Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 30 Apr 2005 to 1 May 2005 (#2005-88) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 02/05/2005, 17:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 9 messages totalling 339 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. weekend holidays? (6) 2. Ochalea (are you sick of it yet) 3. The Redwood Scar Web Enhancements uploaded 4. weekend holidays? + ps (Ohad) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/default.aspx To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 11:40:12 +0200 From: Francesco Defferrari Subject: weekend holidays? Hello, I was thinking about weekend holidays in Mystara, particullary if they exist at all. I'm speaking about sunday (for christians) saturday (for hebrew and Israel) friday (for the muslim world). BTW I don't even known if friday and thursday are usually holydays for hebrew and muslim as it's saturday for christians.. and I haven't a clue about weekend holydays in Japan, China, India and other asian nations... anybody knows? Mystara could have no weekend holidays at all, I think ancient civilization usually had no weekends (and sometimes no weeks), but romans, for example, had a lot of festivals, at least one for every month. So it's Soladain an holiday in Mystara or not? (AFAIK, no other fantasy world I know about has weekends.. not the Forgotten Realms, not Dragonlance, not Exalted, but if someone knows some, please tell me!) bye Francesco ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 07:09:51 -0400 From: chatdemon Subject: Re: weekend holidays? Francesco wrote: > Hello, > I was thinking about weekend holidays in Mystara, particullary if they exist > at all. <> (AFAIK, no other fantasy world I know about has weekends.. > not the Forgotten Realms, not Dragonlance, not Exalted, but if someone knows > some, please tell me!) Greyhawk. for example, has a 'weekend' type day, though I can't remember offhand if it's Godsday (in the middle of the week) or Freeday (at the end of the week). Whichever day it is, it is noted as being a day of rest, when businesses are, in theory, closed and the people go to their place of worship and spend time with family and friends. In theory. The thing to keep in mind in a medieval or renaissance culture though is that a majority of work can't be skipped for a day. If you're a farmer, eggs still need collecting, cows need milked, animals fed, gardens watered, etc. If you run or work in a tavern or inn, you still work on the "weekend". Guards and watchmen are still needed, etc etc. Even folk who could in theory close up shop for a day, say a wheelwright or cobbler, will often spend their day at the shop. They might have the closed sign in the window, but there's work to be done to catch up, and only a fool would turn away a paying customer with an urgent order. Rich ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 09:37:00 -0400 From: John Hofmann Subject: Re: weekend holidays? Keep in mind that many RW cultures originally used a lunar calendar instead of a solar one. So holidays like Passover (Hebrew), New Years (China and Asia), and Chuseok (Korea) will basically happen when they happen because Jewish and Asian people tend to use the Gregorian solar calendar for day-to-day things, but traditional holidays are still marked by the solar calendar (and Hebrew dates get even MORE confusing because the Hebrew date changes at sundown instead of midnight). Mystara is an interesting study because the lunar and solar calendars match exactly (ie, Mystara goes around the sun once in exactly the same amount of time that it takes the moon to go around Mystara 12 times). This is not the case on Earth, and so most lunar calendars have all sorts of crazy leap months or leap weeks in an effort to keep them aligned with the seasons. If you're talking about HOLYdays and not HOLIdays, then Japan, Korea, and China have weekends like we do. Christianity is very popular in Korea and less so in China or Japan, but pretty much everybody takes off on Sunday. Some people will work on Saturdays and it's almost mandatory in Korea for people to work a half-day on Saturdays. Until about a month ago, Korean schoolkids went to school Saturday mornings (and usually went to private acadamies or had private tutors on Saturday evenings). So, I don't know if this helps at all, but there it is. I happen to be working on a project at work and part of it involves converting between Gregorian dates and Hebrew dates, so I had to learn a lot about lunar calendars. And I lived in Korea and speak Korean, so I know a bit about life in asia. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Francesco Defferrari" To: Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2005 5:40 AM Subject: [MYSTARA] weekend holidays? > Hello, > I was thinking about weekend holidays in Mystara, particullary if they exist > at all. I'm speaking about sunday (for christians) saturday (for hebrew and > Israel) friday (for the muslim world). BTW I don't even known if friday and > thursday are usually holydays for hebrew and muslim as it's saturday for > christians.. and I haven't a clue about weekend holydays in Japan, China, > India and other asian nations... anybody knows? Mystara could have no > weekend holidays at all, I think ancient civilization usually had no > weekends (and sometimes no weeks), but romans, for example, had a lot of > festivals, at least one for every month. So it's Soladain an holiday in > Mystara or not? (AFAIK, no other fantasy world I know about has weekends.. > not the Forgotten Realms, not Dragonlance, not Exalted, but if someone knows > some, please tell me!) > bye > Francesco > > > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/default.aspx > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 18:24:47 +0200 From: Francesco Defferrari Subject: Re: Ochalea (are you sick of it yet) Steven Carter wrote: > The Sinoltec