The strange lack of Holidays in ASoIaF

[Ring3r]

We've got several major religions on Planetos and any number of messianic figures spread between them.  Since it's Christmas, I thought I'd do a holiday post questioning why this element is missing from the story.

It's odd, isn't it?  We have a very Catholic-like Andal religion with 7 aspects of God and origin stories for most of them...it's odd to me that we don't have anything in the text at all about celebrations, other than generic stuff.  I would think they'd have some very large, celebrated holidays.

Same goes for the Red faith.  Their faith is dominated by an actual messianic figure....but we don't see a holiday celebrating his birth/death/victory etc.

People in medieval times definitely celebrated holidays, and they were huge, happy affairs where whole towns would get together.  Very often the celebrations were partially funded by the local Lord/King, both because they often worshiped the same God, and because it was an easy opportunity to curry favor with the common folk, which WAS actually an important part of the civilizations back then.

Do such holidays exist and we're simply not getting any character viewpoints during the right times of year?  Is the world of ice and fire such a hard one that people have abandoned celebration (that seems highly unlikely, given all the tourneys?)

And, of course, Merry Christmas everyone.  If Christmas isn't something you celebrate, then happy holiday seasons regardless and I hope everyone managed to enjoy some time with friends and family

[Canon Claude]

That’s a very good point. But to be fair, holidays wouldn’t work so well in ASOIAF because nobody can guess which season it’ll be any given year. Hard to plan celebrations around the fact that you might be stuck indoors just to avoid freezing to death.

[Aebram]

Yes, as Claude road, it's difficult to plan holidays when the seasons keep changing unpredictably.

There are a couple of references to harvest feasts, notably in "Clash" chapter 21 where Bran first meets Meera and Jojen.

[James Steller]

1 hour ago, Aebram said:

 

There are a couple of references to harvest feasts, notably in "Clash" chapter 21 where Bran first meets Meera and Jojen.

That's basically the only workaround with this season stuff. You don't have holidays on a specific day, it's got to be more fluid. So you'd have a celebration for the fall harvest, the end of winter, maybe a summer celebration after the first year or something. 

[Gilbert Green]

Happy Saint Stephen's Day to all.

The Westerosi celebrate the New Year with bonfires and feasts.  Otherwise, random Lords seem to hold feasts for births, weddings, funerals, namedays and wedding anniversaries.

For 10 days every year, the Braavosi celebrate the Unmasking of Uthero.

 

[Gilbert Green]

Maiden's Day is mentioned as a day observed by maidens by fasting and purification.  No feasting for them.  Everyone is barred from the septs except virgins. 

Cersei's thoughts imply there are other "holy days".  Tyrion, when he sees much drinking going on, asks, "is this some holy day."

Edited December 26, 2022 by Gilbert Green

[Gilbert Green]

The Faith of the Seven seems to have no concept precisely equivalent to "saint".  The closest is "blessed" as in "blessed Bailor" or "Bailor the Blessed".

[Jon Fossoway]

Holidays appear to not rely on calendar but on local edicts or regional customs. If George followed the medieval system of oholidays, expect the smallfolk to have a lot of days off during the year. They are just not mentioned directly.

[Daena the Defiant]

14 hours ago, Gilbert Green said:

Maiden's Day is mentioned as a day observed by maidens by fasting and purification.  No feasting for them.  Everyone is barred from the septs except virgins. 

Cersei's thoughts imply there are other "holy days".  Tyrion, when he sees much drinking going on, asks, "is this some holy day."

The existence of the Maiden's Day, replete with encrusted customs that are so hardened that violating them can bring censure and arrest (non-virgins attending - this is Margaery's original ecclesiastical crime - she maintains she was a virgin but people said otherwise, so she had to be arrested and inspected) - anyway, the existence of the Maiden's Day must surely imply parallel events for the other six deities of the Seven. 

I can easily envision The Mother's Day celebrating moms and bounty and children, and the Warrior's Day, replete with competitions and try-outs like wrestling and archery, etc.