The Second Apocalypse
Earwa => General Earwa => Topic started by: mrganondorf on January 27, 2016, 12:11:00 am
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I don't get a sense of holidays in Earwa and that strikes me as just impossible. Surely someone marks the yearly return of the day Mog died. It might be like Christmas except maybe you exchange pictures of stillborn babies to remember how life could always be worse.
Sejenus' life should inspire holidays around the 3 Seas. Am I missing something, or did Bakker leave it out, or is it part of all the secrets he's hiding?
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That's an interesting point. I cannot recall any specific holidays, but I feel like there was, at some point, mention of a Inirthi holiday during on the military campaigns, but I've no idea whether it was the Holy War or The Great Ordeal (or if I'm just plain fabricating memories).
Unlike the mysterious lack of origin myths from literally every religion in the series -- which I strongly feel is an intentional but temporary omission (though I hope it's reasoning/execution is a bit better than, for example, four-books in Achamian suddenly mentioning stuff like the Judging Eye and even more-so the White-Luck Warrior in totally off-hand manner just in time for their appearance as plot elements), the lack of major holidays seems more like something that either slipped through the cracks, or was simply considered low priority to Bakker. Both of which are pretty understandable, given the gargantuan scope of the worldbuilding and its details.
It's also not something that seems wildly uncommon in epic fantasy worlds unless it serves a direct plot device, but that may just be because my own deficit of reading the genre, especially since if they're not at all plot relevant, they can sort of fall under the common hand-wave of "Yes, there are holidays, and also the characters go to the bathroom, spend a minute or two trying to remember a joke they heard someone mention a week ago, change their clothes, masturbate, and a million other things you don't really need to be concerned about".
Although, I do echo your feelings on the lack of a "Merry Sejenmas" here and there, only because of the lase-precision with which religion and culture are handled in the series otherwise.
Does LOTR talk about holidays? Genuinely curious, as I've read the trilogy very haphazardly, and there huge swaths I haven't read at all. What about Dune? Surely the Fremen have something, but I can't recall anything other than during the last act of God-Emperor of Dune -- where it served as a pretty important plot device.
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There are a couple mentioned:
Feast of Kussapokari—A traditional Inrithi holiday marking the summer solstice.
Ishoiya—Sheyic for “uncertainty.” The so-called Day of Doubt, an Inrithi holy day celebrated in late summer, commemorating the spiritual turmoil and renewal undergone by Inri Sejenus during his imprisonment in Xerash. Among the less pious, Ishoiya is renowned as a day of copious drinking.
Venicata—An Inrithi holy day celebrated in late spring, commemorating the so-called First Revelation of Inri Sejenus.
I think there are days dedicated to certain gods too, but I can't find an exact quote to prove that at the moment.
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Haha, I was finding these for Larry over at Westeros. venicata is the only one I never found, yet. Oh, and I was accused of never reading the series also today over there.
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Haha, I was finding these for Larry over at Westeros. venicata is the only one I never found, yet. Oh, and I was accused of never reading the series also today over there.
It was actually mentioned passingly in Chapter 2 of TWP, but I missed it there too. I only found it later in the Glossary.
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Haha, I was finding these for Larry over at Westeros. venicata is the only one I never found, yet. Oh, and I was accused of never reading the series also today over there.
I'd argue no one anywhere has read the series. Probably bakker himself bought all those 200k sold copies, and all discourse of the subject is committed by bakker alts.
Alternatively, technically correct, in that the series isn't finished so no one can have read it.
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Ha, this dude is always "grumpy and tired". I'm sure he really didn't mean it. I was arguing that the "campaign" we had with Overlook did indeed work. And, he gave me an EAMD and said it caused more harm than good. I think he thought I didn't know what EAMD meant, dunno.
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It most certainly did something. Squeeky wheel gets the oil, and all that. I see no way that it could have possibly caused any harm whatsoever. Letting a publisher know that there are potentially throngs of ravenous fans waiting to purchase the book is only a positive. Causing ripples is usually entertaining anyway, you're doing the good work ;)