Holidays & Traditions
Despite the constant dangers of the wasteland, survivors are a social bunch and have developed several holidays and celebrations over the year. These events help mark the passage of time and remember important moments in the history of the San Saba, and many are cherished holidays that are recognized across the towns and settlements of the wastes.
Holidays might include drinking and sharing hooch, food cookoffs and other festivals, and even the most taciturn survivor needs a moment to wind down and have a good time. While each town or Strain may have its own variation or cultural slang associated with the holidays, here’s a few holidays that have survived the test of time in the zombie apocalypse.
The Reveille
The Reveille is a new holiday celebrated by the citizens of the San Saba each May, in the last weeks before the Burning Season truly begins. While this holiday has several different names across strains and settlements, it traditionally takes place during the second weekend of the month, after the last false freeze of April. The month of May is a time of change, a time of conflict, and a time to gather your strength before the brutal conditions of the summer, and this holiday marks a memory of independence, freedom, and transformative change.
Throughout the years, May has marked the destruction of cities, the end of multiple wars, elections and political upheaval, the signing of treaties, and brutal crises. It marks when we move our calendar forward, remembering the destruction of past wars and conflicts. This time remembers when the Brave 21 stood against stampeding zed hordes at old Bravo at the close of the Hiway War, when the Grave Council breached the Cicatrix and stopped the Plague of the Unfinished, and when the Battle of Essex broke the strength of the San Saba Board and Arthur Lovelace. It marks the start of the War of Antlers, the destruction of the Washbourne plantation, when raiders nearly destroyed old Bravo with a massive bomb, and the transformation of Aggieland under new leadership. It recalls the formation of the Militia that sparked the fire of rebellion, and when Bravado truly declared their independence against tyranny and oppression in battle. Throughout the years, May has been incredibly important for independence in the wasteland, and we remember these major events in the Reveille.
In the oldcestor days, a Reveille was a call to gather, a wakeup call to get ready for the day and be ready for the challenges ahead. It marked a new beginning and was a time to raise your flag high in the air and salute your common cause to the music shared by horns and trumpets. It also echoes an old Darwin tradition from Aggieland before its destruction, when a new leader was chosen for their home and they celebrated the best and brightest of their people in a grand contest of merit and skill. This new Reveille is a reminder of the awesome power of change. It calls to each survivor to resist stagnation, and that every struggle is a chance to strengthen your resolve. The future is not built without a cost, and we must use this time as a catalyst to resist those who would oppress our freedoms and threaten what we hold dear.
How will you answer the call of The Reveille? How will you make your mark on this new tradition?
Collection Day
A “holiday” of sorts, Collection Day is when the Grave Tax come due, once a year, normally in the oldcestor month of April. The forces of accountants and taxmen of the Grave Council take to the towns and cities of the Lonestar to upkeep the ledgers of life and death, collect interest on the debts they are owned, and keep tabs on those who would irritate the balance of power in the Wastes. During this time, the fees for Groundskeepers can skyrocket in price, and people across the land strive to avoid an untimely death that could increase their debt, or else the Collectors could attempt to “close your account” for good.
During the Collection Day “festivities”, the fee for deaths normally doubles in price. As the bulk of the Grave Council is concerned with upkeep on the ledgers and collection of debts, distractions to manage the morgues have an additional opportunity cost assessed. If the debt is deferred, the Grave Council normally applies interest to the debt until it is paid. This is at a negligible rate but accounts for the cost of maintaining the morgues of the Lone Star. At Collection Day, a debtor must pay at least a portion of their interest to the Grave Council or risk being held in breach of contract.
Winter Lights
Winter traditions have been part of the human experience since we're clawed out of the primordial muck using thumbs and thought to ourselves "I ought to buy my child nine pairs of socks”. First thing we did with those dexterous extra digits was to throw up a pine tree in the den and shove some well smoked meats under it to give to people on a specific day but not before. We’ve been doing that for about thirty thousand years, give or take. So let’s try something a little different?
The setting-specific holiday we focus on in Bravado is Winter Lights, a Quiet-Folk holiday focused on the notion of Ritual and Tradition, honoring the beliefs of the varied many across the Lonestar. The Lovelace community celebrates this season every year not on a specific day, but as a kind of blanket period during which they assume and honor the traditions of their neighbors. What that looks like in the playspace, in terms of decoration, is a ton of tea lights all over the camp. So if you want to buy into this tradition and thusly the attentions of the Quiet Folk who celebrate the soft and quiet light of community, you should put tea lights all over your personal areas.
In addition, the Nomads who travel the Long 360 out of Essex have their own tradition of decorating “Loop” trees along the highways. What was once a seemingly out-of-place garish display of garland and lights that has slowly become an important cultural touchstone of the Winter season in the Lonestar. We can’t wait to see how our players bring the trees of Bravado to life with festive in-genre decorations (that of course, can be easily cleaned up after game off).
Similarly, the Junkerpunks celebrate Cargo-Net Day, another “new/old” tradition based on holiday themes. This holiday and its rituals have been completely designed by our amazing players, and we are excited to support it by honoring the related plot requests they’ve put in to our writers. We love the tales of Nopalito Joe and Kelpie.
We encourage you to put your brilliant minds to work to come up with amazing holiday traditions to fit within our shared story. Something from your character’s past? Something entirely new? Winter Lights is all about discovering and celebrating tradition, and we are excited to see the creativity our players bring to that. We’re attaching a link HERE to a useful article that we hope will give you something to think about when designing holidays for the LARPspace that are clever and respectful.