(no subject)

[mamadeb]

If there is ever another obscure fandom challenge like the current Secret Santa one, but one that is not connected with *any* holiday in any way, shape or form, I might just join in.

As it is...:)

Comments

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

I think you should start one with a holiday you want to work with.

Purim Slash Party: Any pairing, anytime. Only requirement is that during the story someone eats a Hamentashen.

It could work. Cookie eating slash could be the next big thing.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

A. Too much like work. :)

B. I really don't like *any* holiday fic. I regret the three stories - two of them extremely preachy - that I've already written. Also. No religious Jewish characters out there.

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

I celebrate Purim. And my entire connection to Judiasm is that I've dated not particularily religious jewish men.

Any holiday where the primary objective is drinking is ok by me.

So you know, even somebody remotely connected might be willing to throw a purim party.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

As you may have noted in my LJ this morning, the fact that this is X-Mas related is slightly problematic for me, too. Of course, it's only the name of the thing that's X-Mas related: I'm certainly not going to be writing a X-Mas story for my entry.

Mind you, you could always do something akin to that story you wrote ages ago in TS: write a story challenging the easy assumptions this society makes about holidays and who celebrates them.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I expect most of the stories for this particular challenge to be entirely nonChristmas related.

I could write another story like that, but I've already written two in two different fandoms. :)

The real problem is - how can I be upset over people who mean so well? Who truly enjoy their holidays, who don't think about the religious backgrounds at all, and who think everyone should share in their joy?

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I haven't interpreted this as a Christmas challenge, per se -- I see it as an obscure fandoms story challenge, in which fans write stories as gifts for other fans. Many cultures give gifts during the cold dark season -- including ours. Kislev and December overlap neatly this year, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm getting my story as a gift during Chanukah. *g* (And I don't expect that the stories will necessarily feature winter holidays -- it's not a "Christmas-themed story challenge," or anything.)

I think you're right that the larger issue is one of holiday assumptions; I know how frustrating it is that most people assume that everyone celebrates Christmas. That said -- the organizers of this challenge are, if memory serves, both Jewish, and I don't think it was their intention to foist Christmas on anyone. As tzikeh observed in a reply to a post by bethbethbeth, "yule" is a holiday that far predates Christmas!

(Which doesn't make it any more Jewish, I realize -- but if one has made the choice to engage with the rest of the world, one necessarily encounters other cultures' holidays, whether they be Christian or pagan or secular, and one has to reach one's own comfort level in terms of how one approaches the holidays and traditions of others...)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Actually, gift giving on Chanukah, other than maybe small coins, is an artifact of the 20th Century, just to balance the Other Holiday. Which then went on to inflate a lovely, but minor Rabbinic holiday with absolutely no Biblical and Mishnaic backing, and very little Talmudical, to the point that *it* is remembered when major holidays like Shavu'ot or Simchat Torah are forgotten.

The fact remains, the organizers chose to use a Christmas theme for this challenge. And that's enough to make *me* uncomfortable, even though, as I said, I do not expect many holiday themed stories.

And, yeah. Pagan origins are equally problematical.

[batdina.livejournal.com]

took the words right out of my mouth.

Bleh. December is settling in early this year.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

So.

How was your holiday season?

Mine was lovely.