What really gets me about Hogfather is that it’s also a scathing satire of Christmas traditions. When Death learns that a little matchgirl has to die so other people will feel better about themselves, he says THIS IS WRONG and saves her instead. THERE IS NO BETTER PRESENT THAN A FUTURE. At the same time, Pratchett is saying “Ha ha, Death doesn’t know what Christmas is about” and “Death knows *exactly* what Christmas *should* be about”
Another critique comes in the sequence with Death trying to give a kingly feast to a beggar (a play on the carol "Good King Wenceslas"). It's a really great bit about how gift giving should focus on making the recipient happy, not on what makes the giver feel good.
I just realized that the Personification Of Death in Discword may just be a mary sue character that represents Pratchett. Not saying we should stop liking Death in Discword, he's still a cool dude. Just that it may be Pratchett's way of inserting himself into the story.
@@jackielinde7568 Now that you mention it, Death looks like a self-insert in most of the stories he's in, but I wonder if Prattchet realized that himself.
“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable." REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE. "Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little-" YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES. "So we can believe the big ones?" YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING. "They're not the same at all!" YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET-Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED. "Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point-" MY POINT EXACTLY.” "
More importantly, Death explains, humans need to start out as children believing the little lies such as the Hogfather or the Soul Cake Duck. They need it as practice for when they grow up and need to believe the really _big_ lies. Lies like Mercy, Justice, Compassion, that sort of thing. This comes across as depressingly nihilistic, until Sir Terry turns it around just beautifully. Susan thinks Death is saying that people need to believe in those things because they don't exist and the lies make life bearable. But Death says no, they (we, let's be real) have to believe in those things because how else can they _become?_ They only came to be, and only continue to be, because we believe they do.
@Maxx Kroes you can say the same thing about every religion. I mean, no one asked you to and it serves no purpose; but you could say it and not be wrong. How bout maybe we don't tho?
As a compulsive game world designer, this is one of the things I struggle with most. So much of our modern world comes from the mythic past that it's hard to create fictional events based on a fictional mythic age. Making holy days that your players don't immediately associate with existing holy days is really hard.
I have to disagree with you on “Mortal Coil” (Star Trek: Voyager). Holidays are a rough time for a lot of people, so I think more media should address depression and suicide during holidays because it’s a reality that often gets ignored. The message of the episode wasn’t “table your nihilistic existential crisis, we need you to support our emotional needs,” it was “you can find family and belonging among people who love and support you no matter what, you matter to the people who care about you, your existence has a bigger impact than you realize, and the universe wouldn’t be the same without you.” I may be biased because it hits home for me (and because I love ST:VOY), but I think “Mortal Coil” is one of the most underrated and important episodes any Star Trek series has put out. I know it’s saved at least one life, and I think that’s a very relevant holiday message.
Agreed. I live in a state that usually has a lot of people with SAD(Seasonal Affective Disorder) around this time of year(it's not correlated to the holiday) . But it's still a huge impact on lots of folks.
That fraggle rock story is more brilliant than it has any right to be. So many stories about someone saving Christmas, never heard of one where the person threatening the holiday was someone who _believed in it too hard._
“Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the fallen angel meets the rising apes.” Merry Christmas to all and Rest In Peace Terry Pratchet.
Life day also makes a cameo in the first episode of The Mandolorian, when Mandos first bounty we see him take mentions he wants to get back home in time for life day
Genuinely, my favourite psuedo-Christmas is Hearth's Warming Eve from MLP:FIM. I loved how the standard Christmas episode was used to expand the worldbuilding and history in such a creative way, showing how the traditions of singing around fires began and really tying the lessons of working together, working past hatred, and having fun when it's darkest into a fun fantasy and a children's show episode.
Hogswatch is great. Red forgot that killing the hogfather is part of a plot by the auditors to destroy humanity and restore order and neatness to the universe
Yeah. As soon as I heard the criteria I figured it would hit the top. Wasn't expecting it to make me cry but y'know I was laughing too, which is pretty much the best reaction to that quote for me.
I'm actually right in the middle of 'The Hogfather' and knew in every inch of my heart that it would top the list for you exact reasons. How did I not know about Terry Pratchett as a kid? I was wronged
Technically in the 40k universe Emperor's Day is their "New Years" which is meant to honor the day the Emperor was enthroned upon the Golden Throne. 40k' Christmas is Sanguinala, commemorative of the Primarch Sanguinius' death at the hands of the arch betrayer Horus Lupercal. It's actually surprisingly evocative of Christmas in that it's a holiday commemorating the Son of God, but instead of it being His birth like in our world it takes a grimdark approach and instead celebrates the death of the Son of God. It's like if you mixed Christmas and Easter and added way too much 80's Metal Album.
ya think she just normally shows up to places by exploding into a ball of flame and blue just had to get used to it or is this just her feeling extra fiery today
Candlenights It's from The Adventure Zone, one of the podcasts from the McElroy family It's a winter holiday celebrated on a different day every year. It's like Christmas with gift giving and a big feast/party
If I had to guess, the main reason this wasn't mentioned is either because A. they weren't counting DnD campaigns amongst their candidates since those can more or less be made up on the fly to account for the players' own idiocy or B. they don't know about the Adventure Zone
That moment when Xena is considering RIPing the guy and stopping all this nonsense... AND HOW DID I FORGET A GLOWING BABY!??!?!?! ... I missed it from an ad break?
Happy Hearth's Warming! My Little Pony is far from your usual audience, but it's one of the best pseudo-Christmas. I'd rate: Holiday Creativity: 5/10 Relevance to the plot: 8/10 Seasonal Message: 9/10 They also have my favorite version of A Christmas Carol. It's not too different from Christmas, but they have a unique backstory. It's about the foundation of their Country and different races coming together. This background is really important to the narrative, and the themes even more so. There's also no Santa, people just give each other gifts.
