 Fantasy: December 09, 2009 Issue [#3428] |
  Fantasy
This week: Edited by: Prosperous Snow celebrating  
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Everybody celebrates a holiday, a holy day, or both. |
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Where did the word holiday come from? According to wiki.answers.com, holiday is derivation of holy day. Originally, a holy day meant a day off work to attend worship services. Today a holiday does not mean attending worship service, in many cases it is a day with family or a day of shopping.
What is the difference between a holiday and a holy day? Since holiday comes from holy day, there may or may not be a difference between the two depending on the religion or the culture. A holy day is defiantly a sacred day on which work is suspended and one attends worship services. On a holiday, a person takes one or more days off work and plans the itinerary as he or she would a vacation.
Every religion has holy days, which its followers observe by taking the day off work (if possible) and attending spiritual service of some type. Every nation has holidays on which government offices and schools are closed. These types of days are common to every culture and religion on Earth.
How does a writer use these special days to enhance and carry the plot of a story or novel forward? An author cannot put one of these special days in a story without using it as a plot device. Writers can use these special days to enrich a story while revealing character traits of the antagonist and protagonist. In addition, these days can disclose something about the culture in which the story is set.
In America, we celebrate the Fourth of July by the closing of government offices and schools because we consider that the day the country came into existence. In many western countries, we celebrate Christmas, originally a holy day, in a similar way because it is now a part of the culture. Therefore, a colony planet will commemorate founding day, the first day the colonist set foot on that world. In addition, in fantasy stories containing temples holy days are celebrated.
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Half_Baked  writes: Thanks for the newsletter it was informative.
LJPC - the tortoise writes: Hi Prosperous Snow! No, I don't use wormholes in my stories I use 'hyperspace.' And no, I don't know how it works. When you flick the light switch, can you explain the physics theory of how electricity gets to you and then lights the bulb? Do you know how the fridge works or the micro-wave? When I use those in my non-sci-fi stories I don't have to explain how they work. (And thank goodness, because I don't have a clue!) Great newsletter! Really good points, but I don't feel guilty because I'm a dunce who doesn't understand wormholes. I'll continue to write sci-fi and fantasy for other dunces who don't know either.
Laura
I am not sure how electricity works, however, that is a good subject for research. I will have to find out.
Prosperous Snow celebrating
How do you use holidays and holy days in your stories?
Prosperous Snow celebrating
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