Holiday Customs

1. Holiday Customs

   #1

   I'm working on developing a Christmas Type holiday that involves gift exchange on a non-religious basis. More like a custom. What I'm really interested in doing is having each town have it's own customs involved in the holiday.
   
   Example:
   
   [*] One Town might use a lottery system to see who gives gifts to who. Name drawing. That kind of thing
   [*] Towns might have banned it altogether.
   [*] I always liked Christmas trees... So there me be a tree grown in the center of town(s) to decorate for the holiday.
   
   
   My Brain is full of ideas... Maybe I should write them all down.

2. Holiday Customs

   #2

   ((Yes, yes. Do write them down...do it here ;) ))
   
   -A certain color or type of decoration is hung in front of everybody's home or business.
   -Not allowed to go outdoors. Forced family fun time.
   -Requirement to give alms to any poor that asks. (begger holiday)
   -Everybody has to travel to a certain tree to put up one decoration per household.

3. Holiday Customs

   #3

   A festival of lights perhaps. Someone could have a "charm" that lights up crystals (or it could be a magik item that is frequently found).
   
   A great holiday I read about in a book (whos name escapes me) is a festival of lights. Every year on the same date a meteor swarm hits the planet. Nothing large, but lots of falling stars. They run around with mirrors turned upside down to "collect them". Masks were worn, gifts are also exchanged, a feast occurs. It was a summer holiday. There were hundreds of laterns and luminaries spread about.
   
   It had something to do with some mythical tale from some historical personages. However, so many generations later... most people do not care about this. It is just a holiday to have fun. (Kind of like how Christmas is for most people.) So all you need is threadbare story to provide motivation and select the traditions you want.

4. Holiday Customs

   #4

   Random gift exchange: Everyone spends a certain amount of money on a gift, packages it, and then throws it in a big bin in the center of town. Each person then takes a gift. Nobody knows who it is for, or who it is from, the idea being to simulate a deity's largesse. (Maybe?)

5. Holiday Customs

   #5

   This holiday could also have a different kind of presents expected:
   
   Those that were unfriendly throughout the year, have to be kind to one another, for this one day at least. If you argue with someone constantly, if there is a long dispute about grazing rights between your family and another, if you can't find a nice word for someone, you must treat him/her/them friendly, and bring presents. It may come from a peace treaty between bitter enemies a long time ago, or a love goddess can "sponsor" this holiday. The best moment to ask for forgiveness, and to repent for ones sins and errorrs.
   
   
   All in all very nice, until your nemesis, your hated enemy comes along with a nice sword (a replacement for the one that broke during your last fight) and wants to be your friend, for a moment. It is of course _very_ unfitting for a hero to treat him badly, and attacking or even killing marks you as scum for the public, or the goddess will curse you.

6. Holiday Customs

   #6

   A day where even prisoners in jail recieve decent food.
   
   A New Year where the bells are rung and people make as loud a noise as they can.
   
   A day where the officers in the armed forces feed the men and discipline is relaxed.
   
   A day where the King/Queen must show his/her royal sceptre to the crowd or he/she loses power (great for roleplaying.)
   
   A day where everyone dresses up as the opposite sex.

7. Midian holidays

   #7

   New Year's Day: The first day of the year. This day is typically spent hung-over from the previous night. Syadus 1st
   Detestation Day: to remember those that you dislike. In most countries (the Elves being a notable exception), this is also a day to remember the departed. By focusing on the negative about those that have passed, it is easier to overcome grief and get on with living. Zarathus 14th
   Hysteria: Day of jokes—practical and otherwise. Mojus 1st
   Fête: A holiday for dressing up and partying. This is a celebration for the new spring. There are often death-themes to the costumes and decoration—but this celebrates birth and renewal. It is typical to give up bad habits following this holiday. Gulik 10th to 20th
   Day of Bliss: The final day of Fête enjoyed by some while heavily sedated.
   Sea Day: The day when ships are typically put to sea. Eldus 30th
   Foundation Day(Kingdom of Formour only): Day commemorating the establishment & the unification of the Kingdom. Mandalus 7th
   Day of the Dead (Ghouls, Goths, & Hobgoblins only): According to myth, the dead are able to walk about on this day. This is originally a Ghoulish holiday about the legendary first Ghoul-vampire who was able to withstand sunlight on this day. The cultures that practice this holiday spend it with family visiting the gravesites of dead loved ones (just in case). Chaosphe 30th
   Day of Joy (Dwarves) / Day of Wrath (Hobgoblins): Two very different holidays commemorating the same event from different cultural perspectives. This day marks the defeat of the Olde Empire. To the Dwarves, this is a day celebrating freedom; to the Hobgoblins, this is a day of grim remembrance. Cabbus 2nd
   Emperor's Birthday (Byzant Empire only): Celebrates the current Emperor's birthday. Ignotius 23rd
   Halloween: A day for dressing up, partying, and remembrance of the dead. This is also a festival for the final harvest and preparing for the upcoming winter. Erisus 30th
   Commercialmas: A mid-winter holiday for gift-giving and spending time with family. Malclypse 25th
   New Year's Eve: The last day of the year. The evening is typically spent in a drunken stupor. Malclypse 30th
   
