Celebrations & Festivals

Celebrations & Festivals

Celebrations & festivals can be a way of furthering your world by adding historical, personal, or cultural elements. They provide a context to explore what your people value and how they express their collective emotion. Celebrations and festivals can be small and centered on a single person, or they can be massive, and encompass an entire community or civilization.

REASONS FOR CELEBRATIONS & FESTIVALS

PERSONAL

  • Birth
  • Coming of Age
  • Union
  • Death

SEASONAL

  • Autumn
  • Winter
  • Summer
  • Spring
  • Harvest
  • Planting
  • Flowering
  • Solstice

HISTORICAL EVENT

  • Battle (won or lost)
  • War (won or lost)
  • Death of Historical Figure
  • Area Founded
  • Cure for Disease

POLITICAL

  • Birthday of Leader
  • Establishment of Political Party

RELIGIOUS EVENT

  • Birth of Savior
  • Death of Savior
  • Death of Martyr
  • Religious Season

ACTIVITIES & TRADITIONS

Oftentimes a celebration or festival contains specific activities, rites, or traditions uniquely associated with it. These may be the lighting of candles, the exchange of gifts, prayers, fireworks or more. If you are creating a celebration or festival for your world, consider what typically occurs.

What is the largest celebration or festival in your world and what is it like?

Does your world have any celebrations that are forced, such as a tyrant autocratic party making their subjects celebrate?