"Don't think he knows about second Yule, Pip." "What about Emperor's Day? Australian Christmas? Life Day? Festival of the Bells? Hogswatch? He knows about them, right?" "I wouldn't count on it."
Hey it was Blue's first, Red insisted on standing in front of a white background for her videos. Blue must've given it as an xmas present, plus it's a red chair so it's fitting.
I like Hearth's Warming Eve from MLP! Its not very similar to Christmas in lore or practice, but it highly touts the ideas of boding, friendship, and how community can overcome even the worst occasions. For plot relevance, it varies in each holiday episode, but the main mythological creatures from the legend (the "windigos") does show up in the series finale.
The relevance to the plot goes beyond the episodes, the themes of union, community and friendship between different people is important throughout the series, specially in the last 2 seasons
I was expecting the top spot but Wow turns out a single Discworld quote can and will make me sob-laugh with tears streaming down my face right now! That series and that *book* are so important to me. Thank you!
I would also add Hearths Warming Eve from My Little Pony: extensive backstory and lore surrounding the holiday, lots of traditions that are a mix of recycled and repackaged Xmas customs and ones made up whole cloth for the show (like each family having crochet dolls of themselves sitting on their hearths), and serving not just as set dressing but also as a major plot device for multiple episodes throughout the series. It's also maybe an equivalent of both Xmas and Thanksgiving (it also being a Celebration of the founding of their nation, and the coming together of the three pony tribes). It also gets bonus points for also being an annual mass ritual to prevent ancient winter spirits from covering the land in eternal frost and snow.
MLP:FiM - hearts warming eve First show up in the second season where the mane characters play the equipment of the nativity scene, but it’s about the founding of their country In later seasons it comes back in many forms, and even is somewhat relevant to the bit finally of the last season.
My favorite not!christmas actually originated from a one-shot dnd session i was a part of. It was called the freezing hunt, you see we the party are part of a orc tribe and every year during winter our tribes food supply would get raided by treants from the nearby forest (they didn't like it when our tribe started cutting down their bretheren by the truck load). Slowly starving the tribe year by year, until our leader had enough and decided to raid them on the coldest day of the year. The raid was a miraculous succes and thus a celebration was born. Every year on the coldest day of the year our tribe would raid the forest in groups to search for any surviving treants. The group that came back with the biggest treant would get that years feast thrown in their honor (along with getting to eat most of the food) and then they would despose of the treant corpses by putting them on a pile and burning them. During our session we managed to find out that this year the treants were bringing in druids, rangers, nature cleric, palladins basically every adventurer on the continent that would return their calls in an attempt to pick of our tribe one by one . They failed and we managed to come back with a massive treant corpse and a bunch of severed heads and limbs to decorate it with (cuz why not). After the feast the party got drunk and started brawling accidentlly tumbling into the bonfire in the process. It was a fun session
@@NatureArtist-tw1iq Not really much dnd knowledge required. The party is a part of a orc tribe. Orc tribe starts murdering the forest. Forest fights back with guerilla sentient tree warriors during winter. Then the tribe fought back during winter and it worked. Since then the tribe made a holiday out of murdering the guerilla trees during winter. Forest attempts one last ditch effort to fight back by calling in hippies to defend them. The party murders the hippies and a big guerilla tree. They get rewarded. Fun for everyone, well except the trees and hippies but screw those guys.
Usually cries of "Happy Life Day!" are followed by "Time to wheel out the coked-up Princess Leia to warble out a tune while hanging onto a wookie for dear life!" Well, not for the last couple years perhaps. RIP Space Mom.
Leave it to the late, great Terry Pratchett and Jim Henson to make meaningful Christmas-type things that actually mean something. Rest in peace, boys, and merry Christmas/Yule/Saturnalia/Hogswatch/Life Day to all, and to all a good morning!
There's a reference to Life Day in the first episode of "The Mandalorian" as well. Matter of fact, Jon Favreau REALLY wants to do his own version of the Holiday Special. Here's hoping it won't be as cringe-worthy as the original if he pulls it off!
Hearth's Warming form mlp Is a personal favorite of mine. It's in-universe origins are unique, acting as a celebration of the founding of equestria, and Princess luna's song in "A Hearth's Warming Tail" is one of the best in the series.
