fictional holidays

[rm]

Since I am at present avoiding content (I have discovered, I suppose, the unfortunate art of staying sane by lack of analysis) and avoiding one of my weirder errands of the week (I have to go buy feathers).

Talk to me of fictional winter holidays.

Currently there's The Longest Night from Kushiel's Dart on the list, and Last Night from the Swordspoint universe. Yes, and Festivus from (did this come from Seinfeld?). What else have you've got for me. Because I'm so over, you know, the actual holidays.

Comments

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

Is there anything in the winter in WATERSHIP DOWN?

[rm.livejournal.com]

I read that book once as a small child, was really traumatized by it and now actually know nothing about it. I've blocked it all out. I know there are rabbits, and someone tells me there's a creepy pagan rabbit death god in it or something, but I have no idea.

[magnetgirl.livejournal.com]

Duuuuuuuuude, The Black Rabbit of Inlé is awesome.

You are doing yourself a serious disservice by not reading it, Rach, it's really right up your ally.

There was this episode of Punky Brewster that really freaked me out as a kid that I avoided like the plague as a child but refused to erase the episode from the tape, thinking I would madden the evil spirit of the character portrayed in it and it would come after me.

I ended up watching it again about 11 years later-thinking it would be a silly string puppet with lights on it or some such thing-but oh no. That thing was still pretty creepy lookin'.

I guess this overly self-referential comment is supposed to mean, get back on the childhood trauma horse! Great literature awaits!

[drfardook.livejournal.com]

Here's a short (and not especially all that great) list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winter_festivals#Fictional

[rm.livejournal.com]

Man, every time I ask anything, the answer is, at least in some half-assed way, on Wikipedia. The fact that I don't check there is either a testament to my highly appropriate disdain for wikipedia or complete laziness on my part and I'm never sure which.

[drfardook.livejournal.com]

I have a fairly positive attitude towards wikipedia but don't expect it to dispense any learning deeper than what you'd find in your average 365 days of random factoid desk calendar.

Its great for filling in those clues on the crossword that you have on the tip of your tongue and random conversational queries, but not much else. This makes it very useful but not exactly something I'm going to donate money towards.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

I'm finding that Wikipedia is a great launchboard for things that I want to learn about. While the content can be dodgy, there are usually links to more accurate / direct information. It's almost like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - although that wiki already exists ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/ ) ... and it does have a list of winter holidays within as well ...

[being-haunted.livejournal.com]

crimbo is a slang word for christmas... coined in 1928 but now it is used in the kingdom of loathing game as the winter holiday. i know that isn't exactly what you are looking for but i looked up crimbo this morning, realised i had used in to someone that made me look like an ass or sycophant, so i thought i should at least share the word with you and have some good come of it.

[being-haunted.livejournal.com]

ps
also from wiki

* Pule: December 25 - Fictional replacement for Christmas created on the show Jimmy Neutron
* Life Day: November 17 - the most important day of the Wookiee year in the Star Wars saga
* Festivus: December 23 - quirky holiday famously invented on the show Seinfeld
* Festival of the Bells: Midwinter celebration in Fraggle Rock
* Decemberween: December 25 - A holiday in the Homestar Runner universe, occurring 55 days after Halloween.
* Hogswatchnight: December 32 - New Year's Eve/Christmas in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (plays on Hogmanay, Watch Night, and "hogwash")
* Winter-een-mas: January 25 - January 31 -
* Winterfair: from the Vorkosigan novels written by Lois McMcaters Bujold; a Barrayarran cultural holiday
* Chrismukkah: the modern-day merging of the holidays of Christianity's Christmas and Judaism's Hanukkah.
* Chrismahanukwanzakah: the modern-day merging of the holidays of Christianity's Christmas, Judaism's Hanukkah, and the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa.

[edit]

[lawnrrd]

Festivus is not entirely fictional. As I recall, it was invented by the father of one of Seinfeld's writers, who inflicted it on his family for many years. Presumably seeking some kind of catharsis, or at least purgation, the writer put it into the show.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Agnostica!

http://www.agnostica.com/