Holidays in the Imperium

[Blue Ghost]

Okay, I can't remember the last time this topic was brought up. What do Christmas, Thanksgiving, and all them other holidays look like in the Spinward Marches?

Are there other holidays celebrated? Some obscure Vargr or Darrien holiday? Something from Zho-land? Vegan? Bwap? Virushi?

 

[Hemdian]

In the T5 Beta there is an Imperial Calendar with holidays and other notable dates marked. (For some reason the holidays are NOT marked in the T5 main release.)

All Sixday and Senday are holidays. Plus ...

001 - Holiday (holiday)
009 - School year starts
090 - Armed Forces Day (holiday)
180 - Mid Year Break (holiday)
181 - (holiday)
271 - Day of Thanks (holiday)
272 - (holiday)
328 - Graduation
359 - Year End Break (holiday)
360 - (holiday)
361 - (holiday)
362 - (holiday)
363 - (holiday)

365 is listed as New Year's Eve though it is already a holiday as it is on Senday.

There is a note that additional holidays may be added by local authorities.​

001 being 'Holiday' has been a part of canon for a long time. The rest you may feel is too US contemporary (maybe that is why it was dropped).

There is also 'Festival', an annual 3 day celebration on Rethe (Regina) where all laws are suspended. But I don't know the dates of that.

 

[Brian Smaller]

Given that pretty much every world has it's own government and culture, ranging from No Government to Brutal Police State, how relevant is an Imperial school year start date?

 

[rancke]

Here's a TNS newsbrief that I made up as filler for my campaign newspaper:

Regina/Regina (1910 A788899-C)

036-1120​

aragraph: TRAVELLERS’ AID ADVISORY: This year the ancient, traditional Old Terran holiday known as Christmas falls on Thirday the 256th. Regina is famous throughout the Domain of Deneb for the splendor of its Christmas celebrations, which include elements dating back to Old Terra more than 5000 years ago as well as elements from Regina’s own 1045 year long history.
aragraph: The festivities commence on the eve of Tuday the 255th with the Lighting of the Tree and lasts until Senday the 267th, ending with the Twelfth Day Parade. mega:​

Hans

 

[Nathan Brazil]

IIRC is there not an Emperor's Birthday?

 

[Limburger59]

IIRC is there not an Emperor's Birthday?

I would think that the Emperor's Birthday would be the only Imperium wide holiday. Other holidays would be limited to planets or religions; and even with religions we can see how Christmas on our planet has different dates and traditions based on the culture.

The more homogenized Zhodoni Consulate may have exported some holidays throughout their borders, but I can't picture that happening with humans in the Imperium. Even the Sword Worlds, with twenty worlds, may have too many diverse calendars to have more than one or two confederation wide holidays.

 

[arbitrary.remora]

...snip.. Even the Sword Worlds, with twenty worlds, may have too many diverse calendars to have more than one or two confederation wide holidays.

Word. Several low scale but manly wars were fought to determine to determine whether the Gramite or Tizonian calendars should be used to set the date for Jól.

 

[Reban]

Now we know what days the IISS Courier service don't accept parcels and you can't get an Imperial civil servant to stamp your official forms.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Now we know what days the IISS Courier service don't accept parcels and you can't get an Imperial civil servant to stamp your official forms.

Neither hail, nor sleet, nor snow... oh wait...

 

[rancke]

Even the Sword Worlds, with twenty worlds, may have too many diverse calendars to have more than one or two confederation wide holidays.

Like every other interstellar association of worlds, the Sword Worlds have one common calendar (in their case the Revised Gregorian Calendar) and individual local calendars for each world.

The two most important holidays, both common to them all, is Founding Day, May 5th, when shuttle pilot Commander Flemming Hansen was the first Founder to set foot on Gram, and Sanktans, June 23rd. Two other holiday observed in most of the Sword Worlds are Solstice, December 21st, and Paean Day, March 8th, when the Tizon Empire surrendered to the Second Dominate. [See p. 88 of GT:Sword Worlds].


Hans

 

[Brian Smaller]

IIRC is there not an Emperor's Birthday?

Well the Queen's Birthday Holiday we celebrate in New Zealand happens in June.

Most Commonwealth countries that observe this holiday have it around that time but the actual date is a moving target. I imagine that the same would be the case for the worlds of the Imperium that celebrate the Emperor's birthday.

For some reason I cannot see a dictatorial religious regime or Police State having a holiday set aside to celebrate the "Emperor" - I sort of imagine those worlds being somewhat reluctant 'member' worlds anyway.

 

[Reban]

A lot of people are seeing these holidays as days that ordinary planet dwellers actually observe and celebrate, but can I put forward an alternate view that the calender is for the regulation of the Imperial bureaucracy and/or civil service.

From Hemdian's list the Imperial calender is concerned with regulating the school year (probably to sync up entrance exams to the civil service and military), highlighting the importance of the "Armed Forces" (Navy Day and Army Day seem a better fit to me) and marking the start and end of the (tax?) year.

It also makes all Sixdays and Sendays holidays. From that I take it Imperial offices are closed on the weekends (a nasty ref can exploit this especially since local weeks and standard weeks are probably different). In my experience bureaucrats and civil servants love their holidays.

The phrase "additional holidays may be added by local authorities." can mean both world governments but also takes into account regional requirements for Imperial authorities, so if the local office of the Ministry of Colonization is mainly staffed by Bwaps who require a certain day off for some cultural or religious reason the local Secretary General can put it on the calender and make up the time lost somewhere else.

 

[rancke]

Strephon's birthday is day 202. [LDNZ:37]


Hans

 

[Hemdian]

A lot of people are seeing these holidays as days that ordinary planet dwellers actually observe and celebrate, but can I put forward an alternate view that the calender is for the regulation of the Imperial bureaucracy and/or civil service.

To a certain extent that's what it is IMTU. It comes down to how integrated a world's culture is into Imperial culture. On most Imperial worlds there tends to be very little integration away from the starport. Of course the shops and hotels in a startown will no doubt gear up for each of the Imperial holidays due to the above average number of spacers on liberty, but beyond that... Maybe some worlds have a few fireworks on 001?

 

[aramis]

Note that "Observe and Celebrate" is not of need a day off from work.

TTA implies that there are two "days off from work" holidays - Emperor's Birthday and the first day of the Imperial Calendar. I can see the Imperium doing both on the Imperial Calendar, especially since there is an "Office of Calendar Compliance"...

I doubt the others would be compulsory, but 2 days a year, I can see that in the name of forcing a common identity. Especially since the Imperium has so little common identity.