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Hŕromszéki Holidays and Holy Days
New Day / DayOne / Scandia's Birthday / First Day / First Morning - all names for Jan 1 - civil & religious holiday - Hz and Scandiawide back to top of calendar
Celebration of the return of life after the darkness. Some groups set off more fireworks at dawn. Others greet dawn in silence, giving thanks to God individually for the new start of a new year. Many churches hold services of rededication on First Morning. See also Volcano Night, with wich this is inextricably linked.
MidWintersMas - Jan 16 - religious and civil holiday - Scandiawide (well, northern hemisphere) back to top of calendar
A church recycling of even more ancient pagan midwinter festivals. Pointedly *not* on winter solstice (Jan 25), a special date to some people who worship nature. Cruisians celebrate rebirth and renewal - of hope, of seasons, of lives. It's a time to reflect on *turnarounds*, in particular repentance. Most denominations in Hz hold dawn worship services on MidWintersMas. Hz Valanian Catholics usually hold services at on MidWintersMas Eve at dusk or midnight.
Bressard Day - Jan 23 - Lacrosse-Michardie's national holiday - Scandiawide (wherever Loirisian communities exist) back to top of calendar
Fairly solemn remembrance of the birthday of Jacqueline Bressard, who unified the country and was its first president.
Méslovásikía - Feb. 5, usually - civil holiday - Hz, some other places back to top of calendar
The occasion of the Méslovásikía Meteor Shower is cause for all-night parties, outdoors, with plenty of hot drinks and food, but no bonfires (light messes up the sky-viewing). Some years it's a bit of a flop, but people still get to spend time with friends and family and sleep in the next day. Since the celebration is the *night* of the 4th, the holiday, as a day off work and school, is the fifth. Astronomers set the date, since the thickest part of the meteor shower sometimes strays to the night of the third or the fifth. Named after a Thesian astronomer from hundreds of years ago, Méslovásikía is the most reliable of Scandia's several yearly meteor events.
Sväty Mikulás' Day - Feb 27 - religious holiday - Scandiawide back to top of calendar
Celebrates the date of his dramatic conversion to Cruisianity. Note that no one has ever actually *confirmed* the date, and it certainly wasn't February 27th. Rather the (Valanian) Council of 550 took all the conflicting dates (ranging from Nov 1 to a lunar-based one typically in May), applied a complex averaging based partially on how many celebrants supposedly clamed each date, and set it at Feb 27. It's a day off work, typically in Hz celebrated at home - most churches are even closed unless it's Sunday.
Formation Day - March 1 - Sunamian national holiday back to top of calendar
The date Daniel Hunatius announced the Democratic Nation of Sunamia as a country. Notable in Hz and elsewhere because Sunamians like to use it as an excuse to throw a party, and invite everyone they know.
Hezgelyés Race Day - March 8 - civil holiday - Hz only back to top of calendar
Every March 8, rain or shine, no matter how deep the mud, two-year-olds run the 1.54 mile course at Hezgelyés. Hz stops to watch. The race takes about three minutes. The buildup, festivities, and analysis afterward can take a week. One day off is the holiday - many folks take off more.
Ste. Véronique Day - April 7 - religious & civil holiday - widespread back to top of calendar
This day not only celebrates this patron saint, but is also devoted to literature, with poetry readings. Not as big a deal in Hz as in some other Loirisian societies; say in Lacrosse-Michardie.
Reunification Day - May 1 - Lacrosse-Michardie's other national holiday - Scandiawide, everywhere a Lac-Mic expatriate can get his or her hands on fireworks back to top of calendar
Celebrates the reunification of the country of Lacrosse-Michardie. It is celebrated with fireworks both public and private, speeches, sports, picnics, fireworks, song and dance, traditional costumes, and did we say fireworks?
Luker Day - May 18 - civil and religious holiday - Scandiawide, among Cruisians back to top of calendar
Marking his birthday would have been strange to Luker himself, since he decried the commemoration of Saint's days (which had grown excessive in his day) as "an elevation of man to the place of honor due only to God".
Regardless, many Protestants worldwide observe the day with an evening church service. Even Valanian Catholic children look forward to Luker Day, since it is also the traditional last day of school in Hz before a summer break.