It also had its own element of changing meanings over time, where most modern-day ponies didn’t believe the windigos, which were in part responsible for the trouble that forced the pony tribes to come together, even existed, and some jaded souls saw the holiday as just an excuse to party. Also, honorable mentions to the various holidays of the other creatures that we got introduced to in the later seasons! Happy Snilldar Fest! :)
Other Examples I can think of include: Snoggletog from How to Train Your Dragon, Wassalia from Sophia the First, Hearth's Warming from My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, Stump day from Star vs the Forces of Evil, and Wolfbarktooth day from Pound Puppies. +Snoggletog is where everyone puts on their ceremonial horned helmets and builds a giant tree-shaped monument in the center of town with crested shields and spears from everyone in town hung upon it. Houses are decorated with ribbons and axes. And new as of when we first see the holiday, a terrible drink presumably made from yak milk called yak nog and further expanded upon on the only other time we've seen it is drank as a self-punishment competition of sorts. And coincidentally, it falls around dragon nesting season, and all the dragons go to a private island to lay their eggs. Vikings having only just made peace with the dragons were sad about that, but Hiccup rectified the issue by unintentionally inventing a new tradition where all the dragon babies are loaded onto a viking longboat and all their parents give an aerial tow back to Berk. And with the passing of a great chief like Stoik the Vast and all the dragons having separated from the world of man, the new generation was ignorant of the tribe's history and so they made a new pageant to honor the memory of Stoik and the peacemaking of dragons, though historical accuracy gets majorly swept under the rug in favor of good feels about Stoik. +Wassalia... is pretty much just Christmas, not really any unique way it was celebrated nor in its lore. Though the messages in the 4 episodes it was in were nice and wholesome. +Hearth's Warming honors the unity of 3 of the Pony tribes and the founding of their Country, Equestria. They've always had an "Alliance", but it was tenuous at best. Eventually, some malicious snow spirits who feed on negative emotions sensed their strife and it turbo-charged them into causing a vicious blizzard. This made tensions worse (as they were unaware of the malicious spirits) and further fed the storm. Eventually, the lands of the 3 tribes became so inhospitable that the Sovereigns of the 3 tribes and their assistants just had to just set out and try to find more hospitable land. They coincidentally all wound up at the same place and all tried claiming for their own tribes, which of course re-ignited tensions and it turned out the malicious spirits had followed them and brought the blizzard there too. They went into a cave for shelter but the Sovereigns were all frozen solid anyway, and just as the assistants were about to be frozen solid too, something happened. The assistants did not share their sovereigns' negativity towards the other tribes, they just wanted a functional society- which all these tensions in this tenuous alliance were not. When the storm got bad, they huddled together and tried to help each other through it, and that compassion caused the Unicorn assistant to unconsciously cast a spell that banished the malicious spirits they could not have cast with their own power- it was only because of the compassion between the 3 tribes shared by the assistants that they were able to survive and founded that new country for all 3 tribes together. But while the spirits who caused the storm were gone, that doesn't mean the storm they already caused just goes away too, so with no other options they just waited out the rest of the storm singing songs until all their sovereigns thawed out. And long after Hearthswarming was established, a Unicorn who thought all the sappy sentiments just got in the way of work that really mattered tried to disestablish the holiday with a spell until some benevolent spirits showed her the consequences such an action would carry and that there was significance to the holiday beyond those sappy sentiments. +Stump Day is a great parody Holiday. When the Settlers of the kingdom of Mewni first landed there, they were not on good terms with one another and nearly went their separate ways- but then a Blizzard struck and they were forced to take shelter by a giant tree stump and share supplies (you likely see similarities between it and Hearthswarming). This reinforced their alliance and they decided not to split after all and now they honor that alliance and the founding of the kingdom by celebrating their friendships and the stump for a full day and not let anything else distract from it, or else the stump comes to life and eats everyone (really hits you with that twist). +Wolfbarktooth day is a canine holiday honoring the ancestor to all domesticated dogs. Back in Caveman times, a Sabre tooth tiger was threatening a family of Cavemen and a wolf saw what was going on and was like "looks like a nice and warm, think I'll go in", and chased the tiger away, and the cavemen were so grateful that they sort of adopted the wold into their family and called him Wolfbarktooth. And now all domesticated dogs honor their ancestor and the founding of their relationship with humans.
@@lmbusiness5300 I separated it into paragraphs and I tried to give only the relevant points of the holiday. Wish I knew how to edit it down further without losing too much nuance.
I was really hoping Hearth's Warming would be here. Not only is it a very major point in Equestria Lore (being the literal Founding Of Our Nation Day) it also has great themes of togetherness touched with a hint of darkness. The pony tribes basically had to get along or else they'd all freeze, starve and die. Sure Clover, Pansy and Cookie were decent enough friends, the tribes as a whole probably didn't share their sentiments but had to cooperate because any large enough objections would bring the Windigos back.
@@Elfos64 You did great, I'm a lazy ass who is too overwhelmed by the amount of text to really appreciate the points you made, but keep up the awesome effort levels.
MLP:FiM had their Hearthswarming. Relevant to the story, it celebrates when the three tribes came together in harmony and banished the Wendigos. So it's about peace and goodwill towards all good ponies... uh creatures, and the founding of Equestria. They manage to squeeze iirc 4 episodes out of the season, including the "school play" grade presentation starring the main characters, A more sinister version of A Christmas Carol (Somepony plans to destroy Hearthwarming), an episode that is relevant to the real world pressures that have lead to things like drawing the person whom you are gifting out of a hat rather than having everyone track down a gift for everyone, and an episode surrounding similar traditions among various races of the Student 6, even indicating that a few of them either don't celebrate or don't celebrate something within the analogous time frame.
Also one about learning to accept that different families will have different holiday traditions and not to try and push your own onto people in the belief they are 'better'.
Hearth's Warming Eve from MLP: FIM. It carries weight in the lore of the show and emphasizes togetherness, love, generosity, and reaching out. In relation to your list...an Honorable Mention. It is celebrated in winter and was only relevant outside that in the series finale.
I’d say, following the metrics they laid out, it should’ve at least been on there somewhere. Plus, a fantasy-adventure show with mythical animals as characters seems like it would be down Red’s alley to some extent.
@@snakeman830 I call BULL! I know Red knows about the show because she mentions it in her Trope Talk: Power Of Friendship video (though you may have a point about the series finale)
I am honestly surprised to see “The Wheel of Time” on this list! An incredible and great book series of Robert Jordan, that easily keeps up with other great fantasy stories like “Lord of the Rings”. I am glad to see that you are also aware and appreciate this great and yet fameless story.
Can’t believe you guys didn’t mention Heathswarming Eve from My Little Pony. Every time it came up it was the plot of the episode firmly orbiting a holiday theme or it was a nuanced retelling of an older Christmas story, deeply integrated into the lore of the setting. I thought for sure it would show up on the list here!
