Tuesday, September 15, 2015

I'm Sorry for Going M.I.A. / Holidays

I am such a terrible blogger.
I feel awful for abandoning this little corner of the internet for such a long time, and I apologize to all of you wonderful people who think this blog is good enough to follow. Unfortunately, there's this thing called college, and college isn't designed with bloggers (or writers of any kind, actually) in mind. Until further notice, posting is going to be sporadic. I just don't have the time (which is very sad, truly), especially if I actually want to get enough sleep to function during the day. I also feel bad because I still haven't done those interviews with Mara. I will try to get them done, I promise. I just have no clue when.

For now I will leave you with something to think about when you work on your world building.
Around this time is when the Jewish people celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. I only know this because I happen to be studying Judaism and Israel this year in college, and my professor told my class about some Rosh Hashanah customs today. One thing he focused a lot on was the food of the holiday. Challah bread, a braided loaf with sesame seeds baked into the top of the crust, is a typical food, along with pomegranates, and apples dipped in honey. There are lots of sweet foods going around which is related to the idea of looking forward to a "sweet" year ahead. Rosh Hashanah is about getting clarity, making things clean and new so that the next year will be sweet. So between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (I hope I spelled that right), people go around fixing relationships, paying overdue debts, etc, in order to "clean up" and make things shiny and new and whole for starting the new year.
So here are a few questions to help you think about your world building some more:

  1. What holidays (originally "holy days" - think about that) does your world's cultures celebrate? (e.g. Rosh Hashanah, "new year.")
  2. Do the nations have any holidays in common, or is every one completely seperate? Why? (e.g. Rosh Hashanah is a specifically Jewish holiday, but I'm sure there were holidays similar to it around the same time of year in ancient Middle-Eatern cultures.)
  3. Where does each holiday come from? (e.g. Rosh Hashanah is an agricultural new year since it is in the fall, when a new cycle of agriculture begins.)
  4. What are the ideas behind it? (e.g. Rosh Hashanah is about making the coming year "sweet")
  5. What customs are associated with it? (e.g. dipping apples in honey and eating sweet pastries.)

I'm not an expert on Jewish holidays so if I made mistakes in my info, I'm sorry. I did try to remember it all as well as possible. But seriously, consider what your created cultures celebrate! What matters to them? How would they celebrate that? Why? How? Brainstorm and tell me your ideas in the comments!

6 comments:

  1. *sad face* I've missed your posts! But I understand the whole being busy thing. *hands chocolate*

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    1. *hoards chocolate* Unfortunately I also haven't had a whole lot of time to read other blogs . . . but when I get time yours will be the first I hit. Be ready for some comments at some point hopefully soon.

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  2. You're such an awesome person! And your blog is fabulously pretty! I've been trying to stalk you on social media, but you don't have any links in your sidebar! :( Oh well. When you're off hiatus, make sure to leave links so your new ultra-fans can go stalk you!

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    1. Haha well thank you! Unfortunately my only real social media accounts are Facebook and Pinterest, and I don't friend anyone I don't know either in person or very well over the internet on Facebook for privacy/security reasons. You're welcome to stalk through my 70+ boards on Pinterest and check out my Redbubble store though. XD I thought I had a link to my Pinterest in the sidebar but I don't see it so I'll try to get that up there ASAP. Until then, my Pinterest username is Ivycloak. Hope that helps. :) And thanks!

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