   Additional player-added holidays:
   New Hope: (Former Vridtown) Celebrating the regrowth over adversity and our new hope for prosperity following the city's reclamation from an Undead horde. Malclypse 22nd
   Dead Man Dance: For the foundation of the United Darkmouth Emirates & the overthrow of Archmagus Vrid Krege. Chaosphe 4-5

8. Holiday Customs

   #8

   Bathland is one of my three worlds, and it was made several years ago, which is why it has a silly name and why only parts of it are orginal. Here are the holidays.
   
   January 1st-New Year's Day A time to sleep off the alcoholic excesses which mark most people's New Years's Eve.
   
   
   January 6th-Christmas's End A time when all the decorations are taken down and burnt, binned or put away for next year. School/work starts the next day.
   
   March 15th-The Day of Love, when people all over the world exchange gifts
   
   June 1st-Killem Day. The only day in the year when hunting is allowed,even in places where hunting would normally be very strictly punished.By allowing this, the idea is that it lessens poaching during the rest of the year. No work or school takes place. Laws banning weapons are relaxed outside the cities on this day.
   
   September 5th-Victory Day, when people celebrate with fireworks the end of the Bathlandic/Imperial war that took place a century ago.
   
   November 1st-Halloween-where the dead really do rise. A time of danger in the capital city in paticular.But also a time for the dead to meet their relatives.Most dead are not evil but some are.
   
   December 24th- Christmas Eve-Like ours except Father Christmas really does come and fill stockings of children and adults alike.Bathland has the death penalty for murder but no executions are preformed at Christmas time.
   
   December 25th-Christmas Day-very much like ours.Officers serve the men in the army. Rich people serve their servants. Even prison officers give the prisoners Christmas dinner! A topsy-turvy time.Goverment stops for a day.Roast wrapper eaten in some areas.
   
   December 26th-Boxing Day-Money given as gifts,and boxing matches occasionly take place.Very much like ours.
   
   December 31st New Year's Eve. At midnight people stand on chairs and jump into the New Year.Prisoners bang their doors for a minite at midnight without punishment.Fireworks, singing and often debauary and drunkeness.

9. Holiday Customs

   #9

   Now is a great time to add to this thread. What is the equivilant of Christmas in your world/s? When and how is it celebrated? Please post!!!

10. Holiday Customs

    #10

    Fremos 34: Day of Gods- Holy Day of worship and family gatherings
    Fremos 35: Day of the People: Day for friendships, family, loved ones. Token gifts are sometimes given.
    Fremos 36: Day of the NewYear: PARTY like you were a Dwarventi! Gift giving.
    
    These are the last three days of the year.
    Houses and businesses are often decorated with colorful little flags. There are no "holiday colors". The colors people use match their personality and sometimes their guild/ clan.
    
    Day of the Gods- The Mid week day (34th in this case) is always the day of observance (commune with diety forces). If you had been skimping on your visits to temple, this is the day you really should go. Many people avoid the serious crowds at the temples, and worship together at their home cretchs. People occasionally dust off their holy week tabards and sashes, to "show off their piety".
    
    Day of the People- Gather at home or visit friends/ acquaintances. It is the biggest social day of the year. Those whos jobs involve serving and sales are often working this day, so they do everything in the night. Gifts are often exchanged by family. These gifts are normally fairly small, but exceptions can be made. The new "in thing" is to wrap them in colorful paper. (Paper being a huge new trade in the Known World, given the impressor's (printing press) guild's existance).
    