I would love for Red to do a mini series on Discworld. That would be amazing! Like a video about the setting, and maybe one for (and I'm only using these next words, in lack of better terminology) every main storyline, like The Watch, The Wizards and The Witches (and of course also the ones not starting with a W). *Edit*: I know that is being very greedy xD
Agreed! Discworld is such an important collection of literature and very dear to my heart. Not sure there's any character who I didn't immediately like save for maybe Mort. (Still reading the book but he's at the angsty teen stage fueled by otherworldly powers)
@@justinjacobs1501 I like Mort, but mostly in context with Ysabell. Their conflict and (in the end love) is a story that is masterfully told. Wont spoil anything more than that. But yeah, by him self Mort is kind of a twat xD
@@DJ_Mystic You mean the implied years, perhaps even decades, of escalating famine, bigotry, political unrest, the likely deaths of hundreds as a consequence, and the looming threat of all out war? Nah. This is a cartoon about ponies, and friendship, and rainbows. You know, for kids! *laughs nervously*
@@Fireclave Um... and you missed the part with the semi-demonic spirits of eternal ice who fed on all the negative emotions that all that conflict generated. And that can't be destroyed, only dispelled by more positive emotions, friendship, and a harmonious co-operative union. So be good, for goodness' sake. Because if you don't, everypony will freeze to death.
Just Terry Pratchett, I'm afraid. The knighthood dies with the knight. An argument can be made that GNU Terry Pratchett still holds the memory of honour as long as his memory is honoured, though, so GNU Sir Terry Pratchett.
@@stanrogers5613 oh, really? I suppose that makes sense, as it's not an inherited title. Poland hasn't had actual nobility since the 16th century, so I'm not very knowledge on the subject.
@@avatarofaiyel"Who needs to show to the Scrooge his child self to remember him of what he's lost when I can just take his child self from the past and show the Scrooge to him so that he never wants to become that" - the Doctor, probably.
HURRAH!!! My favourite made Number One! I love both the book and the movie about Hogswatch (actually I love the entire Discworld series!)! Thank you for making it Number One!
Pretty solid list! Only one I'd really liked to see added would have been MLP: FiM's Hearts Warming Eve. I mean, no matter how you feel on FiM, I think most of us can agree that very few kid's shows has the stones to have their in-universe Christmas episode be the celebration of when the near species killing civil war ended.
I love you both so much for including the Hogfather on this list, and making it number one on top of that! I watch it every year with my family and it always gets us into the spirit of the holidays. More people need to see it and read Terry Pratchett's books.
I'd also recommend Hearts Warming from the My Little Pony :Friendship Is Magic a honorable mention, it has multiple episodes dedicated to it and it's used to explain why Pegasus, Unicorns and regular ponys formed a society. Originally the three groups fought each other causing Wendigos (in this case large snow horses that cause massive blizzards) to destroy their lands fuel by the blatant racism. When one of each type of pony find friendship inches away from freezing to death a magical fire shaped like a heart erupts form the unicorns horse melting the snow. We also learn that as times passed the holiday has adapted giving us a Christmas Carol episode, an episode dealing with differences with tradition between distant family, an episode of the game secret Santa. Each episode ends on a high note with a really good moral about how holidays bring people together no matter their differences.
One of my favorites is Hearth's Warming Eve from MLP. It's basically Christmas, but the story behind it is different from most: the three pony tribes (pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns) originally hated each other, but then one night a terrible snowstorm struck their land, one that couldn't be stopped even by magic. So they set off on a quest to find a new land, but all ended up claiming the same land, and they fought over it. But then the snowstorm started again, and they discovered the truth behind it- the storm was caused by "Windigos", giant horse-like wraiths that fed off of hatred, turning the land around them "as cold as their hearts". But the ponies learned to get along and work together, driving away the Windigos and the freezing cold. And thus the land of Equestria was founded. I like this for two reasons: first of all, the implications are rather dark for the setting (I.E. be nice and get along or we'll all freeze to death), but also because it sort of ties in with some of the reasons behind real-world winter holidays. They have their religious and spiritual origins of course, but I hypothesize that part of their creation was because Northern European winters are long, cold, dark, and miserable, so having something fun and joyous to look forward to helped make the winters more tolerable. They could also be seen as a reward for all the hard work done during summer, growing and harvesting crops to store for the winter. That's what harvest festivals like Samhain were about: a celebration that you and your neighbors would be able to live another year. Same with the winter holidays- we're all cold and cooped up in our houses, but we have each other so let's make the most of it and have some fun to pass the time!
For me, one of my favorite holiday celebrations is on Final Fantasy XIV, the Starlight Celebration. There's a lot of borrowed imagery from Christmas, but it's got its own story and its own questlines and you don't just get free stuff. It's really fun! We always decorate our in-game house with Starlight decorations around the holidays!
Magnus isn't the god of the sun in TES. That's Auri-el, the elven avatar of Akatosh. Magnus' only relation to the sun is that it's said to be the hole he left when he fled back to Aetherius.
Magnus is actually the Sun God in TES, Auri-el is the ancestor god of the elves, the soul of Anui-el, which in turn is the soul of Anu the Everything, He's asociated with the sun because it's a conduit to Aetherius. Also, big mistake from Blue placing the New Life Festival on the 25th, ESO's crap shouldn't even be canon.
I like MLP: FIM's winter holiday that is suspiciously similar to Christmas, but actually used to provide lore on the founding of Equestria and provides an in-universe plot point for the celebrations and togetherness being to prevent the Windigo ice spirits from condemning the world to eternal icy death! It's like a mashup of Discworld, Fraggle Rock, and Game of Thrones! (though they haven't gotten to the Discworld/Fraggle Rock level of meta commentary, it comes surprisingly close...)
