Holidays

The reason I bring this up is that the Day of Chaboron is coming up soon.

For the unintiated, Chaboron is a festival celebrated primarily in the colonies, it is meant to be in celebration of Gae'tin Chaboron, a very beloved figure amongst colonial society, he was one of the architects of the old Hegemony and helped devise the framework that would preserve the bond between the states Khar'Shan and the colonies. As you can imagine, we count him as among our people's most celebrated leaders

Before the war, it was meant to celebrate the unity our people once held...and what we still hope to achieve one day under the banner of the Confederation. Hence why we still wish to celebrate his legacy. Which, like any batarian holiday, involves copious amounts of food and liquor.

Anyway, I am rather curious, what holidays do you celebrate for, and why?

I'm not particularly religious, but I do follow some holidays. My particular favorite is Victory Day, over the Reapers?
There's also Shanxi Day, Armistice Day, Interstellar Cheese Doodle Day..


Tell me, in the one you mentioned, what is the traditions? Any special decorations/food to prepare? I'm still a bit ..clueless about Batarian culture. I'm more knowledgeable about the Turians, but most of my knowledge is about military and .. well, not holidays and events.

Traditionally, Chaboron is celebrated with two slow-roasted tsyplionik, minced er'thak, chuno and a keron pie. Though obviously, there are different variations to the meal. It is also tradition to thank Chaboron, and all those who preceded and succeeded him, for the guidance that they brought to batarian society.

Another holiday that is especially popular with the military is Ilrok-Maso, the Feast of Reflection, meant to reflect upon and thank ourselves for our service and dedication to the batarian people. My unit, which was on Earth during the last days of the war held a celebration while the relay was being repaired, but due to the lack of available traditional foodstuffs, we had to compensate with human foods, including, what do you humans call it, a "turkey"?

And you must at least be familiar with Morok-Bal, practically anyone in the Terminus knows what that is.

I'm sorry, you've ..almost completely lost me.

Najhil does not have any of Najhil's own Holidays. None that Najhil celebrates, anyway. Though, Najhil will celebrate Various Holidays from various other Cultures with Members of said Cultures if Najhil is invited to join.

Well, there is Day of the Ancestors.

Like the name says, it is all about your ancestors and before the Geth War it was one of the largest quarian holidays. Full of huge festivals, parades, feasts, and all sorts of competitions (dancing, story-telling, and art were the most common. With several of the most famous works of quarian artists being unveiled on this day) the festivities would continue on throughout most of the day, to my knowledge. Ending with giving gifts to the eldest members of the family.

And of course, the geth rebelled and ruined this.

Though it was still celebrated (at least on my birth-ship the liveships also did it) just in shifts and accommodating the fact you live on a cramped ship with hundreds of other people. Instead of feasts there was nutripaste (usually the meat based kind and no alcohol for obvious reasons I shouldn't have to state.) and smaller competitions with smaller rewards.

In fact, I won a nice little hood in a dance competition when I was 17. Made out of sarelthi.

And of course some little bitch stole it from me later that evening. Figures.

New Years!

The Day of the Ancestors is about the old...so, of course, it has to be followed by a celebration of the New. Last year's celebration was...not what it could have been, what with the Reapers and the Fleet at Sol. The coming year, however...

Morok'Bal > all your puny alien holidays.

Don't even try to pretend otherwise.

I love the Day of Chaboron. With my family on Erszbat we did the traditional meal, and we joined hand to sing Unity songs. Some of them were patriotic, some of them were slightly mocking. My uncle even had naughty Unity songs that made us laugh a lot.

I don't do it anymore obviously, but I certainly plan to do it again when I get a family of my own.

Race traitor. True batarians know that Morok'Bal is the best of all days, and this is coming from someone with Gae'tin Chaboron's blood in them.

Morok'Bal is the big one sure, but my family had a special tradition for the Day of Chaboron, so I miss it more, that's it.

This one has gained a strong interest in batarian religious traditions, due to the ease with which the board's batarian members share their perspectives. It makes this one's personal study program far more straightforward, but no less illuminating! In response to the last exchange, this one humbly requests further clarification on the importance of family background and lineage to batarian religious identity. Does knowledge of significant ancestry lend further weight to any spiritual observations emanating from the individual in question? The tension between the respectable others suggests to this one a schism or rival tradition, not merely a difference of opinion.

This one wonders also if the quarian members might shed further illumination on the issue of ancestry as it relates to perceived spiritual insight or religious status? This one had not considered prior to now the possible undercurrents of shared wisdom that bind batarian and quarian. Among the hanar, biological ancestry is less essential to identity than sect or tradition of choice, and there is no necessary link between birth school and spiritual nation. This one is eagerly aware that exploration of genetic lineage as an essential part of spiritual identity is a swell of study that compensates for a weakness in understanding among these ones' own culture. Any effort to aid this one would be most appreciated!

Celebrating the memory of the man who set up one of the most oppressive governments in galactic history, even after said government has been thrown off? How quintessentially batarian.

First Cresting Bloom, or Nyahir. 14 days dedicated to the Enkindler's greatest gift to the hanar - language. Poetry duels, holovised debates, theatre on scales unimaginable at any other time. Hopefully, the next one will be announced soon. It would lift everyone's spirits (those, at least, that follow the Enkindlers) after the Reaper War.

Chaboron was not responsible of the crimes the hegemony would turn out to commit. He was about unity, and that ideal still rings true.

Well, aside from most of the turian holidays, Christmas has had a very special place in my own calendar.
Don't know why... I guess I just love the whole atmosphere! I've grown really fond of Christmas after being around humans for quite some time.

Isnt christmas where you put a fat guy on fire in a chimney so this guy won't come? I've always found it extremely disturbing honestly...

This one begins to comprehend why humans show confusion over the term "enkindlement". Does symbolically setting male humans of advanced age and respectable girth alight feature into other festivities?

It doesn't feature in any festivities. The fat guy in question is Santa Claus/Father Christmas (don't ask me why he's got two names, I'm not sure myself), a sort of imaginary/mythical figure that human kids believe will come down the chimney and leave presents for them on Christmas Eve (December 24th) if they've been good that year (don't ask me how the chimney thing works given that no one has them these days, I'm not sure about that either). It's basically just a daft childhood tradition, something for little kids to get excited about. Most people realise that it isn't true before their age hits double figures.

No one, real or imagined, gets set on fire.

Except for the very bad children who are carried off to hell by Krampus.