Good Friday & Easter - date varies - religious holiday - Scandiawide back to top of calendar
Good Friday commemorates the day of Cruis' crucifixion - 'good' only because his death was the perfect sacrifice that permits any who will to be reconciled to God. Easter, the subsequent Sunday, marks his resurrection - after a horrible death and three days in a tomb, he returned to life. Cruisians worldwide share similar traditions on Easter, and its celebration has been the cause of truces even in bitterly contested wars. Non-Cruisians don't share the root beliefs behind the holiday, but they tend to welcome a day of rest when part of a society (as Hz) where it is observed. Good Friday is a day for great solemnity and reverence, of contemplation of the fact that it was the sins of all Scandia for which Cruis died. Easter is a contrast - the occasion for joyous celebration. Good Friday's date is the Friday before the first Saturday following the fifth new moon of a year; Easter is two days later.
Jurgen's Comet Night - varies - civil holiday - Scandiawide back to top of calendar
This comes around every five years and three days. In 1518 it'll be June 14-15. Civil observance of this perihelion event (closest approach to sun - longest tail - best viewing) is nighttime parties, with plenty of excuse for staying awake from dusk to dawn. The holiday is thus the two days flanking Jurgen Night.
Sappacatta - varied date - religious holiday - worldwide, among Iudeans and Cruisians back to top of calendar
The first Saturday before the seventh new moon of the year (July 20, in 1514). Sappacatta predates the Cruisian Church, celebrated by Cruisians among most the other (ignored) Iudean festivals because the Holy Cathod records Cruis as having celebrated it with his folowers. It involves feasting and dancing, music and oratorical prayers. In Hz, supposed Iudean dishes are served; amusing to natives of Appias and Iudea, as they little resemble real Iudean cuisine.
High Summer - July 25 - civil holiday - many places around (northern) Scandia back to top of calendar
The longest day of the year - celebrated with outdoor sports, picnics, family activities.
Captain's Day - August 11 - civil holiday - Hz & lots of other places back to top of calendar
Some countries honor the ancient captain or captains who discovered Niveria. Some comemorate Captain Ahos Ru who explored widely in the early 800's. Some use it as a military holiday honoring all those in naval service. Others have a national hero or national maritime legend to honor.
Hz officially commemorates the life of Captain Jóska Orbán, 1241-1295, the Magor trader captain who led a revitalization of a neglected Ŕlmosi maritime merchant fleet. Under his leadership, the Ŕlmosi Kingdom of Csepjaak Ta's flagged ships once again collected cargoes around the world, both for the tribal Kingdoms that preceded Hŕromszék and for other customers as well.
Captain's Day is the occasion for sailing races all over Hz, wherever there's a stretch of water and a bit of wind. Increasingly, powerboat races are scheduled then too, and coverage of these is carried Scandiawide.
St. Stephen's Day - August 20 - civil holiday / religious overtones - Hz only back to top of calendar
Honors the patron saint of Hŕromszék; the national holiday. Day off work; being toward the end of summer many families add some vacation days to the holiday and take a last trip or sporting event. Fireworks, flags, speeches, church services, food, bellringing, anvil-blasting, horse races, food, greeting-card sales, department-store sales, gift-giving, food, TV specials, parades, block parties, barbecues, water sports, and did we mention food?
Half-Harvest Day - Sept 15 - civil holiday - mainly Hz back to top of calendar
Farmers' markets, harvest festivities, and copious food are the focus of what winds up as a much-needed breather in the middle of harvest season. Of course farmers still work hard at selling, cooking, and partying, but it's a rest from gathering crops.
Opening Day - Oct. 24 - sporting holiday - Hz seasons back to top of calendar
Representative of perhaps fifty or sixty different national and regional opening days, from deer season (often Oct 24), to boar season, to squirrel season, to trout season, to dove season, and the like. Hŕromszéki sportsmen and huntresses seldom get hunting days off work officially, but millions choose those days for vacation. Hunting and fishing seasons affect others' calendars too - the start of, say, one of the coyote seasons would be a poor time to hold a cross-country footrace through the woods...