Love the list overall, wish Hearthswarming eve was on it, and about Erastide, wow was not expecting that one. Also the holiday had a bit of extra relevance (very small bit extra) due to also being Garion's birthday.
I’m so happy you added “Hogs Watch” as it is the best fictional Christmas story ever me and my family watch it literally every Hogs Wa-... I mean Christmas Eve.
Hey red I was wondering if you could do a video on Ali baba and the 40 thieves.Almost all people have heard the line from Aladdin but most don’t see the cultural story behind it.
Ah, yes, I'm quite curious about that. The line in Aladdin stuck out to me since I _have_ heard the story, but I was, like, three. I barely remember it.
Fun fact, booth that story and several other famous ones from One Thousand and One Nights (including Aladdin) was not actually part of the original Arabic version They instead mysteriously appeared in the early 18th century when Antoine Galland translated it to french for the first time, with the general belief being that his main source (a Syriac by the name of Hanna Diyab) made them up himself for reasons that has never really been cleared.
A couple I enjoyed are "Hearth's Warming Eve/Hearth's Warming" from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. A series about love and friendship has lore about the world and it is actually pretty important to the well being of the fantasy land. The togetherness brings all the different types of ponies together and eventually other creatures too. Another I enjoyed is Adventure Time. It's not named, though, and not a worldwide celebration, much more intimate. It's in the episodes "Holly Jolly Secrets" parts one and two. Christmas traditions are rediscovered in an Adventure Time way. Once a year, the core cast gathers together to celebrate what happens near the end of the second part. It's a massive spoiler, though.
Hearth’s Warming Eve from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Also, turns out each of the other species have their own version of Pseudo-Christmas too.
I am quite surprised Heart's Warming didnt make it into this list, and left to wonder if it was due to being more of the same as the others, or an effort to stave off Coppa.
Hearth’s swarming Eve: A Winter holiday celebrating when the 3 species of Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns teamed up to stop a bunch of demon horse ghosts named Windigos. Afterwards they all founded one country and every winter, this occasion is celebrated with gift-giving, decorations, and also has reindeer. No pseudo-Santa. Is used multiple times as a backdrop for a Christmas Carol story, a Secret Santa story, and a few others I’m not mentioning. Creativity: 6/10. The lore behind it is original but still has most of the same holiday traditions as christmas Relevance: 8/10. Is relevant to at least the plots of the stories in the specials, even if the show is episodic. Seasonal Message: 1/10. I haven’t found one yet but it’s probably something about working together or whatever.
I'll be honest, love this list, you guys just got a huge amount of respect from me for your #1 spot. Because IMO that is the single best Holiday Fantasy Story I have ever read, reread, and watched the Made for TV Show of. Also I made Susan as a D&D character, because of course I did. (She's a Death Domain Cleric, I used the Shadar-kai, for her, because it just works.)
Blue and Red, when I saw the video title, my thought was "Hogswatch better be the top spot, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!" Mostly rioting and burning down of Ahnk-Morpork, because it's a thing in the Discworld.
What about Saturalia from Elder Scrolls? I'm pretty sure that's canon now, and its much more Christmas-y compared to the New Life Festival. They Even have a Santa equivalent named "Father Saturalia", who has Falmer as minions, and drives a sleigh lead by a dragon delivering gifts to all the boys and girls across Nirn. I say that is awesome!
What really gets me about Hogfather is that it’s also a scathing satire of Christmas traditions.
When Death learns that a little matchgirl has to die so other people will feel better about themselves, he says THIS IS WRONG and saves her instead. THERE IS NO BETTER PRESENT THAN A FUTURE.
At the same time, Pratchett is saying “Ha ha, Death doesn’t know what Christmas is about” and “Death knows *exactly* what Christmas *should* be about”
Another critique comes in the sequence with Death trying to give a kingly feast to a beggar (a play on the carol "Good King Wenceslas"). It's a really great bit about how gift giving should focus on making the recipient happy, not on what makes the giver feel good.
Yes to both
And then there's the bedtime story scene with jack the ecoterrorist murdering orphan maker and the bean stalk
I just realized that the Personification Of Death in Discword may just be a mary sue character that represents Pratchett. Not saying we should stop liking Death in Discword, he's still a cool dude. Just that it may be Pratchett's way of inserting himself into the story.
@@jackielinde7568 Now that you mention it, Death looks like a self-insert in most of the stories he's in, but I wonder if Prattchet realized that himself.
I'm glad Blue got his own chair, even if it is an inflatable one.
It’s the chair from Blue-clues, but bluer!
@@arnaudmenard5114 YYYYAAAASSS
The chair was originally blue's. He started the whole fireside chat thing, red just used the same format for trope talks later.
@@grapetoad6595 well its hers now
Actually the chair was originally his, Red just stole it😂
"Humans need fantasy to be humans, to be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape." That gave me chills.
“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little-"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET-Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point-"
MY POINT EXACTLY.” "
More importantly, Death explains, humans need to start out as children believing the little lies such as the Hogfather or the Soul Cake Duck. They need it as practice for when they grow up and need to believe the really _big_ lies.
Lies like Mercy, Justice, Compassion, that sort of thing.
This comes across as depressingly nihilistic, until Sir Terry turns it around just beautifully. Susan thinks Death is saying that people need to believe in those things because they don't exist and the lies make life bearable.
But Death says no, they (we, let's be real) have to believe in those things because how else can they _become?_ They only came to be, and only continue to be, because we believe they do.
This makes me very desperate for a Trope Talk on how to create fictional holidays and festivals.
Now that I think about it, I don't think we have a Trope Talk about fictional deities and religions, do we?
@@joaomarcoscosta4647 Not as far as I'm aware, but that sounds amazing.
