It's almost the end of the year. Time for countdowns and resolutions here in the UK. There are plenty of different varying traditions all over our world - so there must be even more varying traditions in everyone's NationStates nations! Time to share how your people celebrate the New Year (if they even do )
 

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It's two days away from the shortest day of the year here in the Red Plain. For the people of Nakari, that marks the end of the year and the temporary death of the moon. You see, every month the sun hunts the moon down and devours it. Sometimes the night is short, because the sun stays in the sky a long time trying to find the moon. In winter, the night is long because the sun is narrowing down its options. It goes in disguise into the night sky dressed as stars. On the shortest day, the sun surfaces for a few hours then dives back into the black sea of the night, and snatches up the moon. Due to strange lunar wobbles, it always used to take the moon up to a week longer to return than at any other time.

Two days before the shortest day, the celebrations begin with great feasts that grew out of traditional dedications of gifts to the moon to help it fight back against the sun. These feasts are lavish and contain all kinds of foods except those obtained by hunting - it's thought to be disrespectful to the moon. Candles are lit all over the temples and in peoples' windows for the next days until the moon returns. It's considered bad luck for the next year if a temple's lights begin to go out before the moon returns.

At sunrise on the shortest day, the old year is officially ended, and at sunset the new year begins. The few hours of sunlight are seen as a time of transition. People make prayers and promises to the gods that are intended to last the whole of the next year. Any crimes committed in this time are forgiven. No official business or war can take place.

The first days of the new year are quiet and reflective. To try not to scare the moon off, it is traditional to never show your teeth at night until it has returned, so people may not eat, drink or even talk between sunset and sunrise. The days are filled with songs, hymns, temple visits, prayers, sacrifices. In most houses a member is assigned to stay up all night, both to ensure the candles stay lit and to watch for a sliver of the moon appearing in the sky. The first person in each city to spot the moon spreads news that it has returned, and another, smaller feast is held immediately, with the first person to raise the alarm being crowned with silver by the highest priests.

And then one year the moon never came back.

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Pencil Sharpeners 2 does not celebrate any sort of holiday, partly because that is the sort of bourgeoisie decadence that gets in the way of our economic dominance, and partly because no knowledge of any such holidays have been programmed into our glorious leader, Supercomputer 00356.

Did some LC, MoRA, CRS stuff in the past. Do a lot of World Census stuff now.

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In Sedunn the calendar new year differs from the traditional cultural new year.

Sedunn also uses the Gregorian calendar, but the calendar New Year's Eve the 31 of December isn't a public holiday, however it is naturally widely acknowledged, and there is a popular televised concert in the capital Grovne in the evening.

The traditional Sedunnic New Year's Eve is in 21 June, at winter solstice (southern hemisphere) and is a public holiday. As a symbolic act of beginning anew and cleaning out the old, it is common to have bonfires in the evening, fuelling it with burnable waste. It is common to have a dinner with friends and family. Traditionally meppdi, a pizza-like dish with various preserved toppings, is served along with fruity wines. The Sedunnic kings/queens usually give a televised speech.

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In Rikutso, the new year does not occur at the same time as it does in Western Cultures, as it does not use the Gregorian Calendar. Instead, the New Year in the Rikutsaren calendar falls on the Summer Solstice (around June 21st), at which point there is a great big festival of dancing and food and music celebrating the coming of another great year. However, Rikutso also celebrates a winter holiday at the winter solstice (around December 21st), where they have similar dancing and food and et cetera. In fact, Rikutso celebrates a holiday at every equinox and solstice.

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Wintreath Thane of Diplomatic Officers
Fmr. Local Councillor (9/9/15 - c. 10/15)

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The usual festivals, revelry, and sacrificing of virgins.

Why change a classic? 

Marius Rahl

Fortitudine Vincimus!

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Volaworandians generally attending the polar IceStock 48hr rave and circuit party for some art, culture, music and clothing optional, generally  drug-aided revelry.

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(This post was last modified: 12-21-2017, 07:27 AM by Volaworand.)

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