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Winter Holiday

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:59 pm
by Orin
Just wanted to wish everyone on the forums a joyous, safe and peaceful whatever wonderful holiday you celebrate at the start of winter. I thought it might also be fun to share some traditions that people have for this time of year, because it's a fun and interesting way to learn more about people. Who knows? Maybe we'll couple some of our own traditions with some Eilistraeean ones and create awesome NEW ones.

Happy Christmahanucwanzyulstice everyone!

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 1:50 am
by Irennan
Thank you, and I'll join you in wishing happy holiday to everyone.

As for traditions, we don't do much here. None of us is Christian (well, perhaps my mother), so Christmas is more just of an opportunity to stay together. Even then, we really don't do big things, it's a very small/intimate celebration, so I don't know which kind of tradition I could share.

That said, Eilistraee's Runs seem a very Christmas-y tradition to me. Her followers go around bringing joy, art, entertainment, a helping hand and gifting food to people. I can almost picture them in santa costumes leaving gifts for children near their homes.

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:48 am
by Orin
I can almost picture them in santa costumes leaving gifts for children near their homes.
Oh my Dark Lady, I desperately want this to be a thing! They could leave them sweets...or little wooden swords!!!....I am getting little wooden sword ornaments for my tree...This is awesome!

Our traditions are usually centered around movies. One thing we make sure to watch every Christmas is the BBC adaptation of The Hogfather by Terry Pratchet. We affectionately refer to it as "Death Saves Christmas". My wife also loves White Christmas and we watch that with friends every year as well. My birthday is often synonymous with Christmas, being only five days before, so a lot of things that are my birthday traditions are also Christmas traditions. Like going to see the light displays with hot drinks and the like. I also try to watch The Snowman on or near Christmas, because I believe it is good for my soul.

Oh! I almost forgot Elfing! So I have a woman in my life whom I refer to as my bonus mom. She's my wife's best friend's mother and every year on or near Thanksgiving here in the States, I go over to her house and Elf. That is to say, I pull out all of her Christmas decorations - all of them, the tree, the garland, the lights the works - and help her set them up. What's really funny is that she came up with the term Elfing and in HER mind, all she sees is Will Farrel dressed as Santa's helper, but now, because of your comment, I'm just gonna think of a drow in a Santa hat. Thanks man!

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 4:03 am
by Irennan
Orin wrote: Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:48 am
I can almost picture them in santa costumes leaving gifts for children near their homes.
Oh my Dark Lady, I desperately want this to be a thing! They could leave them sweets...or little wooden swords!!!....I am getting little wooden sword ornaments for my tree...This is awesome!

Our traditions are usually centered around movies. One thing we make sure to watch every Christmas is the BBC adaptation of The Hogfather by Terry Pratchet. We affectionately refer to it as "Death Saves Christmas". My wife also loves White Christmas and we watch that with friends every year as well. My birthday is often synonymous with Christmas, being only five days before, so a lot of things that are my birthday traditions are also Christmas traditions. Like going to see the light displays with hot drinks and the like. I also try to watch The Snowman on or near Christmas, because I believe it is good for my soul.

Oh! I almost forgot Elfing! So I have a woman in my life whom I refer to as my bonus mom. She's my wife's best friend's mother and every year on or near Thanksgiving here in the States, I go over to her house and Elf. That is to say, I pull out all of her Christmas decorations - all of them, the tree, the garland, the lights the works - and help her set them up. What's really funny is that she came up with the term Elfing and in HER mind, all she sees is Will Farrel dressed as Santa's helper, but now, because of your comment, I'm just gonna think of a drow in a Santa hat. Thanks man!
You're welcome! I've had that imagery in mind for a really long time. Mostly because I first learned about the Run in Christmas time, so my first thought was Eilistraee dressed as Santa, heh. Maybe my next commission will actually be a painting of the Dark Maiden in such a costume (it should look good on drow colors)

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 6:32 pm
by Orin
I'm sorry, Irennen, I don't think I realized that you were a visual artist. I think that would be an awesome project. Is some of the art you've shared on here your own, or is there a place I can view what you've done?