CruisDay - Oct. 28 - religious holiday - Scandiawide back to top of calendar
Commemeration of the birth of Cruis - the date of which is unknown, and many theologians will tell you, is unimportant. Nonetheless, Cruisians want to have a day set aside to specially honor their Lord. Actually, if the clues in the Holy Cathod that point to a Fall birth are correct, then April is more likely, since it would have been Autumn in the southern hemisphere! This is a day of celebration at home and in church. In Hz people give gifts - typically one per recipient, in acknowlegement of the singular uniqueness of God's gift to the world in the person of his Son. A few other places on Scandia go in for more effusive giftgiving on Cruisday - in Hz that kind of excess is reserved for folks' birthdays. Celebrated December 24-26 in a few places; notably Sunamia and Lacrosse-Michardie (just the 25th).
Plurbum Day - November 1 - civil holiday - Hz only back to top of calendar
Celebrates birthday of E. Unis Plurbum, father of the (modern) Hŕromszéki Confederation. See the Hz History web page. A day for political speeches, and for plum pudding (allegedly Plurbum's favorite dish). Our secondary national holiday - more flag-waving and national pride than St Stephen's Day, which is after all religious at heart.
All Saints Day Day - also November 1 - religious holiday - Scandiawide, particularly among Valanian Catholics back to top of calendar
Celebrated primarily with church services. In Hz not typically a day off work, though devout Catholics often take a day of leave or vacation to participate fully.
Sväty Juraj's (St. George's) Day - Nov. 3 - religious & civil holiday - Aengelnia's National holiday, minor holiday in Hz too back to top of calendar
Celebrated in Hz not nearly with the same fervor as in Aengelnia (he is after all their patron Saint and a local historical figure) - probably introduced first among Hz's Valanian Catholics, but everybody appreciates the story of him vanquishing the dragon, and the "Cruisian underdog unites the land for Cruis" is appealing too. Some Kanjiri immigrants to Hz in the mid-1400's offered to perform the part of the dragon in street festivals, with their writhing many-man-mounted parade dragons. They now use second-hand dragons that have already 'performed' in Kanjiri-community festivals, because the finale (on St. George's Day) is always a bonfire where the dragon is consumed. As a side benefit, Hz folks get interested in and exposed to Kanjiri's festivals - Hz is always ready for an excuse to celebrate.
St. Maarten's Day - Nov. 11 - civil & religious holiday - Ostensia, Hz, a few other places back to top of calendar
A minor church observance is often the limit of the religious aspect of St. Maarten's commemeration in Hz - far more popular, due to the link with Ostensia (he's their national patron saint), is the opportunity to indulge widely in Ostensian cuisine.
Volcano Night - Dec 30 - civil holiday - Hz and many places Scandiawide back to top of calendar
In the year -3 (present calendar) a volcanic island or peninsula at the coast of Naarvul blew its top, sending cubic kilometers of pulverized rock into the air. The best guess is that it was in the spring, based on stories of a tsunami thirty feet high hitting the northern coasts of Chriatiana, Elmira, and Limor. That spring was followed not by summer but another winter. One that lasted 2.5 years. The summers of -2 and -1 may have been less cold than the intervening winters, but you couldn't say they were warmer. Skies remained clouded or dimly lit for much of that time in the northern hemisphere, and the dust even spread into the southern hemisphere in -1.
By late winter, the third one after the volcano, skies started to clear, leaving still-spectacular sunrises and sunsets for several years thereafter. The 'rebirth' of a cold, miserable, hungry Scandia impressed several different civilizations to simultaneously declare that to be the year Zero, a new start. Three years of crop failures left millions dead. Indeed, until the south also had a 'year without summer' in -1, many thousands took ship and moved southward, one of Scandia's great periods of migration. The climatic rebirth was paralleled by a rebirth of societies as well over the subsequent decades, as northern ideas and developments joined southern ones - this was one of history's great cyclical rises of southern greatness, partly due to the lesser devastation there.
Volcano night is observed at the end of December - at dusk on the 30th, and often again at midnight, fireworks are set off, echoing across 1500 years the destruction of that whole island. At the end of each such fireworks event a final fiery display is doused with water, lights are shut out, and everyone, clad in black, silently returns home.
Calendar sponsored by Lighthouse Greeting Cards, of Hŕromszék
"They'll be glad to see a Lighthouse!"
Note: this calendar may be copied, altered, and placed on any other nation's web site, so long as this sponsorship note remains intact. You may edit it yourself to be specific to your nation, or for a small fee (thirty skana and a six-pack of CayennoCola) Lighthouse will be glad to alter it to put in your own holidays.
Lighthouse Greeting Cards is a company serving the nation of
Hŕromszék in the game of
Scandia.
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