New Britannia Cultural Festivals & Holidays

They didn't introduce them as generic turkeys they specifically brought thanksgiving into it. So, yes, they're an item which relates to the celebration of thanksgiving and an example of an earth holiday being part of the game world. Also see DarkStar's recent post (which I quoted below) taken from a thread discussing the new store items.

The bolded text is interesting and suggests the game might recognize the holiday season and have different restrictions. So the game world itself would then be recognizing the earth holiday to an extent.

I'm not sure how small, shunned, or minority they're going to be. When you have thousands of earth immigrants flooding into New Britannia, purchasing real estate, supporting the local economy, etc. I think they'll become a pretty big presence. Of course the NPCs will perhaps initially have suspicion and be unsure of these earth immigrants as was suggested in the video. But given their presence in the world, its not at all unreasonable to think they'll end up melding into the culture pretty well eventually. When half the town is owend by earthlings and they're all over the place shopping, selling, crafting, supporting the town with their taxes, etc. they're hardly a "shunned minoroty" anymore

 

They brought Thanksgiving into it because Thanksgiving is coming up and they want to raise money. The online store is NOT represenative of in-game character behavior and traditions.

Starr's quote.. again.. raising money and note that no holidays were named. In fact so there's no lore explaining why such an item is even magical in the first place.

Population.. can we say suspension of disbelief? If it were a real world.. cities would have more than say.. 60 homes. There would be hundreds or even thousands. You must account of the unseen population of the world. Thousands of Avatars amoung potentially millions of natives.. is not very many and both RG and TH have both suggested that it might not be a good idea for avatars to reveal themselves.

And why are we debating this in the first place? Nothing is going to stop you from celebrating whatever holiday you darn well please. The purpose of this thread is to discuss New Britannia holidays.. not Earth holidays that Avatars might celebrate. You want a big town sized celebration.. organize one in the community.. more power to you.. but the natives would not abandon theirs in favor of someone else's.

Can we get back on topic please? I'm sure nobody here wants to watch a couple guys bicker and argue over a supposed attempt to intergrate Earth holidays.

 

Indeed. With the imminent release of The Prologue chapter in hopefully this week's Update, I'm hoping we'll have some more backstory to draw upon for New Britannian festivals and holidays. So in lieu of that, I re-read some of the transcriptions and I found some interesting things about creation myths.

For January, perhaps there could be a Day of Creation or something. It's the "beginning" of their rebirth from the cataclysm. One important area they pointed to is Fortis. Apparently, some major event took place near there involving the resurgence of magic, alternate life forms, etc.

RG:
But the most recent large event happened at a place called Fortis. And Fortis is a bit to the northwest of Britanny in a region we call North Palandris. But that fall, that event, that catastrophic fall from the sky turns out to be very key in kind of the transition of the story from the dark ages you might call just after the calamity to being part of the creation mythology or the creation process of bringing back magic and bringing back and bringing a pantheon of new life forms.

TH:
Yes, it's very much a nexus. And the crux event that leads us to new magic to a great extent and also to as Richard mentions an explosion of alternate life form within the world. That's another world Richard and I have gone over again and again what kinds of creatures exist here in the world. And it isn't just a question of what kinds of creatures exist here in this world but it's a question of why do these creatures exist in this world. And in fact, that particular explosion creation myth features fairly prominently in the novel that we're doing. And hopefully should be starting that here in the next month or two to start releasing chapters to you.

Perhaps the "pilgrimage" to this place takes place in January (or at least until it's specified in the backstory), since that's the month you've tentatively set for endings/new beginnings.

 

If they specify a date we can always change it. January seemed like a good time to be coming off of New Years. Was that part of the transcript from a recent chat? I'm afraid due to circumstances I've fallen a little bit behind. I have to go to the library and download/convert videos there so it sometimes takes me a week just to get the latest..

 

I'm not attempting to integrate earth holidays, I'm just saying that given the story we know so far, its not unreasonable to think earth holidays could possibly be integrated over time. That's all I'm saying. I don' t think its reasonable to prohibit earth holidays from being integrated with the game entirely when a big part of the premise of the game is mass numbers of earthlings immigrating to New Britannia. If you step back and consider such a scenario I think its reasonable to think that could happen.

As for getting back on topic, I think this is on topic. This is a discussion of festivals and holidays in New Britania and I think as I said that its possible for earth holidays to be integrated into them for the reasons I gave. If you disagree that's fine, but that doesn't mean its not valid for me to bring this up and discuss this aspect of it as this is my take on it. You can have your take on it as well

 

Not exactly.. It's not holidays and festivals IN New Britannia.. it's New Britannia holidays and festivals. Difference. As in that which originates in NB.

