Jedi Holiday Commitee

Regarding meals: I dunno, we could always fast on the 25th of May (as to have a feast may be against Jedi training of fitness and, for some, asceticism).

As for other holidays... Life Day is not out of the question, is it?

i'm cool with \"life day\", unless carrie fisher sings.... then i think it becomes \"painful bleeding ear day\"

stevef wrote:

i'm cool with \"life day\", unless carrie fisher sings.... then i think it becomes \"painful bleeding ear day\"

Haha! Maybe we can get Perris to sing it, then it won't be so bad.

Yeah, I like The Idea of May as the Jedi Holy Month. we can say that as the last month of full spring in the year, it is the time when the Living Force Resonates strongest within us, which Is why George Lucas was born in may who created, with the in no way insignificant help of Joseph Cambell, The Jedi, and why all six parts of Star Wars were released in May.
I definately think Joseph Cambells Birthday should be on the List, as well as Alan Watts,
I also Like Earth Day, In baton Rouge Earth Day is a Major Event and I'd definately like to establish a Jedi Presence during the celebrations.
I think that as for celebrating, I think we all should on those days stop and reflect on their meaning for a period, and maybe on some days fast, on others go out and help the community with wild selfless abandon, on others just gather and have a good time,
Xmas has to be in there, the largest holiday in america and one dedicated to charity and goodwill! I can see it now, Jedi walking about town in red and white trim robes!
ok... um..... keep those Ideas coming guys, will keep this up for about, how's two more weeks? after that'll look over the posts and draft a list, post it and see what you all think, if there are no arguments, then It'll be official.
MTFBWYA

Red and white trim robes, huh?
Gee, I dunno...

re robes with white trim... Jedi Claus? hmmmmm... \"may the ho ho ho be with you?\"
actually that might be fun. instead of coal- carbonite freezing.
an X wing with 8 tiny r2-d2deer.
his workshop on hoth with the Jawas that make toys... with bad motivators.
it just could work!

a holy month seems a bit overkill.
as much as we've joked what about \"life day\". although change the name to something different, and no wookies or bea arthur.

i did kinda like the idea of celebrating with light balls (maybe a candle) and a meal (no stir whip Hrvey korman). like the light of the force? how about the release day of the first star wars- \"when the light of the Jedi came to us\". that's not bad actually. and an excuse to deck out in my robes is welcome.
i stick to my theory of we need a holiday that involves food and chocolate.

Ok. Here is Draft one for the Jedi Holidays

Martin Luther King Jr. Day
The Premiere Dates of all six Star Wars movies
George Lucas' Birthday
Joseph Cambell's Birthday
Earth Day
Qui-gon's Day (formerly Life Day,)If You have a better name post it.
D-Day
Halloween(day of reverence for those who have joined the Force..... and free candy and dressing up... hey! I still Trick-or-Treat!!!
Thanksgiving (that feast enough for you stevef) for those of you who live outside of the U.S. Thanksgiving is the last thursday in november, I know traditionally it's an american holiday but what can be bad about a day devoted to giving thanks for what you have)
Yule(christmas, but I'm uncomfortable with calling it \"CHRISTmas\" perhaps someone else will give me better ideas for a name
New Years Eve.
all right, if there are any improvements and gripes let me now either through post or with PM, this is only the first draft after all.
next week, I'll take a look and revise it,

I'm liking the idea! We should also include the Date in which the Temple was founded and pay hommage to those who founded it. It would be the honorable thing to do. I can't speak for everyone, but if it weren't for them we would be still wondering aimlessly unable to identify ourselves.

In all technicality - wasn't the Star Wars Holiday Special shown on Thanksgiving?

Ergo, Thanksgiving = Life Day, correct?

Unless we want to associate Life Day with Christmas, as many tend to do now that the Holiday Special is often viewed as a Christmas Tradition to the more masochistic of us geeks.

(I'd LOVE to have red and white robes, though!)

how about Festivus? lol, but i disagree with the whole SW celebrations like Lucas day and what not that for LARPS but what about Holiday months like Muslims like with Ramadan and such or like catholics and Lutherans the Church year , the whole year broken up (Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Pentecost) and then separate major days celebrated within them.
Like the Jedi Year
I wouldnt know exactly how to set it up but im sure someone would have an Idea

SidAnDunn wrote:

how about Festivus? lol, but i disagree with the whole SW celebrations like Lucas day and what not that for LARPS but what about Holiday months like Muslims like with Ramadan and such or like catholics and Lutherans the Church year , the whole year broken up (Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Pentecost) and then separate major days celebrated within them.
Like the Jedi Year
I wouldnt know exactly how to set it up but im sure someone would have an Idea

Well, I mentioned a Holy Month for May - like it or not, Star Wars IS a major influence on the Jedi faith, so it's only right to recognize the release of the films (all of which occur in May).