    The only real tradition of this day is the large family dinner, a small feast. Various family members gather and entertain each other after dinner.
    
    Day of the New Year- New Years day is the day when people put on new (fancy) clothes and go be with their real friends. It is mostly a night time event, where adults have sophisticated little parties that emulate the parties of the SecondLand Nobles. In Antioch, nobody will leave before dawn beause the elementals are especially busy this night.
    
    During the day, the giving of gifts to friends and employers/ employees is common.
    
    Note: Dwarves work harder than any othe species. When they do party, they party with such an exuberance that they often do not remember the previous week. It is not just drink they take to excess, they over eat, flirt, sing loud songs, and generally act out. Thus the phrase, party like a Dwarventi.
    
    The next day if often called "The day of the dead" as people are recovering from their new years exuberance.

11. Holiday Customs

    #11

    I cannot mention the name of my second world in case my first ex finds out and causes trouble, but the southernmost province of that world is inhabited by people made of stone. Their festival at the end of the year is named Sunreturn,and takes place on the day after the Winter Solstice. On Sunreturn Eve Father Stone is said to come from the South pole of the world in a coach drawn by two dragonettes. With his magic he stops time for a night, and then acts like our world's Santa Claus, stuffing pillow cases and stockings with gifts.
    
    On Sunreturn Day people give gifts to each other. Neither executions nor assassinations happen on such a day.Prisoners are decently treated. Ordinary people can ask questions to the King and the high officers of state,and, within reason, their questions are answered.People eat roast wrapper, sweet puddings, and, if they can afford it, jewels. The more exspensive the jewel, the better it tastes.Ordinary stone people eat quartz at their Sunreturn meal.Those who are richer get to eat amythest and all kinds of semi-presious stones. The aristocrats and the Royal Family eat diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sahppires.
    
    Five days later comes New Year's Eve. People clean their houses and take down the decorations and at midnight they jump off their chairs into the new year,sing, dance and kiss and make as much noise as possible to welcome in the New Year. The Old Year's calanders are burned and paper effegys stuffed with gunpowder of the Old Year are set alight on funeral pyres.

12. Holiday Customs

    #12

    In the Midlands of Aterrizar, Winter is a time of bitter cold and wolven howls in the valleys. The populace has struggled through the first half the cold season, and on the Winter Solstice, they celebrate Candlemass. The occassion is noted by feasts since food has been rationed (not stringently unless the harvest was very poor) It is a time of roast boar and kegs of beer. A celebration in the face of the dour and humorless winter, a celebration of the joy and hope of humanity in the face of adversity.
    
    The celebration takes a more sombre note with the lighting of the candles, where each family lights a candle for a loved one not home, or a loved one lost. This can be recent, or from a great time ago. The lords and ladies of the realm perform recitations of their lineage, lighting candles for relatives long since dead. The more poor who cannot afford the larger candles often are only able to remember those who have passed away recently. The evening is concluded with solemn hymns, alcoholic beverages to ward away the bite of the cold, and admonitions to children to behave for the rest of the winter. Good children often recieve small gifts of candy, and small toys to entertain them for the rest of the cold months

13. Holiday Customs

    #13

    In Valermoore, everyone is given roast turkey and sweet pudding on the Winter Solstice, known as the Darkest Day. Even in Queen Yocasta's most dreary dungeons, prisoners are unchained and fed....even they have the right to celebrate on this day, perhaps the only right they possess.It is beleaved that to interfere with the celebrations, will plunge Valermoore into a new Ice Age.
    
    Presents of all kinds are given,and debts are not collected upon this special day, nor are houses repossessed.Great fires are kept burning in the houses and, providing there is no danger caused by them, in the fields and streets. It is a day of remarkable free speech,where almost everything,with the exception of blatent incitement of crime or treason, is allowed,even in the Royal Court itself.For one day the fear level drops to almost nothing.

14. Humbug.

    #14

    Now is a great time to add to this thread. What is the equivilant of Christmas in your world/s? When and how is it celebrated? Please post!!!