Edit: Duh, was looking back at some of the art posts to see which ones from that might have been yours and realized that you meant YOU would commission a piece that was Eilistraiee in a santa suit. Because of course you did, artists don't choose their own commissions... I feel silly.

Anyway, yeah - that would be an awesome commission.

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:08 pm
by Orin
By the way, for those interested, I wrote a holiday themed story on my blog. I'd actually finished about 3/4 of the story over a year ago, but between life, having to replace my PC and plain old forgetfulness, I didn't wind up finishing it until recently. If you read, I hope you enjoy.

Warning though: It's a little bit melancholy.

http://kevingubernatis.com/the-gift-giv ... e-warrior/

I reposted this here after deleting it, as I had taken it down, thinking that it should go in the RP stories forums, but then realized that all of those are stories about specifically drow and the dark lady, which this is not. If this isn't the right spot for this either, please someone just let me know.

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:34 pm
by Bhaern Quel
Orin wrote: Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:08 pm By the way, for those interested, I wrote a holiday themed story on my blog. I'd actually finished about 3/4 of the story over a year ago, but between life, having to replace my PC and plain old forgetfulness, I didn't wind up finishing it until recently. If you read, I hope you enjoy.

Warning though: It's a little bit melancholy.

http://kevingubernatis.com/the-gift-giv ... e-warrior/

I reposted this here after deleting it, as I had taken it down, thinking that it should go in the RP stories forums, but then realized that all of those are stories about specifically drow and the dark lady, which this is not. If this isn't the right spot for this either, please someone just let me know.
An interesting read. Thank you.

As far as I am concern this could have been posted in stories, there is no rule it has to be Eilistraee or even about Drow.
But whether your stories come from roleplaying or whether you wrote them separate of anything else, this is the forum to post your stories. These stories can be funny, dramatic, epic in scale, of very small scope, or really anything you can think of.

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2018 11:56 pm
by Irennan
Orin wrote: Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:08 pm By the way, for those interested, I wrote a holiday themed story on my blog. I'd actually finished about 3/4 of the story over a year ago, but between life, having to replace my PC and plain old forgetfulness, I didn't wind up finishing it until recently. If you read, I hope you enjoy.

Warning though: It's a little bit melancholy.

http://kevingubernatis.com/the-gift-giv ... e-warrior/

I reposted this here after deleting it, as I had taken it down, thinking that it should go in the RP stories forums, but then realized that all of those are stories about specifically drow and the dark lady, which this is not. If this isn't the right spot for this either, please someone just let me know.
Man, that made my eyes water (not to mention that it's truly well written). I found the Santa/Odin angle intriguing, as well as this war he's preparing for. Would make for an interesting book.

Thank you so much for sharing it!

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:41 am
by Orin
Bhaern Quel wrote: Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:34 pm
Orin wrote: Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:08 pm By the way, for those interested, I wrote a holiday themed story on my blog. I'd actually finished about 3/4 of the story over a year ago, but between life, having to replace my PC and plain old forgetfulness, I didn't wind up finishing it until recently. If you read, I hope you enjoy.

Warning though: It's a little bit melancholy.

http://kevingubernatis.com/the-gift-giv ... e-warrior/

I reposted this here after deleting it, as I had taken it down, thinking that it should go in the RP stories forums, but then realized that all of those are stories about specifically drow and the dark lady, which this is not. If this isn't the right spot for this either, please someone just let me know.
An interesting read. Thank you.

As far as I am concern this could have been posted in stories, there is no rule it has to be Eilistraee or even about Drow.
But whether your stories come from roleplaying or whether you wrote them separate of anything else, this is the forum to post your stories. These stories can be funny, dramatic, epic in scale, of very small scope, or really anything you can think of.
Thanks for reading it. Should I take it down and repost?

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:45 am
by Bhaern Quel
No reason to take it down. It also should stay because it has been replied to.

If you wish you could post it again, the full text if you want, in stories.

I was almost tempted to do so, however it is your work so you decide what you do with it.

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:50 am
by Orin
Man, that made my eyes water (not to mention that it's truly well written). I found the Santa/Odin angle intriguing, as well as this war he's preparing for. Would make for an interesting book.

