mob entities

Invicon Pale Oak Boat.png: Sprite image for Pale Oak Boat in Minecraft Pale oak boat

Biome

Pale garden

Generated features

Pale oak

  • A tree that generates in a pale garden.

Pale moss patch

  • Pile of mosses that generate beneath the pale oak tree.

Changes

Blocks

Wither rose

Mobs

Illagers

Further revisions

Bedrock Edition

  • 1.21.51 was released to fix critical bugs related to 1.21.50.
  • 1.21.60 was a minor update which changed some features from The Garden Awakens and adds experimental features from Spring to Life.
  • 1.21.61 was released to fix critical bugs related to 1.21.60.
  • 1.21.62 was released to fix critical bugs related to 1.21.61.

Promotions

Key art for the event.
Main article: Expect the unexpected

To promote the release of the drop, an advertising campaign ran from December 4 to December 11, featuring many products with ties to the pale garden, such as add-ons and community incentives.

Quotes

Explore an eerie new biome, meet the creaking, uncover the secrets of the creaking heart, build with new blocks, row away in pale oak boats, trim armor with resin, decorate your base with hanging moss, and more. 

— Sophie Austin

Videos

Gallery

Official artwork

Development images

References

External links

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