Meta Month, Day Six: Holidays

[mark_asphodel]

Holiday Meta: Archanea/Valencia

Holidays!  Everyone likes holidays...Holy days, festivals, whatever.  I mean, we know the FE characters don’t actually celebrate Christmas, right?

[Please say yes-- unless you’re writing an FE/Narnia crossover or something...]

Now, first off... I see no reason to assume, unless it’s stated somewhere in the games, that the various cultures observe a mandatory “day of rest” once a week.  Those of us in countries with a predominantly Abrahamic-derived culture may think that’s normal, but IIRC the ancient Romans, among other peoples, found this “rest on the seventh day” thing pretty bizarre.

So, no need to assume that all the shops in Pales close on Sunday.  Or Saturday, or Friday... or Tuesday, even!  Or that they even CALL these days Sunday, Tuesday, and so on...

Now, I see Sofian culture as being pretty holiday-happy.  They’re known for being averse to “toil,” and for having a good life handed to them by the goddess Mila.  If anyone in all of Fire Emblem takes the weekends off, it’s Sofians.  They probably do have a day of rest-- hell, they might take a week off every moon-cycle.  And I expect they love parades, fiestas, and other celebrations of Mila’s beneficence and their own happy lives.  At least until Mila gets sealed and the famine strikes...

Rigel?  Hell no.  I’d expect them to have religious observances in honor of Doma-- perhaps something like the civic/religious holidays of the ancient world, with offerings to Doma and probably games and contests-of-arms.  

Archanea is a more complex picture; I’d expect that the overall human culture probably celebrates some holiday in honor of the Guardian God, while the individuals countries have various seasonal festivals plus a civic/religious holiday or three honoring the local culture hero.  So, you can bet that the Alteans celebrate the birthday or coronation day or some analogue of a saint’s day for Anri... and their neighbors in Gra emphatically do not.  And probably each country that faced destruction in the Liberation Wars has some kind of liberation-day celebrations.  Maybe Macedon has the Glorious Revolt of the Peoples Day or something like that.  Pyrathi probably has some very weird observances-- maybe with the exiles observing their familiar holidays on the down-low.

Of course, after the events of 604-608, I’m sure the calendars are rewritten extensively.  Something tells me the civic and religious calendars are going to be commemorating the exploits of you-know-who for the next thousand years.

Meanwhile, FE2 does have that tidbit about Cellica being regarded as an incarnation of the earth goddess, so after she ascends to the heavens or whatever, I’ll bet she gets her own cult... and possibly receives some kind of formal deification, in the manner of a Roman emperor.  Alm, too, possibly-- he is referred to as the Holy King, after all, not the Warrior King or the Supreme Badass or Our King Who Is Better Than That Other Guy Over There --

Comments

[kyusil.livejournal.com]

I subscribe to the St. Christopher "man who carries the messiah" hypothesis when it comes to our boy Chris.

Ooh, that works really well.