Unreal Holidays

Happy Holidays, everyone.

Holidays are interesting things, all full of stress and family and gifts and so on. They've been comercialized, and only the most base idea of what the holiday was continues on in tradition. Christmas, for instance, was adapted from a pagan ritual to banish away the darkness. Now, it's a holiday celebrating the birth of the son of god, where everyone is expected to give to everyone else and spend time with family. I *totally* see that connection.

I've recently created a calendar on Ronar, and with it some holidays. I needed it because I realized I needed to give important events in Ronar actual dates and timelines beyond what era they happened in.

The first step was to decide how the calendar was set up. How many days in a year. In my case, the world was created by the gods, and a simple, even number works best. Three hundred days. The calandar was made by man - and so ten months makes a beautifully symmetrical calendar. That puts thirty days in a month, which doesn't divide by the classical week value of seven. That's fine, Earth calendar months don't divide by seven, right? But I'm making a well-balanced, symmetrical calendar.

What I finally decided, four weeks in a month is 28 days, then two days of rest, one every second week. It fits a classical religious feel with the days of rest, which don't fit nicely into the regular calendar already. These days are often holidays - though not always - and represent time for people to relax from their normal routines and spend time with their families and such. Like Christmas.

Then, we have to come up with names for the months, and there are generally two schools for doing that. The first school is similar to the japanese language where every month is simple named after which month it was numerically. Onemonth, Twomonth, and so on. A little plain, but certainly effective. The other school is to name months after what they represent. A friend of mine called the first month of his year 'yeardeath' to represent the end of the old year, which is an oddly morbid look at things - most people look for the positives in the end of things, but that's his world, ne?

The ten months of the Ronarian Calendar are as follows: Newyear, Winterbreak, Journey, Downpour, Kingsith, Scorching, Queensith, Harvest, Greybark, and Barren. Good names for months, but what do they represent? I'll tell you my friend. I will tell you.

The month of Newyear is the first month of the year. It is cold, and snowy, and much of the month is spent preparing what can for the year ahead. Craftsmen are fond of this month for the extra time they are able to spend crafting. Most craftsmen will produce their best works in this time.

Newyear 4 is the Day of the Divine, marking the first day the gods made themselves known to Ronar, circa 103. This holiday is typically celebrated only by clergy and strongly religious folk, and is used as a day to reinforce the presence of the gods in everyday life.

The month of Winterbreak is when the winter finally turns to spring. Typically begins the coldest, but ends with little to no slow. Farmers will spend this time getting their fields ready for planting, merchants will get ready for travel, and laborers start work in earnest.

The month of Journey is when everyone who has holed up for the winter gets out to start working again. Typically, this means most merchant caravans which slowed or stopped over the winter months finally get up and running again, bringing a surplus of trade to all the cities, for most places have an excess of crafted goods of a high quality from a long winter. Typically, most crops are planted during the middle to end of this month, as the weather becomes particularly pleasant outside. Also importantly, most humans are born during the month of journey as with the festival of fertility and the nine month gestation period of humans, most children are born around this time.

Journey 15th is The day of beginnings. Not only is this one of the most common birthdays on Ronar, but as the month of Journey represents the new travels, new caravans, new crops, and new life. This day is a large celebration, and often merchants will hold large sales on this day and the week preceding it to celebrate the beginning of the trade year - making the day of beginnings a day where most people will receive and give many gifts.

The month of Downpour is the end of spring, and where there is the most rain. Worhippers of Malladine are busy this month, for this is the most important month in the years harvest. Clerics of Malladine will often hold month-long celebrations to please the goddess.

Downpour 30th is the Festival of fertility, celebrating life, and harvest. This day, above all others, love and lust is in the air, and the temples to Malladine, Sanfra, Alldora are packed with worshipers and revellers. Malladine has been known to occasionally reward farmers who pay her particularly strong homage with divine aid on this day, so they may rest and relax - all the more reason for them to celebrate.

The month of Kingsith is named through the arrogance of King Sirra, as the month in which he was born. Originally named Kings month, the name was later shortened to Kingsith. This is also the month where spring changes to summer.

Kingsith 6th is the King's day, originally King Sirra's birthday, it has become a day where everyone celebrates their lords, ladies, kings and other nobles. The ruling classes will hold lavish parties, and while most people don't get to attend, entertainers commonly put on shows about the lives the lords and ladies of the lands to entertain.

The current month of Scorching was originally Queensith for King Sirra's wife's birthday, Scorching is a warm month, and the month where harvests are reaped but not yet stored for the coming winter. Often, this month is a month of relaxing for that reason.

The month of Queensith, Like Kingsith, was called Queens month after King Sirra's wife. It was swapped with the seventh month from the sixth by Queen Mellichai, King Sirra's daughter, in year 93 to mark the day of her mother's death, rather than the day or her birth. This month was originally Scorching, and is the hottest month of the year.

The month of Harvest is exactly as it sounds. As the fall approaches and the temprature starts to fall, farmers and craftsmen alike harvest what they can to prepare for the coming winter. Typically, by the end of this month, there are few crops still in the ground.

The month of Greybark was named as such by King Sirra after an unusual tree he had in his possession that as it's leaves turned from green to red for the fall, it's bark also turned from brown to grey. The first cold month.

Greybark 15 is Reverence. As the world slows down for the winter, the gods require that everyone take at least a single day to go and worship and pay homage to the gods that created them, and are the source of power in the world. Almost exclusively, this day is spent in temples to one's patron deity, and the greatest sacrifices of the year are made on this day.

The month of Barren is when the trees have lost all their leaves. This month often ends with snow, and is one of the slowest months of the year. It is a month for gathering the last of provisions for the winter, wood and water, supplies, and the month where only the slowest and bravest caravans are still on the roads.