So, Christmas is coming! I was thinking this morning... We often think of the day-to-day life of those in our world but rarely have holidays. For those of you who have thought of this, do you model your holidays after your favorite real world holidays? Or are they fairly original? What is the story behind them? Are they incorporated in your plot? Just thinking out-on-screen Any suggestion for what works and what doesn't?
Aleena

As my "imagined world" was originally settled by Christians, its calendar is based on the liturgical calendar the Church follows here---though with some modifications, such as longer seasons of Epiphany, Pentecost, and Trinity and an additional "Patristide" season after Pentecost and before Trinity, because the year is over six weeks longer than ours. Other "festival days" are (in the Empire) the "Emperor's (Official) Birthday", each kingdom's Founding Day, Unification Day (commemorating the establishment of the Empire), and anniversaries of important historical events (largely battles). And the Chosen (a group of several dozen people from roughly-present-day our world who appeared there at a critical point in the world's history) have introduced a number of Earth holidays, which are popular in some areas but unknown in others.

But for the most part most of this won't come into my stories much.

I really haven't thought of this much. I'm pretty sure there's some kind of celebration for the new year. But since the seasons are exaggerated (seasons last twice the normal time, so there are only two seasons a year), I'd have to plan...

There might be a "harvest time" celebration as well, much like Thanksgiving. One specific country (Estanor) considers meat impure and don't eat it, but they might have a fast for two days and then a feast of vegetarian dishes.

Since I don't have a specific religion in my world, there wouldn't be the Christian holidays that we celebrate. (Or any other religion-related holiday, for that matter.)

Elly

Great topic! Because I am not much of a holiday person in real life, I do not pay much attention to this element in my fiction. However, it's a very good world-building facet to explore.

In Erde, people do not have a religion - and they do not count days or years, nor do they have seasons. They don't celebrate anniversaries or birthdays or keep track of any dates whatsoever, so I doubt they would have much for festivals! If they did, it would have to be either one-time events, or something that was attached to a natural cycle, such as an animal's life cycle.

In Peter's Angel, I make a few references to a national holiday being issued for special circumstances. These are one-time events that I don't get into much detail on, but it primarily involves days off from work and lots of gatherings and parties.

In Zeldia, Christmas is also celebrated. And the Zentais' birthdays are also counted as holidays, where there is a big feast in the village. And the last holiday, is called Nature Day. It is celebrated to represent their connection with nature. They have activities and feasts and gift exchanges (that have to do with nature) and it all takes place in the woods.

Writing this post caused me to realize that I have no festivals. I was thinking of a celebration of certain historic events...

I have none either...

*laughs * Funny you should bring this up. I have been creating the basic outline of my third book, and I very recently decided that I wanted to have my characters celebrate a holiday in this story. It would be a way to show the warmth that is still present, even in times of trial.

So I think it is cool you guys are talking about this.

I like that idea.

*chuckles * Why does this not surprise me?

I try to think of what is most logical to celebrate. To some people, celebrating Victoria Day on May 24th doesn't make much sense, due to the fact that Queen Victoria is dead. For a while now, in fact.

So I think 'what is a reason to celebrate?' Harvest -because you have food for the winter. What not to celebrate? So I have a festival after the crops are all in. My halfelven see the beginning of spring as the beginning of life, and thus celebrate the first day of spring (also the first day of their year). See? Easy. (at least for me)

Smart, Aldara! I always wished our year started in the spring instead of the middle of winter. It would make so much more sense.

I am pondering what kind of festivals, if any, my Volk people celebrate. I am having a hard time thinking of regular holidays for them to celebrate, besides one-time events like weddings, because they don't keep track of days. They have no "weeks" or "years," so commemorating an event regularly would be hard. It would have to be attached to some kind of natural cycle - that of a plant or animal - because they don't have seasons, either... Thoughts?

I think that's a good idea.

Aubrey, are there any rivers that flood regularly (like the Nile) or even irregularly (like the Euphrates)? If this influences their harvests and results in plently of food, that's reason to celebrate. Any other weather effects that have a serious influence on productivity/quality of life could work. Maybe, instead of Saturdays/Sundays, they would take a day off on the first sunny day after a cloudy spell?