 

Hmmm...I really like this one. With what New Britannia has gone through, it would be important to many to "remember." The family tree would be important. I can see the people of NB having a day like this and the avatars just kind of joining in...remembering their past as well. It also ties in nicely with heraldry, the banners, the family crest...the whole thing. And through time, the native people and the avatars would kind of merge their views of how to remember and celibrate their own family trees. When you think about it (in a RP sense), this could be one of the first true holidays that we would share and grow into with the local people.

Perhaps to give it a bit more flair...give it a Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) kind of vibe. I mean who doesn't want sugar skulls in the game?

 

I don't think that changes my point. New Britannia Holidays and Festivals would include those celebrated in New Britannia. I'm simply suggesting that over time those might include earth holidays which the immigrants have brought with them.

 

and I simply suggested that IF that happened it would take a LONG time and we can't make the assumption that avatar's have been flooding in for that long. In either case.. at this point we'd be going in circles. It's past time to move on.

I think we have a good handle on January (apart from names).

I like the lighting of candles for ancestors but I don't think it needs to be tied to a specific day. I feel like it's something you could do at any appropriate opportunity. Visiting the site where your ancestors emerged from underground after the cataclysm for example.. or any time you pass a ruin.. or visiting a grave. Certainly there could be a holiday where it's done specifically but it seems like a practice that wouldn't be reserved for a special day.

Moving on to Febuary. It was suggestion that Feb be the month of compassion and the celebration of love.. of course we have Valentine's Day. Though compassion in Ultima is more of a general love rather than romantic.. but romance I think is sort of an additional theme. Stretch or not.. the village of Cove was a town of romance near Britain (city of compassion). Given the locations of towns and dungeons in Ultima you might say everything in a region followed the theme.. Well anyway.. both romance and compassion come from love so they're both appropriate to do together imo.

Other ideas that were put forth were fund raisers to give to the poor and healing the sick. NPCs 'dressing up' to collect funds.. and a charity drive.

I note a theme of compassion in Ultima was giving to the poor. My thinking would be hosting a dinner and giving of clothes. Merchants might lower their prices for the day.

There's also gift exchanges between loved ones. I keep thinking about how valentine's day is done in Japan.. the tradition is actually split between 2 days. On Valentine's Day the women give chocolates.. both to romantic interests and for friendship. Then there is "White Day" where the man gives a gift in return if the feelings are reciprocated.. I think is how it goes. I'm not really sure how far apart the two days are.

If we put it all together in one day then perhaps a big part of it would be having couples participate together.

 

Added to my notes.. it occurs the "Day of the Shattered Moon" could be incorporated in the first part of the Jan. holidays.

Buttress Day plays right along with the idea of "Discharge Day".

 

Sure, let's move on. All I'm proposing is that when considering NB holidays we should include in that the possibility of earth holidays. That's all.

 

I think that deserves its own separate thread, as I agree with Bowen on keeping this one to cultural festivals and holidays that were native to New Britannia, prior to the arrival of the Avatars. I'd love to hear about new holidays that came about as part of their arrival, but that should be in a separate thread to keep this one focused on native ones.

 

fair enough, sounds good to me.

 

Well I was hoping the topic would take off a bit more but as we seem to be having a hard time keeping up momentum I'll just throw out everything I have in my notes and my own thoughts one month/post at a time. Then anyone interested can pick on anything.

I brought up Feb. already.. so on to March.

It was suggested that March be the month for Justice celebrating fairness and equality. Some ideas put forth around justice is honoring local law enforcement and others involved in the justice system. Possibly similiar to the way we might honor military service.

There could be mock trials or perhaps the burning of a famous tyrant in effigy. The mock trial idea was added to by suggesting more of a fun event where a jester plays the part of the judge with citizens taking on other roles and being judged over silly offenses. Another spin on this might be for local kings to open their courts up to really settle minor disputes in a more serious manner.

I don't see it in my notes but I seem to remember some other discussion about forgiveness.. perhaps a tradition of forgiving minor offenses. A day perhaps to offer a 2nd chance to someone. I recall a tradition at one point where a prisoner was released on a certain day.. or perhaps a debt is forgiven. Things along those lines.

This might be one of those holidays where every region has their own local traditions but I think the honoring of town guard would more of a global tradition and each town would have their own way of adding to the day.

 

April..

Though it's not a holiday that I'm aware of.. April brings us April Fools. In this vain the idea of an anti-truth or liar's day.. or as someone else put it.. a Day of Fools or perhaps a good name would be Jester's Day. A day for carnvals and jokes. I think this would be something that would have started off a little more serious and evolved over time.

You might see a sales sign on a food vendor for example "all weapons 50% off"

 

May

The suggestion for May was Courage/Valor.

Some of the ideas included a celebration of military vets.. especially those who died or were wounded in good service.

This might also be a good month of the "Buttress Day/Discharge Day" ideas to take place.

