The Garden Awakens

The Garden Awakens, referred to in development versions as the Winter Drop, is an upcoming game drop set to release on December 3, 2024, that adds pale gardens, creakings, and other related blocks. It was announced at Minecraft Live 2024. In Java Edition, it can only be accessed by creating a world with the "Winter Drop" experiment toggle enabled or manually editing the level.dat file to include the minecraft:winter_drop feature flag.‌

The Garden Awakens

Release date	December 3, 2024
Version(s)	Java Edition 1.21.4 Bedrock Edition 1.21.50
◄◄ Tricky Trials ◄ Bundles of Bravery

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    "title": "The Garden Awakens",
    "images": [
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            "field": "December 3, 2024",
            "label": "Release date"
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        {
            "field": "\n* (link to Java Edition 1.21.4 article, displayed as Java Edition 1.21.4)\n* (link to Bedrock Edition 1.21.50 article, displayed as Bedrock Edition 1.21.50)",
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    "footer": "<div style=\"display:inline-block\">\n<div style=\"display:inline-block;padding:0 .4em\"><span style=\"margin-right:-0.35em\">◄</span>◄ [[Tricky Trials]]</div>\n<div style=\"display:inline-block;padding:0 .4em\">◄ [[Bundles of Bravery]]</div>\n</div>"
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In an official and publicly shared survey about Minecraft Live and in file names on minecraft.net, the drop was referred to as the "Vanilla Holiday Update". The name and release date of the update were revealed on November 27, 2024.

Notable features

New blocks

• Creaking Heart
  • Can be found activated in the pale garden biome.
  • Can be mined and relocated with a Silk Touch tool.
  • Can also be crafted using pale oak logs and a block of resin.
  • 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.
• New pale oak wood set:
  • Pale Oak Log
  • Stripped Pale Oak Log
  • Pale Oak Wood
  • Stripped Pale Oak Wood
  • Pale Oak Planks
  • Pale Oak Stairs
  • Pale Oak Slab
  • Pale Oak Sign
  • Pale Oak Hanging Sign
  • Pale Oak Button
  • Pale Oak Pressure Plate
  • Pale Oak Door
  • Pale Oak Fence
  • Pale Oak Fence Gate
  • Pale Oak Trapdoor
• New foliage and vegetation blocks:
  • Pale Hanging Moss
  • Pale Moss Block
  • Pale Moss Carpet
  • Pale Oak Leaves
  • Pale Oak Sapling
  • Eyeblossom
• Resin family blocks:
  • Resin Clump
  • Block of Resin
  • Resin Bricks
  • Chiseled Resin Bricks
  • Resin Brick Slab
  • Resin Brick Stairs
  • Resin Brick Wall

New items

• Resin Brick
  • Can also be used to trim armor.
• Spawn eggs:
  • Creaking Spawn Egg

New mob

• Creaking
  • Spawned by active creaking hearts during the night or thunderstorms.
  • Only moves when a player is looking away from it.
  • 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.

New non-mob entities

• Pale Oak Boat
• Pale Oak Boat with Chest

New biome

• Pale Garden
  • Generates with pale oak trees, pale moss blocks, pale moss carpets, pale hanging moss, and eyeblossoms.

New generated features

• Pale oak
• Pale moss patch

Gallery

Official artwork

• Key art for the drop.

  Key art for the drop.

• 

  Square format.

• 

  Same as the first, but without the release date and slightly more zoomed out.

Development images

• 

  Picture of a pale garden at night.

• 

  Pale garden and pale moss.

• 

  Pale garden and creaking.

• 

  Overhead view of a pale garden.

• 

  Creaking in pale garden.

• 

  Creaking on top of a pale oak tree.

• 

  Mini-game setup with creaking and pale oak house.

• 

  Falling leaves in a pale garden.