On the other hand, perhaps with fewer regular holidays to celebrate, they would tend to celebrate one-time events more widely in the community? (The instatement of a new local leader or clergyperson, births, marriages, or comings-of-age?)

That is an interesting thought...

I've always enjoyed thinking up celebrations for my characters to celebrate.... The only problem is I want to celebrate some of them, and – I don't live there!

One of my favorites is the celebration of the beginning of spring (also the beginning of their year), in the moor country beyond the Hand. There are many parts of the celebration, but there is one that I especially like. They don't give gifts – everyone makes a wish, and all of their friends and family try their best to make it come true. * smiles * It is supposed to be the thing you most want in the world, but some people say what they most want, and some don't, of course. The children mostly do.


One thing to consider when making festivals and celebrations is the way the people view symbolism, and leisure, and – probably a few other things that I'm not thinking of. Like, some cultures would really keep the symbolism of whatever they were celebrating very prominent, like the Jewish people. Some might not find it so important, though – maybe even, through the generations, forget what it was all about in the first place, and simply do things because it is traditional and fun (sort of like some people are about Christmas these days ).

And when it comes to how they view leisure, I am talking about the sort of situation of the Plymouth Pilgrims – the elders of that colony did not necessarily decry all fun and festivities, but if I remember right they were against a lot of unnecessary playing around and frolicking, and their festivities were things along the lines of feasting and competitive sports and contests, neither of which are useless to do or indolent.

Hmmm. I have thought about celebrations for my kingdom, Ciarda, but I've not really gone into any great detail as far as what holidays they have and when. Because it is crucial to the plot of my book, they do have a huge festival in Marden (the royal citadel) before the sowing. This is mainly attended by the farmers in need of buying or selling seeds and can draw a rough crowd. Most of the more well off citizens avoid it.

So it's like a fair in a way? Or an annual market?

Yep, pretty much. It's not an actual holiday, just something the serfs take part in to buy new crops and celebrate winter's end.

I was thinking that since my world is closely tied to this one, the holidays could be similar. Christmas, Easter... those types of things.

However things like Thanksgiving and various National Holidays would not apply.

Feasts of thanksgiving---even regular, yearly ones---aren't unommon in our world, across many cultures, so having a festival called "Thanksgiving" or something like that would work well. But distinguishing it from ours by having it celebrated differently and at a different time of the year would be a good idea.

I meant Thanksgiving connected to the Pilgrims. But you're right, it could be a harvest celebration.

What I meant by "at a different time of the year" is that it doesn't even have to be a harvet celebration, as ours is (with its traditional story of the first harvest after the landing of the Pilgrims)---and in some climates, even a harvest celebration would depend on which crop's harvest is being celebrated. But a Feast of Thanksgiving could just as well be a thanksgiving for national deliverance, for preservation through the winter, for the first colonists' safe arrival, or something like that.

I plan to have festivals corresponding to the biblical festivals found in the bible such as Tabernacles, Pentecost, and day of atonement.
But as of yet I haven't worked out the details.

It'd be a good idea to have a good reason for why each corresponding-festival exists; the Feast of Tabernacles (aka Feast of Booths) was commanded to remind them of the Exodus, and Pentecost (aka the Feast of Weeks) was a commemoration of the giving of the Law at Sinai (when God made his covenant with the people), for example. Festivals rarely just happen.

The biblical festivals are really cool and numerous, so that gives you quite a bit of variety to work with, Joe.

Holidays are a good thing to put in a story. It's a good chance to express the worlds culture through their holidays. It doesn't have to be a lot, it can be something small, like celebrating an important moment in the world's history. Or it can celebrate a hero in the world. Anything like that signifies an importance to the world's culture and people and stuff. I have no idea where I got that from, but I hope it's useful.

You are absolutely right. People on this world like celebrating immensely, and it is very important to them, so it really ought to be for people in another world. It's a good thing to develop.

I agree.