Holidays

The following table is just to give a quick overview. Mind that taverns and the Mages Guild do not count as shops. When in doubt refer to the paragraphs further down. Some holidays have no effect on the game.

The following paragraphs are taken directly from the TEMPLATE.DAT, #0047-62. %cn stands for the province, %ct for the town, %tem for the local temple, %t probably for title of the the town lord.

New Life Festival

Today the people of %cn are having the New Life Festival in celebration of a new year. The Emperor has ordered yet another tax increase in his New Life Address, and there is much grumbling about this. Still, despite financial difficulties, the New Life tradition of free ale at all the taverns in the %ct continues. The people of %cn certainly know how to hold a celebration…

South Wind's Prayer

The 15th of Morning Star is a holiday taken very seriously in %cn, where they call it South Wind's Prayer, a plea by all the religions of Tamriel for a good planting season. Citizens with every affliction known in Tamriel flock to services in the %ct's %tem temple, as the clergy is known to perform free healings on this day. The people know that only a few will be judged worthy of this service, but few can afford the %tem's usual price…

Heart's Day

Today is the 16th of Sun's Dawn, a holiday celebrated all over Tamriel as Heart's Day. It seems that in every house, the Legend of the Lovers is being sung for the younger generation. In honor of these Lovers, Polydor and Eloisa, the inns of the %ct offer a free room for visitors. If such kindness had been given the Lovers, it is said, it would always be springtime in the world.

First Planting

On the 7th of First Seed every year, the people of %cn celebrate First Planting, symbolically sowing the seeds for the autumn harvest. It is a festival of fresh beginnings, both for the crops and for the men and women of the %ct. Neighbors are reconciled in their disputes, resolutions are formed, bad habits dropped, the diseased cured. The clerics at the %tem run a free clinic all day long to cure people of poisoning, different diseases, paralyzation, and the other banes found in the world of Arena.

Jester's Day

Be warned that today is Jester's Day in the %ct of %cn, and pranks are being set up from one end of town to the other. It is as if a spell has been cast over the community, for even the most taciturn and dignified councilman might attempt to play a joke on his %t. The Thieves Guild finds particular attention as everyone looks for pickpockets in particular.

Second Planting

The celebration of Second Planting is in full glory this day. It is a holiday with traditions similar to First Planting, improvements on the first seeding symbolically to suggest improvements on the soul. The free clinic of the %tem is open for the second and last time this year, offering cures for those suffering from any kind of disease or affliction. Because peace and not conflict is stressed at this time, battle injuries are healed only at full price.

Mid Year Celebration

Today is the 16th of Mid Year, the traditional day for the Mid Year Celebration. Perhaps to alleviate the annual news of the Emperor's latest tax increase, the %ct temples offer blessings for only half the donation they usually suggest. Many so blessed feel confident enough to enter the %lp dungeons when they are not fully prepared, so this joyous festival has often been known to turn suddenly into a day of defeat and tragedy.

Merchants' Festival

The bargain shoppers of the known world are out in force today and it is little wonder, for the 10th of Sun's Height is a holiday called the Merchants' Festival. Every marketplace and equipment store has dropped their prices to at least half. The only shop not being patronized today is the Mages Guild, where prices are as exorbitant as usual. Most citizens in need of a magical item are waiting two months for the celebration of Tales and Tallows when prices will be more reasonable…

Sun's Rest

You will have to wait until tomorrow if you are planning on making any equipment purchases, for all stores are closed in observance of Sun's Rest. Of course, the temples, taverns, and Mages Guild in the %ct are still open their regular hours, but most citizens chose to devote this day to relaxation, not commerce or prayer. This is not a convenient arrangement for all, but the Merchants' Guild heavily fines any shop that stays open, so everyone complies.

Harvest's End

Perhaps no other festival fires the spirit of the %ct of %cn as much as the one held today, Harvest's End. The work of the year is over, the seeding, sowing, and reaping. Now is the time to celebrate and enjoy the fruits of the harvest, and even visitors to the %ct are invited to join the farmers. The taverns offer free drinks all day long, an extravagance before the economy of the coming winter months. Underfed farm hands gorging themselves and then getting sick in the town square are the most common sights of the celebration of Harvest's End.

Tales and Tallows

No other holiday divides the people of %cn like the 3rd of Hearth Fire. A few of the oldest, more superstitious men and women do not speak all day long for fear that the evil spirits of the dead will enter their bodies. Most citizens enjoy the holiday, calling it Tales and Tallows, but even the most lighthearted avoid the dark streets of %cn, for everyone knows the dead do walk tonight. Only the Mages Guild completely thrives on this day. In celebration of the oldest magical science, necromancy, all magical items are half price today.

Witches' Festival

Today is the 13th of Frostfall, known throughout Tamriel as the Witches' Festival when the forces of sorcery and religion clash. The Mages Guild gets most of the business since weapons and items are evaluated for their mystic potential free of charge and magic spells are one half their usual price. Demonologists, conjurors, lamias, warlocks, and thaumaturgists meet in the wilderness outside %cn, and the creatures created or summoned there may plague Tamriel for eons. Most wise men choose not to wander this night.

Emperor's Birthday

Once the 30th of Frostfall, the Emperor's Birthday, was the most popular holiday of the year. Great traveling carnivals entertained the masses, while the aristocracy of %cn enjoyed the annual Goblin Chase on horseback. Recently, these traditions have fallen into neglect. It has been decades since there was a big carnival in %cn and longer still since a %t of the %ct sponsered a Goblin Chase. It is rumored that the Emperor has even begun refusing any audience.

Warriors Festival

Today is the 20th of Sun's Dusk, the Warriors Festival in %cn. Most all the local warriors, spellswords, and rogues come to the %ct's equipment stores and blacksmiths where all weapons are half price. Unfortunately, the low prices also tempt many an untrained boy to buy his first sword and the normally quiet %cn streets ring with amateur skirmishes. The %t has pardoned most of these ruffians in the past, but has promised to be less merciful this year.

North Wind's Prayer

Today is the 15th of Evening Star, a holiday reverently observed by the %tem as North Wind's Prayer. It is a thanksgiving to the Gods for a good harvest and a mild winter. Some years, like this one, the harvest was not particularly good and the winter unseasonally harsh in %cn, but as the %t is fond of saying, "It could be much worse." The temples offer all their services blessing, curing, healing for half the donation usually requested.

Old Life

On the last day of the year the Empire celebrates the holiday called Old Life. Many go to the temples to reflect on their past. Some go for more than this, for it is rumored that priests will as the last act of the year perform resurrections on beloved friends and family members free of the usual charge. Worshippers know better than to expect this philanthropy, but they arrive in a macabre procession with the recently deceased nevertheless.

Old Life is still in the TEMPLATE.DAT, but not mentioned in the manual. It is probably a remnant from when Arena was supposed to be a party-based RPG and free resurrection would therefore have made sense.

---

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web svatopluk.com