#stricly curse au

[bebagerie]

I envy the rose that you held in your teeth, love / fanart for an upcoming fic by krill_collins on twt

[twitchesandstitches]

How does the different factions celebrate christmas?

short answer: nobody really does, in-universe!

long answer: i’m honestly uncomfortable with addressing real world religions (at least those that are actively being practiced, due to the nature of this AU), Christianity among them. It would be safe to assume that if such religions are a thing in-universe, they are likely exclusive to the Earthborn Coalition with smaller croppings in nearby regions, albeit seriously altered due to eons of cultural drift; compare the Catholic Church of the 1000s to what is now for an example of how things might change drastically.

In general, I use fictional religions as rough stand-ins for real world ones, as well as mythologized ones that are open to reinterpretation.

Christmas as we know it is a sort of blending of multiple winter solstice events; Saturnalia and Yule, among others. Consequently, aspects we might culturally recognize as such might be prevalent among independant worlds as well as specific cultural customs. (Perhaps with more emphasis on the ‘wild, reckless parties’ and utter terror of the coldest, darkest nights of the year. Werewolves may or may not be involved more than usual.)

Something that we would recognize as something particularly Christmas-ish wouldnt’ really be a thing in-universe, as the cultural context for it does not exist. Nevertheless, there are various holidays; many religious, others stricly cultural or secular.

some examples:

Fleet: With their diversity of worlds, clan cultures and tendency to do whatever, worlds may well develop festivals that take place at the end of the year; as a time keeping measure, and to honor specific gods. most predominantly Onyx Prime (the darkest night is in their honor) and Lucoa, to whom sacrifices are made so that the stars will keep burning. Usually these sacrifices are of monsters slain and consumed at feasts. There is a trend for many holidays of week-long parties and greater community assistance than usual, as they come together at these dark times.

the religion of Aslanism certainly DOES practice something virtually indistinguishable from Christmas; this holiday concerns the ritual sacrifice of the messianic god who took the form of a lion (and is still revered as such by the followers of this religion) during an eternal winter, and in doing so, broke the curse placed upon a holy land. It is initially a somber holiday, taking place over several weeks. However as the week progresses, the celebrations become more joyous, mirroring the lion’s own deeds after his revival. This escalates quickly; full out riots and people erupting into stampedes of cheerful chaos is a feature!

Stingers: Lots of consumerism, LOTS AND LOTS OF IT. Probably the most case of gift giving, in that the aristocratic houses give lavish goods and feasts for all within their land as part of the feudal contract they live on. serfs are not expected to trade gifts at this time.

Ringers: ....situational, but not likely. Yellow Diamond’s empire has little concern for the seasons, though the organics and non-Gems may have their own new holidays for this time of year. the Prothean Empire certainly does, and this is likely modeled heavily after Saturnalia, with more blood sacrifice. Starscream’s new Decepticons will probably go off on a straight up riot as they unchain themselves and cause havoc, and finally the trolls of Condy’s Alternia engage in some class warfare that does respect to castes as honorable rivals. ALl four will engage in ceasefires during this time.

Commonwealth: None at all. Possibly some custom of sacrificing more people than usual to the vampire overlords, but barring the punting of orphans into furnaces to make the wealthiest houses slightly warmer, there’s not much more to it than that.

Coalition: Most real world holidays, if the religions producing them exist here, would have counterparts in the Coalition due to their reverence for Earth and efforts to rediscover cultural touchstones. Time, misunderstandings and cultural conflicts can produce some SERIOUSLY odd changes. (For example, should they practice Christmas, they may summon forth ghosts from the lands of the dead on the assumption that it is a tradition for spirits to harass one-percenters into doing their community duty.) All winter festivals would be relevant here, not just Christmas!

Miscella Inc.: You know the whole problem with Christmas being commodified and made into an omnipresent cultural obligation that is not even really religious in nature anymore? These guys do that same thing with every religion they can get a hold of. They wanna monetize it ALL.

Cartels: Don’t really celebrate holidays, though individual crime families may have their own traditions, but they’re likely to raid planets for captives while they’re having celebrations. They’re terrible like that.

tbh i would have liked to approach this at face value but i honestly could not!

the expectation of christmas as a universal thing is a strictly cultural one and I just couldn’t ignore that or pretend otherwise. for such holidays to exist, there must be circumstances, history, and religious presence to justify it

so yes, there might be christmas-like traditions all over the setting but they require VERY SPECIFIC circumstances to arise in any form we might consider even slightly recognizable!

im sorry, i’m just a bit pedantic and i gotta be true to my worldbuilding ways