Thank you so much for sharing it!
Thank YOU for the read, Irennen. I appreciate it and I'm overjoyed that you found it moving. That's mostly all that I hope for.

As for the Odin angle, it's a pretty common understanding that the modern concept of of Santa Claus is based both on St. Nicholas of Myra and the Dutch figure of Sinterklass. A slightly less common, or popular, understanding is that Sinterklass himself is based upon a combination of St. Nicholas and the god Odin. Before I wax idiotic about this, are you familiar with the lore around Odin and the Norse gods?

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:51 am
by Orin
Bhaern Quel wrote: Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:45 am No reason to take it down. It also should stay because it has been replied to.

If you wish you could post it again, the full text if you want, in stories.

I was almost tempted to do so, however it is your work so you decide what you do with it.
Ok, I may just do that. Thank you Bhaern, I appreciate it.

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 7:45 pm
by Irennan
Orin wrote: Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:50 am
As for the Odin angle, it's a pretty common understanding that the modern concept of of Santa Claus is based both on St. Nicholas of Myra and the Dutch figure of Sinterklass. A slightly less common, or popular, understanding is that Sinterklass himself is based upon a combination of St. Nicholas and the god Odin. Before I wax idiotic about this, are you familiar with the lore around Odin and the Norse gods?
I only have a superficial knowledge of the Norse gods--I had never heard of the Odin/Santa association, for example.

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:51 pm
by Orin
So a much less widely known, but yeah...all of the non-religious (or rather non Christian) aspects of Santa Claus are pulled pretty much directly from Odin. He literally gave gifts to children in December. Here's a short illustrated article that does a much more concise and comical job of describing the connection than I could.

http://infolocata.com/mirovia/irrefutab ... a-is-odin/

A LOT of contemporary fantasy draws heavily from Norse Mythology and paganism in general, including Dark Elves. Dark Elves are literally a part of Norse myth and were called Svartalfar in ancient times. Eilistraee is pretty much totally original, but per realm in the heavens, that of Svartalfheim takes its name at least from the realm (of the nine realms) where the Dark Elves are from. There's even a connection here to Santa Claus, as Sinterklaas in dutch culture had a helper named Svarte Piet (Black Peter) who is a character conjured simultaneously from depictions of moors, Hugin and Munin, Odin's two ravens, AND Svartalfar and Dokkalfar (Dusky Elves and Dark Elves).

Frost Giants, Fire Giants, Ents, Elves, Trolls especially (In fact they are connected to Dark Elves too, Troll or Trowe is where we get the word Drow. No bullshit, I looked that up for the story I am currently writing.) Wights, Draugr, fire breathing dragons (thought to be fair dragons appear in just about EVERY culture, which ought to give us all pause, even though it doesn't) a ton of other things too. Pretty much anything that is cool in D&D that is not derived from the work of H.P. Lovecraft is likely inspired by Norse, Celtic, German - really just European Mythology in general. Also, for the most part, the way that like - adventurers and NPCs interact with each other - like I mean to say - the time period and setting that D&D most of the time resembles is actually Italy (more generally southern Europe) during the renaissance.

Another fun fact that I don't know if you even deal with regarding the Norse gods is that - to English speakers at least, four out of seven days of the week are named for Norse Gods. Tuesday is Tyr's Day, Wednesday is Woden's Day (Woden is a germanic name for Odin) Thursday is of course Thor's Day, and Friday is Frigga's Day. Bonus Day Fact: Saturday is named for the Roman god of agriculture and Sunday is named for of course the sun, but because of the way in which many cultures worshiped it. In fact, the only day of the week NOT named for a religious figure of some kind is Monday, which is just Mono (one/first) Day.

Ok, I think that I am done waxing idiotic. :)

Re: Winter Holiday

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:31 pm
by Irennan
That's not waxing idiotic. In fact, it was very interesting. I knew that elves and dark elves were Norse (while the fae are Celtic), but I didn't know about the rest (or the names of the various days. In my language, they come from various celestial bodies--namely, the moon, the sun and some of the planets in the Solar System. For example, Monday="Lunedì"="giorno della Luna"=day of the Moon. In fact, I thought that Monday was a shortened version of Moonday).

Also, the comic was hilarious, thanks for sharing.