I'm not quite comfortable with recognizing the birthdays of individuals, but I think if we count Life Day to be someplace in December, it could coincide with Christmas and we won't hafta seem Christo-centric (or however you say it for a \"bias towards Christianity\"). After all, if we do that, we'd hafta add in all other Pagan holidays turned to the will of other religions which then became degraded by secularism.

true but geez have you seen some of the holidays/festivals and feasts are in the christian church year? there are alot i mean alot, so we could go over which ones are the most relevant to Jediism and then put those in the church year and voila a list of \"holidays\" to be recognized and feasts and prayer days of individuals etc. Im talking like a catechism like Luther wrote the small Catechism of the Lutheran church and it explains the code creed and beliefs and practices of the church and then has a list of certain holidays and festivals that arent widely known for the church year like did you know Sept. 29th is All Angels Day?

Well.. if a time must be recognised then I too say May

but is not every single day special in its own right?

It's pretty clear that this discussion is far from, over, here is a little more imput from
myself

I don't think we should call it christmas, but we should definately have something that is christmas in everything but name and y'know the baby jesus part. my suggestion, is Love day. after Life day, which would be around thanksgiving...
and simply for the purpose of having more days to celebrate, influential names in the formation of Jediism's birthday's should be celebrated.
someone should definately look into the date the site was founded.... ok keep those ideas and opinions going people, I'll check back next week

I seem to remember the site being founded on 25th December, which rings a bell in itself

however, think of this, could not 'celebrating' a Jedi festival not be seen as self aggrandisement?

Just a flip side thouhgt,

Christmas has been around much longer than the christian religion. Christmas was actually taken from a pagan holiday. As were many other holidays celebrated by christians. To me the founding date of our temple is symbolic for the beginning of a life ie: bearer of gifts hence life.

I'd rather not dip into the \"Tagging Along With Christmas\" ideas. You can call it Yule or Mithra's Day, or the Festival of Dionysus, or whatever, but everybody will still say \"Merry Christmas,\" and any attempt to change that to \"HAPPY LIGHTS DAY!\" will probably get you laughed at.

I think, if our main holidays are in May, then we don't really need anything major through the rest of the year - just smaller, minor things. If there are Christian Jedi (and I know there are), they should feel free to celebrate Christmas as they wish. Any Jewish Jedi can celebrate Hanukkah if they wish. We can shift Life Day up to November 30 or December 1 to avoid Thanksgiving directly, too.

To be honest - since Jediism itself is a very flexible religion, I think our observances, too, can be flexible depending on the individual. I mean, we can all agree that May 25th is an important date for Jedi (and May altogether), but we don't REALLY have to consider it a \"holy day\" or \"holy month.\" I actually use the terms jokingly. Particularly if any of it gets in the way of other holidays, we can shift dates for observances, or ignore them in favor for more important ones, or simply take a small portion of our time out of the day to reflect upon the Force.

Then again, much like Rich said, we should be doing that last one anyway. Though I think he said making every day like a holiday, but... still, we should be meditating daily. :laugh:

i tend to agree with Xiam.
i actually like the name \"light day\" rather than life day as it doens't seem to pull up painful images of wookies named lumpy and bea arthur (shudder).

just a thought- what about leave christmas alone and just leave it up to the individual to celebrate christmas or not. officially it is a national holiday anyway and it's been capitalized on enought by everyone. we can list it among our holidays as xmas if we like.

we can have a major holiday in may and then leave the rest to the greeting card companies. maybe a few important peoples b-day but i would see that more as like presidents day or (in utah) the 24th of july.

what about just having light or life or qui-gon day be may 6th. there were 6 SW films and it's much easier than a whole month. but arguably it could be a bad idea as we may all be hung over from cinco de mayo....

Well... here is my thoughts on existing feast days, now then those of the various rites will already have their own feast days anyway (depending upon their religion.

So the easy answer if one insists on 'celebrating' a day is to find one, say in May that doesn't clash with anything in May.

Personally, every day comes n goes for me whatever so I'd more than likely forget the day anyway.

As with everything, each to their own

stevef wrote:

i tend to agree with Xiam.
i actually like the name \"light day\" rather than life day as it doens't seem to pull up painful images of wookies named lumpy and bea arthur (shudder).

just a thought- what about leave christmas alone and just leave it up to the individual to celebrate christmas or not. officially it is a national holiday anyway and it's been capitalized on enought by everyone. we can list it among our holidays as xmas if we like.

we can have a major holiday in may and then leave the rest to the greeting card companies. maybe a few important peoples b-day but i would see that more as like presidents day or (in utah) the 24th of july.

what about just having light or life or qui-gon day be may 6th. there were 6 SW films and it's much easier than a whole month. but arguably it could be a bad idea as we may all be hung over from cinco de mayo....

Well, I didn't actually intend the similarities between Life Day and \"Light Day.\" I actually meant \"Light Day\" as a joke, because various holidays in and around December tend to be festivals of lights, haha.

But yes, that's what I was saying. Christmas should be left to be Christmas, for whoever wants to celebrate it (I personally enjoy the secular form of the holiday, though I do sometimes go to Midnight Mass, despite never having been, not now being, nor ever planning to be Catholic).

And I still hold that the 25th of May is the best date. Althought Spain celebrates Nerd Pride Day on that day (for much the same reason Star Wars fans and Jedi celebrate it as a holiday), and Hitchhiker's Guide fans celebrate it as Towel Day (in honor of Douglas Adams, who I believe died a week prior to the 25th - why they don't just celebrate his birthday is beyond me, but I can handle a towel AND a lightsaber, so it's not too big of a deal).