YES I WANT THAT
@Maxx Kroes you can say the same thing about every religion. I mean, no one asked you to and it serves no purpose; but you could say it and not be wrong.
How bout maybe we don't tho?
As a compulsive game world designer, this is one of the things I struggle with most. So much of our modern world comes from the mythic past that it's hard to create fictional events based on a fictional mythic age. Making holy days that your players don't immediately associate with existing holy days is really hard.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN FRAGGLE ROCK IS SECOND PL---"
[Ghost of Terry Pratchett arrives]
"Please proceed."
I have to disagree with you on “Mortal Coil” (Star Trek: Voyager). Holidays are a rough time for a lot of people, so I think more media should address depression and suicide during holidays because it’s a reality that often gets ignored. The message of the episode wasn’t “table your nihilistic existential crisis, we need you to support our emotional needs,” it was “you can find family and belonging among people who love and support you no matter what, you matter to the people who care about you, your existence has a bigger impact than you realize, and the universe wouldn’t be the same without you.” I may be biased because it hits home for me (and because I love ST:VOY), but I think “Mortal Coil” is one of the most underrated and important episodes any Star Trek series has put out. I know it’s saved at least one life, and I think that’s a very relevant holiday message.
Stories that save one life might save another. In the end, who knows how many lives such stories save? I wish you well!
Best wishes for the holidays from the halfway mark between.
Agreed. I live in a state that usually has a lot of people with SAD(Seasonal Affective Disorder) around this time of year(it's not correlated to the holiday) . But it's still a huge impact on lots of folks.
@@alleegordon6511 there's a hypothesis that winter festivals started to combat low morale in the dark cold season so it's kind of correlated
I really wish someone in that episode told Neelix that He didn't see anything was because he wasn't dead long enough.
"There's nothing more in the at spirit of ther season than yelling at someone over the internet"
Yes there is. Yelling at family in real life.
can it really be called a holliday if you don't haev the entierty of the family fighting over politics
"I got a lot of problems with you people and now you're gonna hear about it!"
It's cool I can do both at once
@@mousepariah3884 you god/goddess
Now this is done over zoom
That fraggle rock story is more brilliant than it has any right to be. So many stories about someone saving Christmas, never heard of one where the person threatening the holiday was someone who _believed in it too hard._
_It’s a miracle..._
_IT’S AN AUSTRALIAN CHRISTMAS BLOODY MIRACLE!_
Oh I need a drink. Thanks Demo!
ah a man of culture I see
**BLUE FOR THE BLUE THRONE!**
**RED FOR THE RED GOD!**
😂😂 This needs so many more likes
So are you like
**QUADRUPLE SCREAMING!**?
BLUE FOR THE BLUE THRONE!
RED FOR THE RED GOD!
WHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alas I have but one like to give.
Happy Sanguinala
“Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the fallen angel meets the rising apes.”
Merry Christmas to all and Rest In Peace Terry Pratchet.
GNU
Death always gets the greatest, deepest lines.
@@7Seraphem7 "CATS ARE NICE"-Death in response to being asked the meaning of life
The power of belief and perception were two of the biggest running themes in Pratchett's work.
Never heard of this series but that’s the greatest quote I’ve ever heard.
Life day also makes a cameo in the first episode of The Mandolorian, when Mandos first bounty we see him take mentions he wants to get back home in time for life day
Wait, but isn’t that a Wookie holiday?
Genuinely, my favourite psuedo-Christmas is Hearth's Warming Eve from MLP:FIM. I loved how the standard Christmas episode was used to expand the worldbuilding and history in such a creative way, showing how the traditions of singing around fires began and really tying the lessons of working together, working past hatred, and having fun when it's darkest into a fun fantasy and a children's show episode.
"The place where the falling angel meets the rising ape" is one of the best philosophical thesis of the 20th century. Neitzche, eat your heart out
"People as things" perfection
Next he'll get accused of literature
Me: *sees title* Yep, Hogfather's going to be on the list. Probably top spot.
Not disappointed!
Yep. My first thought: How high is Hogswatch gonna be?
as disappointed as you are.
Hogswatch is great. Red forgot that killing the hogfather is part of a plot by the auditors to destroy humanity and restore order and neatness to the universe
Yeah. As soon as I heard the criteria I figured it would hit the top. Wasn't expecting it to make me cry but y'know I was laughing too, which is pretty much the best reaction to that quote for me.
How much do you want to bet this video is 50% "here are some cool christmases" and 50% "we need to tell everyone how amazing hogswatch is"
I'm actually right in the middle of 'The Hogfather' and knew in every inch of my heart that it would top the list for you exact reasons. How did I not know about Terry Pratchett as a kid? I was wronged
Technically in the 40k universe Emperor's Day is their "New Years" which is meant to honor the day the Emperor was enthroned upon the Golden Throne. 40k' Christmas is Sanguinala, commemorative of the Primarch Sanguinius' death at the hands of the arch betrayer Horus Lupercal. It's actually surprisingly evocative of Christmas in that it's a holiday commemorating the Son of God, but instead of it being His birth like in our world it takes a grimdark approach and instead celebrates the death of the Son of God.
It's like if you mixed Christmas and Easter and added way too much 80's Metal Album.
LUPERCAL!!
It's also all red and jolly, full of pageants, and everyone tends to get space hangover the next day from all the unrestrained partying.
@@andrewsuryali8540 that and the drugged incense the Ministorum priests are waving around.
RIP the poor Hawk boi
Haha, I love that summary! XD
I didn't expect y'all to actually include Australian Christmas at ALL, but this made my day.
Also: "What plot? It's TF2" Eh, sad but true.
