Halloween Party?

[minerva]

//Does Halloween occur on Layo?  If so will the Arms be celebrating the feast?

[Zhofe]

//last halloween, on of the GMs ran a quest that was quite fun. I presume the Arms will be open sometime during the night though, so wait and see.

[ZeroVega]

 Yes it's celebrated. All Hallows eve is err... well think Dawn of the Dead cept more like Night...ish. Two years ago we had undead randomly crawling around on Halloween (and for some time after)... there was also a quest that I didn't get to finish but... yeah it's celebrated, and I'm sure every GM will have his or her fun with it...

[Aragon]

Yes, All Hallow's Eve is the most unholy of days and the most sacred to the Corathites.  Rest assured that we have something planned.  *evil smirk*

[Zhofe]

Ah, so all we have to do is think of something more impressive that what the DMs and CMs (Corathite Morons *smirk*) are doing?

[Rhizome]

It is my opinion that All Hallow's Eve does not or should not exist in Layonara.  All Hallow's Eve is a Catholic holiday, and since there is clearly no Catholicism in Layonara, there should thus be no All Hallow's Eve in Layonara.
  If there is an inclination that something like Halloween should exist in Layonara, then it would have to be brought into existence by players who would like to make it so.  But I would encourage people to think creatively and come up with something new and different than Halloween.  Considering the creativity we have at our disposal being residents of a fantasy world, the possibilities are infinite and exciting to ponder.
  As for Halloween being associated with Corath, I don't agree with this either.  Making that quick association seems to misunderstand the nature of All Hallow's Eve and suggests that it is some kind of night of evil undead invasion.  One of the main ideas behind All Hallow's Eve, and the associated All Saints and All Souls days are to remember the dead and the impact they have had in our lives.  This is where the ghosts idea comes from and can be considered metaphorically rather than literally.  If Layonara was going to have some established rituals like this, they would be much more literal, I'd think, and thus would be a significantly different event.  This is also why I suggest above that if we want to have this kind of an event in Layonara that we come up with something new ourselves.
  I'm also troubled by the association of a living RL holiday, which is practiced in earnest in a great many places throughout the world, most notably Latin America, with an evil god like Corath.
  Thanks for reading my comments.  I hope all are well.
  Rhizome

[Zhofe]

Well, obviously as a RL holiday it isn't going to fall on the actuall game-time day it should .... so really, it would be a somewhat ooc celebration .... a reason for our characters to do things.

I will talk over the idea of some sort of party on this night or the day after. If it is too iffy to call it a halloween party, we could always do something like a masquerade ball or something.

[Guardian 452]

One October in V1 we had an awesome Halloween.... all the towns population were undead... so were all the players!!! Yeah thats right Neg energey healing!!!.... and a pack of GM's led like 20+ peaople (allot back then) all over throwing every thing under the sun at us!


Beware the Vampire Rangers !!  I can still hear their acid arrows ripping thru the air!

It was a nice birthyday present  ;P


G-452

[cappyra]

I want to throw in my take if I may.

First as far as RL holidays and Layonara, the boundary has been crossed before so I don't see how this occasion should be singled out.  Examples:

- Anyone remember UNDEAD RULES spelled out on the grass in Hlint last year on Halloween and all the towns folk turned undead?

- How about the Reindeer Hunt for the Man in Red at Fort Hope during the Christmas Holiday?  The subsequent gifts after the quest?

This is some harmless fun and even though these events blurred the line between RL and Layonara...  it was a lot of fun and some great roleplay occured to boot.

Next.  Rhizome I have the utmost respect for you but in all fairness I would like to add to your comments concerning All Hallows Eve and Halloween.

Yes... All Hallows Eve is a Catholic Holiday, but it is not to be confused with the true origins of Halloween which lie with the ancient Celtic tribes who lived in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. For the Celts, November 1 marked the beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. The night before the new year, they celebrated the festival of Samhain, Lord of the Dead. During this festival, Celts believed the souls of the dead—including ghosts, goblins and witches—returned to mingle with the living. In order to scare away the evil spirits, people would wear masks and light bonfires.

So Aragon (Chanda) could definately make a connection with Corath and the true origin of Halloween (from the evil side) which I think she intended, but not All Hallows Eve.

In 835, Pope Gregory IV moved the celebration for all the martyrs (later all saints) from May 13 to November 1. The night before became known as All Hallow’s Eve or “holy evening.”

I'm sure this move was done like other holidays (Christmas) to absorb pagen traditions into Christendom.

I agree that Making up a Halloween equivilent holiday in Layonara would be interesting but we would still be falling back on a holiday that already exists IRL.

Finally,  How much of Layonara is built upon our RL history and Mythos? =)

After all that. . .