Festivities should include tournaments.. though we know we won't likely see full on tournaments supported by the game in EP1.. I recall RG showed interest in getting them in.. we're talking jousts here.. eventually.. ground combat of course also. Various other games would also be cool. Perhaps archery contests and the like. I'm thinking merchants would take avantage of tournaments to set up booths akin to a ren faire. Food stalls.. weapon & armor merchants etc..

Perhaps this could be a favorite holiday for ladies to give favors to their favorite knights? (ok ok or young strapping men to their favorite Dame.. or whatever arrangement suits you personally).

The day could end in a feast on the List Field or somewhere on tourament grounds.

This would be a good time also for guild PvP events,, serious or otherwise.

 

Honestly Bowen, I can't see them adding any of this to the game simply because it has been stated that the native people of all over our new world have different cultures, customs, and ideologies. Any substantial holiday for one group of humans wouldn't mean much to a neighboring group of humans. Richard and Tracy are hitting home the idea that there is a great amount of diversity in New Britannia and unless you target these holidays to specific groups -- Only those living in Hidden Vale for instance -- it just doesn't seem to follow the lore. On the other hand if these holidays were created for specific groups, I wonder if there would be too many of them and the whole intent on their inclusion would be defeated since only a small bit of the population would -- in theory -- participate.

 

June \ October

This is where some of my ideas diverge from other suggestions. With no corrosponding Earth holiday for a theme the suggested holiday for June was spirituality. I personally would like that theme for October.. BUT apparently the author of this suggestion (sorry I didn't take notes as to who suggested what but a lot of these are from this thread so if anyone doesn't remember you can look back on page 1 or 2 I think it was).. reserved October for an Oktorfest idea.

Ok so one idea for spirituality was "Celebrating and cultivating the virtues found in oneself and the surrounding world"

My thinking for spirituality was a kind of SotA's halloween or spirit festival inspired by the idea of lighting candles or lanterns to guide spirits to the afterlife.. such as sending lit candles down a river.

Someone suggested the idea of going so far as being able to have contact with ghosts. I don't particular like the idea but I don't want to leave out mentioning stuff based on my prefrence.. though I do have the concern that the idea would be pretty expensive to do just for a holiday.. where as stuff like tournaments while expensive.. could be incorporated such that the community could do them at any time.

So I think in order to have stuff like spirits showing up and being able to communicate.. you'd really want something you could make use of on more than one day a year. So I will let people who like that idea ponder for further discussion.. if there's enough interest in that stuff someone might want to start a new thread about it.

But basically might thoughts on spirituality is a day to honor/remember those who've come before us. Visiting graves.. having some sort of festival with lighting lanterns.. chasing away evil spirits and other things different cultures do. Except I wanted it in October.

The October suggestion was Honor.. (I'd be happy enough doing this in June ) but also apparently something to do with copious amounts of beer. I'm not sure I see the connection.

"Celebrating the courage to remain true to ones convictions and honoring the past, including the brewing of Reinheitsgebot." That's the special brew for backers right?

I do kind of like mixing the honor with beer for the simple reason that I definately think the holiday should involve a feast/banquet as a main part of the day. Honor, like Valor could involve tournaments and games though if that were to happen I think there should be distinct differences. Any such tourament I think should more emphasize chivalry over victory.

Now that I'm thinking about it.. chivalry seems a very appropriate theme.. both as expressions of valor and love.. (though if you want to get technical honor is supposed to be courage + truth but why nitpick?).

Some other ideas include recommitment ceremonies (of all kinds).. such as a knight acknowleding commitment to their lord.. or spouses to each other (ie having a 2nd marriage despite still being married or just repeaing their vows etc).

Edit: Another idea I almost forgot. A popular tradition might be the telling of stories of great courage and honor. Either in honor of others.. or boasting of your own deeds.. (but only if they're true). Stories and deeds that bring "honor" to yourself or others.

 

We don't necessarily need Portalarium to officially put anything into the lore. It's just as much about the commuity as anything else. If Portalarium decided to support whatever we might come up with that's great. If not it can just be something the community does on their own. Either works.. but RG DID in fact ask the community to think up "rituals" (in the context of the hangout at the time it was obvious I think he was refering to holidays and the like).

I think it could add a lot of depth to the overall culture.. and maybe some of this is only for some groups.. hey whatever. RG asked for it.. Portalarium can do.. or not do anything they like with them. I just want to get the ideas out there.

 

July

No specific suggestions for July apart from "King's Day" for lack of a better name. Open to suggestions. Basically Lord British's b-day. I was just thinking generic celebrations however people like. Not really a major holiday and probably something LB would prefer to keep low-key. However, based on the name "king's day" perhaps local rulers who are a bit less humble that RG might want to throw parties in their own honor.