*Sad TF2 Comics sound*
In the tf2 comic smismas took the of place Australian Christmas after a kid stabbed old nick in the neck with an icicle
Ah the tf2 lore. Where Abraham Lincoln invented rocket jumping and medic swindled the devil.
The plot is "Santa Cosplayers and partially palette-swapped Santa Cosplayers kill each other for gravel"
Badass entrance, Red.
ya think she just normally shows up to places by exploding into a ball of flame and blue just had to get used to it or is this just her feeling extra fiery today
True Mind
Yes.
Blue looks over like: "Oh hey, she's here" without the slightest bit of surprise at the explosive entrance
Given how quickly and violently she showed up in Blue's apartment in the April fools apology video, I simply have to agree. 😂
Candlenights
It's from The Adventure Zone, one of the podcasts from the McElroy family
It's a winter holiday celebrated on a different day every year. It's like Christmas with gift giving and a big feast/party
Thank you for mentioning this!!!! Happy candlenights
@@Sam-vd1md
Happy candlenights
It's also the rare holiday rip-off that steals from Hanukkah instead of Christmas. Basically just Hanukkah but pan-religious and welcome to anybody.
If I had to guess, the main reason this wasn't mentioned is either because A. they weren't counting DnD campaigns amongst their candidates since those can more or less be made up on the fly to account for the players' own idiocy or B. they don't know about the Adventure Zone
TheBrickMasterB I’m pretty sure they do, I feel like I’ve seen Red mention taz at some point on Twitter
100% agree with #1, no notes. Hogfather is one of my absolute favorites of the stellar Discworld series.
Festivus
_"Maybe Christmas he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."_
*~ Dr. Seuss*
Epic.
Dr. Suess quotes are some of the best quotes to hang on a wall without feeling like a suburban mom on a shopping spree at Hobby Lobby.
Nobody believes that though do they?
@@DreyriAldranaris36Ted Geisel hated the commercialization of Christmas. It’s what motivated him to write a How the Grinch Stole Christmas
@@matityaloran9157 That’s actually great
The Xena Santa had to overcome CLAUStrophobia
I can't believe I never thought of that...
Haha!
That moment when Xena is considering RIPing the guy and stopping all this nonsense...
AND HOW DID I FORGET A GLOWING BABY!??!?!?!
... I missed it from an ad break?
Calm down Sans.
@This Person Does Not Exist closed tight spaces
"Where the falling angel meets the rising ape." Right with you, Red. That line is so perfect.
Happy Hearth's Warming!
My Little Pony is far from your usual audience, but it's one of the best pseudo-Christmas.
I'd rate:
Holiday Creativity: 5/10
Relevance to the plot: 8/10
Seasonal Message: 9/10
They also have my favorite version of A Christmas Carol.
It's not too different from Christmas, but they have a unique backstory. It's about the foundation of their Country and different races coming together. This background is really important to the narrative, and the themes even more so.
There's also no Santa, people just give each other gifts.
"Don't think he knows about second Yule, Pip."
"What about Emperor's Day? Australian Christmas? Life Day? Festival of the Bells? Hogswatch? He knows about them, right?"
"I wouldn't count on it."
I agree with hogs watch being number 1. That speech at the end kinda shaped the way young and now older me view and navigate the world
Ooooo, Blue has his own chair now!
It looks inflatable.
It looks like the one from Blue’s Clues
@@schwarzerritter5724 yeah it probably is
Hey it was Blue's first, Red insisted on standing in front of a white background for her videos. Blue must've given it as an xmas present, plus it's a red chair so it's fitting.
Which couch is blue's couch, the red or the blue on?
I was waiting for the Hogfather through he entire video. I was not disappointed. Glad to see that you have excellent taste!
Having only ever heard the tale of Hogswatch from my father, that I still expected it to place highly says something
Happy Hogswatch, AetherJC!
Death giving out weapons as educational toys
@@jlokison And making verbal contracts with children.
It's my go to Christmas Special.
I feel like Hearthswarming eve from My Little Pony Friendship is magic actually deserves a spot in this list, it is surprisingly well done
I like Hearth's Warming Eve from MLP! Its not very similar to Christmas in lore or practice, but it highly touts the ideas of boding, friendship, and how community can overcome even the worst occasions. For plot relevance, it varies in each holiday episode, but the main mythological creatures from the legend (the "windigos") does show up in the series finale.
The relevance to the plot goes beyond the episodes, the themes of union, community and friendship between different people is important throughout the series, specially in the last 2 seasons
Not to mention the origin story of the holiday is nearly the entire foundation for their society and government...
River’s Liver I’d agree. It’s really central to the culture.
It's weird how Hearth's Warming Eve is a combination of Christmas and Independence Day (Or Founding Day, depending) of all things.
Christmas + Independence Day + United Nations day + ponies = hearths warming
A gentle reminder that as of the Mandelorian Life Day is now canon. Though context indicates it might not be Wookiee specific anymore.
Happy Life Day everyone!!
I was expecting the top spot but Wow turns out a single Discworld quote can and will make me sob-laugh with tears streaming down my face right now! That series and that *book* are so important to me. Thank you!
I would also add Hearths Warming Eve from My Little Pony: extensive backstory and lore surrounding the holiday, lots of traditions that are a mix of recycled and repackaged Xmas customs and ones made up whole cloth for the show (like each family having crochet dolls of themselves sitting on their hearths), and serving not just as set dressing but also as a major plot device for multiple episodes throughout the series. It's also maybe an equivalent of both Xmas and Thanksgiving (it also being a Celebration of the founding of their nation, and the coming together of the three pony tribes). It also gets bonus points for also being an annual mass ritual to prevent ancient winter spirits from covering the land in eternal frost and snow.