    
    
    Commercialmas is the Midian gift-giving holiday. Some in central Formour decorate with branches of plants that stay green throughout the winter, to remind that winter is half over & life continues ever on. However, as these brances will inevitably wither & die after they are removed from the original plant--especially in dry smoky air indoors--the dying serves to remind people instead of death & that winter is only half-way over. Outside of central Formour, this custom is seen as strange & creepy.
    
    Feasts are had by all, as it is preferable to slaughter and eat part of the herd than to let all (including and especially the sentients) die from starvation. As one large animal will provide more meat than what a small family can eat, this feast is often a big communal celebration. In small villages in the countryside, the entire community gathers for one large feast. In urban areas, Commercialmas is still enjoyed by large gatherings of family & friends.
    
    Gifts are exchanged at this time, and many merchants offer competing discounts for items. However, typically only one gift is given--rather than a plenitude--and personalised &/or hand-made items are preferred. For Commercialmas, a well-thought gift that you make yourself is preferable to a large total purchase cost. As gifts are often personally made, and far fewer of them are exchanged, this holiday is not marked by scrambling at stores, short tempers, insipid jingles, or crashing one's mule cart into someone else's for the last parking spot in the bazaar...

15. Holiday Customs

    #15

    The midst of winter is not a time of celebration for Agerans. Indeed, most in fact hole up in their homes during this time to wait out the darkness and icy cold. The people of Carmania, who's land recieves the hammer blows of storms of the Sea of Esh-Eir, gather together in the local Temple of Amalias during the last week of the year, lighting great fires to drive away the forces of evil. The Mysians hold no specific customs, but especially pious devotees of the Phoenix are known to light bonfires in this time, while other Mysians simply hold bacchanallian feasts to stay warm and comfortable.

16. Holiday Customs

    #16

    I wonder, who decides the "official" colours of holidays: red & green for Christmas, black & orange for Halloween, etc. I can understand using the colours of one's flag for certain national holidays, but I don't know from whence the rest come, and why it seems to be two colours for each holiday.

17. Ever wonder the origins of how red and green became the colo

    #17

    This is the best explanation I have seen
    
    There are a couple of different explanations for the adoption of red and green as traditional Christmas colors, however the one that’s most accepted – there are even classroom lesson plans based on it – is the first one that we’ll look at. This story is based on historical fact and tends to be the more logical of the two tales.
    
    
    THE PARADISE TREE
    The idea of a Paradise Tree takes us back to the 1300s, at which time Adam and Eve’s Day was celebrated on December 24th each year. Due to the explosive number of people who were illiterate, local churches often presented plays, which they utilized as a learning tool for the general populace. These were labeled, “Miracle Plays,� since they touched on issues of religious importance.
    
    The Paradise Play, which was presented on December 24th, related the story of Adam and Eve, and their plight in the Garden of Eden. Of course, props were needed and, since there was no way to provide an apple tree in the middle of winter, it was decided that a pine tree with apples tied to its branches would have to serve as the Tree of Good and Evil, in the center of the garden.
    
    Since this idea worked so well, it became a popular prop for local churches, and the idea spread, until this version of the Tree of Good and Evil was the commonly accepted prop whenever the play was performed. Soon, churches everywhere had adopted this tradition and included it in their celebration each year.
    
    The Paradise Tree was so popular in Germany, that private citizens began to erect pine trees in their homes during the holiday, decorating them with red apples, as the church folks had done for their Miracle Play. Before long, the tradition was so widespread, that the modern-day Christmas tree tradition was born, and the official colors of the Christmas season became green and red – green for the pine tree and red for the apples – the combination of which represented the Paradise Tree, which made its debut in the 14th century.
    
    Eventually, the Paradise Tree was also decorated with small white wafers – symbolizing the Holy Eucharist – to remind people that, while Adam and Eve were responsible for the fall of mankind, the birth of the Christ Child would – in effect – reverse the final result of the fall through the eventual suffering and death of Jesus.
    
    The second tale offers a far different explanation of the history of the seasonal colors. There’s no factual evidence that can be found for it, as opposed to the story of the Paradise Tree, but appears, rather, to be a school of thought or philosophy that has been adopted by some over the years.
    
    HOPE AND BLOOD
    In this scenario, the color of green is said to symbolize the hope that was given to us through the sacrifices of Jesus, and is exemplified by the color of the evergreen trees, which remain alive and green throughout the year.
    
