voidtreckernet | Voice; Fiddlesticks 24, early-ish morning. (slightly backdated)

Colour me curious, but what are winter festivals or holidays like on your world? Back home, today would be Shiwasu 10, or Tōji -longest night and the start of winter. It's also my birthday, but that's not the important thing; it's not a big number anyway. I don't know what Alola does for Tōji, so I'll tell you what my hometown did.

[The longer she talks, the more homesick she sounds. It likely doesn't help that today's her birthday, but well. Small detail's Eva's willing to overlook.] Masara had the rural traditions of feasting, food making, drinking, games dancing, battles. You know, the normal for a coastal town.

No snowball fights though; we'd have to go to the mountains for that and we never went in the lead up to Tōji because that was bad luck. But, we did have something better: Fire jumping under the stars to bring good luck. You'd start at dusk with it low, little more than a small coal pit so even kids could jump it with supervision, and work up to a boosted jump over a half-drum of flames, though they'd only let the adults do that one.

The day I turned twenty I did so many times mum had to drag me away from it by the ear, but - worth it. So worth it...

[She trails off before ending the transmission.]

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Thanks.

That's a long time for a festival. Does it have to do with the candles?

In a way, yeah. There had been a people who had come under oppression by an outside power, but a group of those people led a revolt and managed to drive out the invading party. There was a lot damage, though, and when they were rebuilding their temple, they found that most of the oil they used to light the menorah was tainted, and it took eight to prepare the oil according to the conditions to purify it.

The oil that was left should have only lasted for one day. But somehow, the menorah was able to remain lit for those eight days need to make more. So we celebrate Hanukkah over eight days in reminder of that miracle.

I see, I see. Well, I hope we can celebrate it here or at least something like it at some point. I'd be rubbish at the prayers though.

What's a menorah look like?

I wouldn't mind something similar, at least. When I left home, though, it was still several months away from Hanukkah.

Oh...let's see. [ She grabs a piece of paper and a pen that she had nearby, and doodles a quick sketch of the eight-branched menorah. ]

Most menorah only have six branches, but the menorah used for Hanukkah has eight, to hold the candles to be lit during the holiday. [ She points to the central candle holder. ] This is the helper candle, which is used to light the other candles.

Edited 2020-06-27 20:49 (UTC)

Yeah, it was the same for me. You could start a calendar so you know when it's coming up?

That said, that kind of looks like something I've seen in Isshu, only I think it was arrayed differently. [It thoroughly was.] I wouldn't know though; I don't believe in any of the Isshun faiths myself. Does each holder stand for a different god that helped with the circle?

That might be a good idea. I'm already starting to lose track of time, so maybe keeping a calendar would help.

Well, no. The religion this comes from believes in only one God. Each candle on the branches represents one of the eight days that the oil was able to last.

I don't blame you on that, not when it's pretty easy to do.

[It's rueful, but then Eva pauses. Noticeably pauses.] Just one god? That's... Is that... normal, in your world?

[ She nods. ] Pretty much. There are some religions in my world that do worship multiple gods, but there are other religions that only worship one.

That's.. really odd.

[To say the least, but she has enough tact not to say bizarre or weird, even if she's thinking it.]

Back home, it's very much the minority. Sure, people can have a main god, but they generally follow or worship at least three. It's just how things are.

What's your god's name?

[ She nods as she listens. She doesn't find that surprising, since she knows of other polytheistic religions back home. But she hesitates a moment at the question. ]

Uh...well, we try to avoid using His true name unless we really need to, out of respect. Mostly we just refer to him as 'God'.

[ It might be hard to hear the capital G, but there it is. ]

That's...

[Unfathomoablly Bizare to her mind, and there's a noticeable pause as she struggles to think of what to say.]

...That takes um. Dedication.

[Lame, Eva, Lame.]

[ She shrugs. ] That's just how things have always been.

True, and if it's not broken, why fix it?

Exactly.

Voice; Fiddlesticks 24, early-ish morning. (slightly backdated)

/sorry for the slow

No worries!

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Late

No problem!

Want to wrap?

Works for me!