I think it would be a blast to have an event at the Leilon Arms the Friday before Halloween =)  People could wear costumes.  We could have events like bobbing for pears,  Best Costume, hand out "treats" at the door and maybe decorate with a little help from the GMs (I nominate Rhizome =D)

Smile Rhizome smile =)

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

cappyra - 10/3/2005  8:39 AM
I agree that Making up a Halloween equivilent holiday in Layonara would be interesting but we would still be falling back on a holiday that already exists IRL.

Finally,  How much of Layonara is built upon our RL history and Mythos? =)

If the seasons in Layonara operate like our own (One year with four equal seasons) then a similar mythos would likely have evolved on its own. It is nearly preposterous to consider the idea that similar ideas would not have arisen in a world which is (in the very basics, at least) similar to our own.

As for the rest of Layonara which seems to be built upon our own history/mythos... It is a fantasy realm, and when people build fantasies, they draw on the archetypes we are all familiar with, blending some, altering others, and occasionally coming up with something altogether unusual. But after enough different fantasy realms have been imagined, the newer ones will seem in many ways like the old, simply because the scope of human imagination only goes so far, in general terms.

Though, thank you for pointing out the origin of Samhain- Excuse me, Halloween. I have wondered, however, how it became considered an unholy day... I would imagine it is much like dragons were construed to be evil by the Church, and the pentagram/pentacle; great symbols of the pagan (which I believe to be a derivative of the latin word "Paganus," meaning "civilian" or somesuch? Judaism, and later Christianity, was the official religion of the Roman Empire, and those that were not of the Empire... Well, there you go.) beliefs. And when you're trying to teach people that your way is the right way, and all others are wrong, what better than to teach them that some of the most important things of the other people are evil and wrong? And better yet, hold your own holy days on thiers, so that noone can go to both! Genius!

It's like Bill Gates - Do everything the other people do, and make all of your stuff incompatible with thiers. Then, convince everyone you did it first, and BAM! Success.

Oh, wow. Got off on a tangent, there. Sorry... One might say I'm a bit passionate about the subject. Not that I'll edit the post, but if anyone gets uppity about what I've said, you can convince yourself I've apologized for offending you. Or just get over it.

The whole RL religion issue aside, though, it would make very little sense for there not to have evolved similar traditions and religious practices on ANY world that shares our year and seasons. So go for something on the new year; I love beating the heck out of zombies. Whatever suits your fancy.

EDIT: While I don't change the original text unless I've broken some sort of major rule (with OOC posts, anyway), I do try to fix my mistakes; just for future reference if anyone cares to wonder why I don't just go back and swap words.

Next to last sentence: "New year" should be "Samhain/Halloween".

EDIT (again): Upon another glance at Cappyra's post, I feel the need to point out another thing... And I realize I must sound like a pompous, arrogant, concieted know-it-all, so I apologize for that. I am just horribly bothered by the spreading of misinformation; I've seen too many children who run around, trying to defy thier parents by pretending to be "Wiccan," spouting anything from the Christian Devil being some great, loving being, to how to make one's hair change colour with a candle and some pepper, to how thier 30-years-older lover has induced them into "The Sixth Level of Bondage Magic". Amusing, at a distance, but simply sad when face-to-face with such things.

A timeline more faithful to the original beliefs of the Welsh (which parallel those of the Celts; not sure of the realtion between the Welsh and the Celts. Oversight on my part...) is found here: http://www.tylwythteg.com/wheel.html (One note: In no way does "dark" mean evil, when mentioned in the link provided. Darkness is necessary to light, otherwise neither would exist. It was considered merely another part of the natural course of things.) However, the modern Neopagan religion, Wicca, has simplified things a bit, and it's what you'll usually hear if you ask about the Sabbats. A simple duality reigns, with a God and a Goddess predominant, mating at Beltain, the God dieing at Samhan (and taking with him the spirits of the dead from that year), being born again from the Goddess at Imbolc, and the whole thing going 'round again. Sure, if you want to be picky, I started the list in a not-quite-traditional point, but give me a break. I'm not exactly a perfect example, y'know.

How many edits is this, now?

[miltonyorkcastle]

You people are too smart and too educated, dagommet.  I just know that sometime in October I get to eat candy corn and bash zombies.  (okay, so I only bash zombies in my head and the Broken forest, but that's close enough)

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

miltonyorkcastle - 10/6/2005  3:18 PM

You people are too smart and too educated, dagommet.  I just know that sometime in October I get to eat candy corn and bash zombies.  (okay, so I only bash zombies in my head and the Broken forest, but that's close enough)

Thank you for bringing this discussion out of the seriousness it had fallen into; the whole point of this place is to have fun, not to work on our Policitical Correctness. And yes, this is from the one who just went on a correction spree... But what can I say, I'm a hypocrite.

And what's more fun than getting together and slaughtering zombies?

[jrizz]

well as I read through this thread I was about to rant on about the origins of most christian holidays but I see it has been covered. So thank you.

>

[cappyra]

Check the Calendar for a Masquerade Party at the Leilon Arms on the last Friday of the month. =)