Happy Thanksgiving

[Asinjin]

I hope everyone has a good day.

[Asinjin]

Our old gaming companion Thor is expecting a child in May.  Just thought to pass along that information.

[Asinjin]

Happy Thanksgiving, another year to be thankful for our ability to continue to gather and game regularly.

[Asinjin]

Another year to be thankful...

5900 pages written,
4600 hours played,
1500 sessions,
425 characters,
71 players,
28 years,
17 good friends,
3 editions used,
1 game

[Asinjin]

In Yellowia, the Holiday of Thanks is celebrated in mid Wavery on the day when a sun in visible for more than half of the day.  The tradition is kept by reaching out to those in need for the entirety of the time the sun is shining that day.  The most notable way has long been for a hunter to go out and get an animal which he would then prepare and present to a family or group in need.  Habastly's clerics often go to farms in need and cast spells to aid the crops, and their blessings are believed to be stronger on the holiday.

Clouds and rain for the entire day is a bad omen of a dark year to come.

[Asinjin]

The Odd Lands, the classical name for the peninsula including Iott, Hertoplowius, and Pacyr had a tradition of celebrating a day of thanks for the creation of the northern wall which cut of the lands from the rest of the continent, keeping their odd ways safe from invasion from the rest of the world.  The holiday is celebrated in thanks to the deities that brought the wall into existence and is celebrated in the 3rd month, although the day in that month varies.  In addition to prayers in services in the morning, people help crafters go through the town and repair the walls of homes of those in need; doing for other what the deities did for all by building the wall and protecting the lands.

Any structure collapsing on this day is considered a sign that the owner or inhabitants have fallen out of favor with the deities.

[Asinjin]

For the Orcish Empire, the tradition of giving thanks centers around the elders and ancestors.  On the 2nd day of Baston Sun each year, the Empire has a holiday dedicated to giving thanks to one's elders and ancestors.  The orcs are thankful for everything that was built before them and all of the traditions that were maintained to keep the empire and the culture together.  Each family lights a candle for each generation that they correctly name in their past.  Orcish generations being short, this can take some time and the most notable families sometimes get over 100 generations into the ceremony before a mistake is made.  The ceremony starts at sun down, which is early in the day so late in the year.  Each candle lit recounts all of the names before it, starting with the first generation not represented in the household that year.

Recounting the family lineage back to the furthest on record is considered a blessing for the year to come.  Failing is not necessarily a bad omen, unless the family falls well short of the full line, which is s sign the family does not have many year left.

[Asinjin]

In Kathow, as well as in Shelleshe, the holiday of Den'chtoby Poblagodarit has like many holidays started as a day to remember deliverance from where the people came to Habololy.  The people were thankful for that deliverance.

As time progressed, it has become a day of thanks, celebrated on the last day of the 9th month less focused on that long ago event.  In Shelleshe, it is focused on celebrating in indulgence for the many bounties collected over the year whether it be self made or taken.  Even those that gained little are to be thankful least the deities provide even less the following year.  Those that have the most to be Thankful for are obligated to gift to someone that had a great misfortune befall them in the year and seemingly has little to be thankful for that day.

While Kathow still remembers that long ago day a bit more, they spend the day in prayer and with those for whom they are most thankful.  This often means a pilgrimage to their favorite cleric, typically of Quan Yin, with the family they are thankful for in tow.  Clerics spend the day first in prayer to their deity, for whom they are thankful, and then greeting the visitors.  Those who are visited by no one, whether clergy or not and offered thanks are bound to do better in the next year to prevent that from happening again.

[Asinjin]

The Dedestroytian Peninsula instituted a day of thanks during the days of the empire when they were in a constant struggle for hegemony with the Kingdom of Yellowia.  To co-op the day, they scheduled it for the same time, although instead of a floating day, as in Yellowia, they scheduled it for the 15th day of the month of Wavery.

The day was called Thank the Empire Day, and citizens were to start each of the traditional three meals with a recounting of why they were thankful for the empire or the emperor.  Each person was expected to give a reason different from the others with whom they were sharing a meal and a different one at each meal.

As time went on, contests would be held in town squares and other central locations where citizens would announce their thanks.  The local official would award the citizen who gave the most impassioned, best reason.

After the empire split, the holiday continued, but the two nations took much different versions with them.  The Republic changed it from thanking the empire to thanking the nation, in some form, for the life they are allowed to live.  Thanks for life, land, family, good governance, and the military were most common.  Thalmeret's version became more structured.  The day became a day of tax collecting in the name of thanks to the nation.  Emotional commentary was replaced by recited pseudo prayers.