    Red, on the other hand, is believed to represent the blood of Christ, which was shed for all humans in order that they might be saved. When combined with the color green, this duo is said to express the hope of being redeemed through the sacrifices of Christ.
    
    This is a wonderful sentiment, and, on the surface, appears to be quite logical. However, if that were the case, it would seem more appropriate to attach the seasonal colors of red and green to the Easter holiday rather than to Christmas, since Easter focuses on Christ’s suffering, sacrifice and redemption of mankind – thereby offering hope to those who came after Him.
    
    There are slight variations of this particular tale, but the foundation is always the same; and when it’s presented, it’s generally offered as a personal commentary or belief that’s held by a particular individual, rather than a factually based set of traditions.
    
    Whichever the case, red and green have been bedfellows for 700 years and aren’t likely to be separated, at this point – at least, not in the foreseeable future.
    
    Written by Diana L.M.I. Dawson
    © 2004 by PageWise, Inc.

18. Holiday Customs

    #18

    The short answer for the other holidays is, I suspect, "Hallmark."
    
    I thought I saw a history show a few weeks ago that mentioned the apples-on-pines idea predated Christmas in Germany. Of course, this was coming in from a red-eye flight, so I may have misheard.

19. Holiday Customs

    #19

    Actually it did predate Christianity, but so did Easter Eggs and Yule Logs and Solstice Gifts....
    
    Christianity co-opted the Pagan symbol, or the closet Pagans dressed up their previously pagan symbol with Christian Mythology, or someone adapted an earlier idea... either way, the symbols came to be associated with the season... and the season with Christmas.
    
    There probably is no "ONE TRUE REASON", but probably the gestault of several reasons, that have cemented the coloration for the season.

20. Holiday Customs

    #20

    According to this same show, much of the pagan rites incorporated into Christmas were deliberately kept by the Church. It was reasoned that they couldn't stop people from celebrating at accustomed times--and would be resentful of attempts to do so--but could more easily accept the new religion if it was in a more palpable & familiar form. The arguments used were that it was the faith that was the important part, and that the holiday could be weaned of its pagan trappings at a later time.
    
    I thought it facinating that, for all of the modern bemoaning that Christmas "lost its true meaning" by secularization, the actual & original true meaning of Christmas is drunkenness, overeating, orgies, slaughtering nearly all animals in one's herd, mob violence, rioting, and demanding material wealth from those one perceives as having things better than oneself.

21. Holiday Customs

    #21

    Inspired by the German: "Walpurgisnacht"
    
    The Night of Burning is a national holiday in Silmaroth devoted to the Saints of Vigilance. During the second month of the year, as the winter winds blow colder than at any other time, at the very night of the full moon, the Silmarians celebrate the 'Burning Night'. This is a night of Vigilance and a ward against evil. During the celebration the peasantry dress in their warmest winter clothing and patrol the cities and countryside armed with torches and spears, clubs and bows. If a Hexenjaeger (Witchhunter) is present during this night, it is believed that those present will be blessed with good health and good fortunes the next year. But those that are black of heart should beware, for they may fall ill or even die the next year.
    
    The witches and warlocks (or anything resembling witches and warlocks) that can be found prowling the streets at this night will be dragged along by the ecstatic crowd and be burnt at the stake. Some local customs claim that if more than three witches and warlocks are burnt in a particular location, the countryside surrounding that location will be blessed with a rich harvest and a mild winter the coming year.
    
    Some legends whisper of grave injustices committed during this celebration, of old neighbourly disputes unjustly settled as one neighbour claims the other as a witch or a warlock. These legends tell of the restless spirits of those so unfairly treated and how those spirits are lured into the worship of the Whispering King; an undead entity trapped in his royal tomb, warded and entrapped by elder runes and unable to walk the earth. Still he whispers, his incantations of blasphemy corrupting the land and casting shadows over the hearts of folk and forest. His promises and curses seduce the spirits of those unjustly slain, binding them to his eternal service.
    
    At the Night of the Burning his whispers are particularly powerful, it is said, and the acts of evil committed in the guise of good are sure ways to damn a spirit into eternal slavery in the service of the Whispering King. Additionally his restless dead spirit slaves are free to haunt any location during this night, excepting the places in which witches are burnt.

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