develop their own bronze age, writing, language, artistic > expression and culture. They revere spirits, ancestors and immortals > through shamans. Some of this is from the roots carried from the > parent Oltec. Most is independent. (snip) > Can this group be squeezed in on the coast of Davania between the > Enduk, Golden Empire and the elves? It would be useful because I have > ideas for how those contacts affect the Huangqi. I agree with a sinoltec group, but I would place them in Ochalea and Bellisaria, mostly, to be the forefathers of ochaleans and yasukan, while ethengarians I see more as another group, originated from another "chinese-like" mother culture somewhere in Skothar. Maybe one of this days I will be able to write and post my ideas about the alphatian sea ancient cultures.... bye Francesco ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 18:27:03 +0200 From: Francesco Defferrari Subject: Re: The Redwood Scar Web Enhancements uploaded Dustin Clingman wrote: > Hail Blackmoorians! > A free web enhancement for The Redwood Scar has just been added to our > download section. The enhancement includes color versions of the > module's maps as well as Player handouts for the module. Head on over > and take a look at www.zeitgeistgames.com > Thanks and very timely, I have purchased the adventure and I should have in my hands soon :-) bye Francesco ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 18:33:48 +0200 From: Francesco Defferrari Subject: Re: weekend holidays? John Hofmann wrote: > So, I don't know if this helps at all, but there it is. I happen to > be working on a project at work and part of it involves converting > between Gregorian dates and Hebrew dates, so I had to learn a lot > about lunar calendars. And I lived in Korea and speak Korean, so I > know a bit about life in asia. Sure that helps, thanks, useful and interesting informations. I thought too that a medieval fantasy world had very different working hours and days, and probably Mystara was never intended to have a weekend as the RW, but anyway if someone has other informations about calendars and days let's share with the list :-) bye Francesco ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 18:10:47 -0000 From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Jo=E3o_Cartaxo?= Subject: Re: weekend holidays? Hi! I'm not sure but i am under the impression that the Poor Wizards Almanacs had holidays for several nations, unfortunatley i don't have them with me here so i can't confirm it. But you can probably check it. :) "They need a 20 to hit me, i'm invincible!!!" - Famous last words Mystara links: http://dnd.starflung.com/ http://mystara3e.starflung.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 15:35:56 -0700 From: "Ohad Shaham (Morphail)" Subject: Re: weekend holidays? > Hello, Hey Francesco! > I was thinking about weekend holidays in Mystara, > particullary if they exist > at all. I'm speaking about sunday (for christians) > saturday (for hebrew and > Israel) friday (for the muslim world). BTW I don't > even known if friday and > thursday are usually holydays for hebrew and muslim > as it's saturday for > christians.. Well jews in christian countries take saturday off as a holy day and sunday off from work just because no one else works (so its just a holyday, one word). In Israel saturday (Shabat) is kept as a holy day and a day of rest so most people don't work. Friday evening is already saturday technically so people either don't work or finish up early. Friday is also sacred for muslims (but they are not as strict about it as jews are with saturday) so in Israel muslims usually don't work on friday. Sunday is the first work day of the week, sadly, everybody works... > and I haven't a clue about weekend > holydays in Japan, China, > India and other asian nations... anybody knows? I suppose they use sunday but Im not sure. > Mystara could have no > weekend holidays at all, I think ancient > civilization usually had no > weekends (and sometimes no weeks), but romans, for > example, had a lot of > festivals, at least one for every month. So it's > Soladain an holiday in > Mystara or not? (AFAIK, no other fantasy world I > know about has weekends.. I think you are wrong here. Ancient civs did very much have a weekend. The week was invented by the Sumerians (some historians are on this list, correct me if Im wrong) and since then, about a thousand years before us jews came along the world had a seven day week, with six days of work and one for rest. Hamurabi's laws have something on that IIRC. The day of rest probably gave rise to the world creation story of 6 days and the holy day of rest. My apologies for my blasphemy, if anyone is offended. And with this ramble lets return to Mystara- i think the Shadow elves (which BTW have been sugested to be Mystara hebrews on the list!) have a wierd calendar and a bunch of rest days. I suggest that most fantasy societies (human ones at least) have some day of rest. Maybe based on a different week length, but I think humans need a day off or else they go insane... could be a nice campaign idea. All work and no play make Morphail an angry nosferatu. Ohad __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 08:54:12 +0200 From: Altair IV Subject: Re: weekend holidays? + ps (Ohad) I think that on Mystara resting days and celebration days are separate things... the first one, as for any medieval-level culture, depend on different jobs (e.g. peasants probably have no weekly rest, but maybe one month or two of much lighter work), while celebration days depend on religions and traditions... we have many examples of these on gaz's, haven't we? Altair IV - the Darkstar ps (Ohad) If it was up to me, Morphail would have a VERY long resting time... :))) ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 30 Apr 2005 to 1 May 2005 (#2005-88) **************************************************************