MLP:FiM - hearts warming eve
First show up in the second season where the mane characters play the equipment of the nativity scene, but it’s about the founding of their country
In later seasons it comes back in many forms, and even is somewhat relevant to the bit finally of the last season.
"Humans need Fantasy to be Human.
To be the Place where the falling Angel meets the rising Ape."
that Line on itself IS some very, very raw stuff.
My favorite not!christmas actually originated from a one-shot dnd session i was a part of.
It was called the freezing hunt, you see we the party are part of a orc tribe and every year during winter our tribes food supply would get raided by treants from the nearby forest (they didn't like it when our tribe started cutting down their bretheren by the truck load). Slowly starving the tribe year by year, until our leader had enough and decided to raid them on the coldest day of the year. The raid was a miraculous succes and thus a celebration was born. Every year on the coldest day of the year our tribe would raid the forest in groups to search for any surviving treants. The group that came back with the biggest treant would get that years feast thrown in their honor (along with getting to eat most of the food) and then they would despose of the treant corpses by putting them on a pile and burning them.
During our session we managed to find out that this year the treants were bringing in druids, rangers, nature cleric, palladins basically every adventurer on the continent that would return their calls in an attempt to pick of our tribe one by one . They failed and we managed to come back with a massive treant corpse and a bunch of severed heads and limbs to decorate it with (cuz why not). After the feast the party got drunk and started brawling accidentlly tumbling into the bonfire in the process.
It was a fun session
Holy shit this is the best
I don’t play DnD or have much knowledge about it, but that does indeed sound fun.
@@NatureArtist-tw1iq Not really much dnd knowledge required.
The party is a part of a orc tribe. Orc tribe starts murdering the forest. Forest fights back with guerilla sentient tree warriors during winter. Then the tribe fought back during winter and it worked. Since then the tribe made a holiday out of murdering the guerilla trees during winter. Forest attempts one last ditch effort to fight back by calling in hippies to defend them. The party murders the hippies and a big guerilla tree. They get rewarded.
Fun for everyone, well except the trees and hippies but screw those guys.
Honestly now I want Red to talk more about the discwold.
THIS
Please, oh pretty please?
I woul appereciate that very much!
Commenting to boost this
Discworld needs more love
Life Day is also celebrated in Star Wars: The Old Republic
Usually cries of "Happy Life Day!" are followed by "Time to wheel out the coked-up Princess Leia to warble out a tune while hanging onto a wookie for dear life!" Well, not for the last couple years perhaps.
RIP Space Mom.
It's now been mentioned in The Mandalorian and the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special as well.
Leave it to the late, great Terry Pratchett and Jim Henson to make meaningful Christmas-type things that actually mean something. Rest in peace, boys, and merry Christmas/Yule/Saturnalia/Hogswatch/Life Day to all, and to all a good morning!
There's a reference to Life Day in the first episode of "The Mandalorian" as well. Matter of fact, Jon Favreau REALLY wants to do his own version of the Holiday Special. Here's hoping it won't be as cringe-worthy as the original if he pulls it off!
I was so glad to see Hogswatch was included, and especially glad it took the top spot. Cheers!
Discworld Nr 1? Great. Now I have to create 10.000 new accounts just to appropriately upvote this video. Sigh.
You mean you already dont have a bot farm to give up votes to people who deserves them?
Worst thing is, i saw it coming after only 3 Sentences
Just goes to show how great discworld was and is.
Thank you terry pratchett
Hearth's Warming form mlp Is a personal favorite of mine. It's in-universe origins are unique, acting as a celebration of the founding of equestria, and Princess luna's song in "A Hearth's Warming Tail" is one of the best in the series.
I really like it too. Happy Hearts Warming
It also had its own element of changing meanings over time, where most modern-day ponies didn’t believe the windigos, which were in part responsible for the trouble that forced the pony tribes to come together, even existed, and some jaded souls saw the holiday as just an excuse to party.
Also, honorable mentions to the various holidays of the other creatures that we got introduced to in the later seasons! Happy Snilldar Fest! :)
“Deaths granddaughter Susan”
And the infamous ma'am-not-appearing-in-this-franchise: Susan's mom a.k.a: Karen!
aka: Her Grace, Susan, Duchess Sto Helat
She hates woolly thinking
Other Examples I can think of include: Snoggletog from How to Train Your Dragon, Wassalia from Sophia the First, Hearth's Warming from My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, Stump day from Star vs the Forces of Evil, and Wolfbarktooth day from Pound Puppies.
+Snoggletog is where everyone puts on their ceremonial horned helmets and builds a giant tree-shaped monument in the center of town with crested shields and spears from everyone in town hung upon it. Houses are decorated with ribbons and axes. And new as of when we first see the holiday, a terrible drink presumably made from yak milk called yak nog and further expanded upon on the only other time we've seen it is drank as a self-punishment competition of sorts. And coincidentally, it falls around dragon nesting season, and all the dragons go to a private island to lay their eggs. Vikings having only just made peace with the dragons were sad about that, but Hiccup rectified the issue by unintentionally inventing a new tradition where all the dragon babies are loaded onto a viking longboat and all their parents give an aerial tow back to Berk. And with the passing of a great chief like Stoik the Vast and all the dragons having separated from the world of man, the new generation was ignorant of the tribe's history and so they made a new pageant to honor the memory of Stoik and the peacemaking of dragons, though historical accuracy gets majorly swept under the rug in favor of good feels about Stoik.
+Wassalia... is pretty much just Christmas, not really any unique way it was celebrated nor in its lore. Though the messages in the 4 episodes it was in were nice and wholesome.
+Hearth's Warming honors the unity of 3 of the Pony tribes and the founding of their Country, Equestria. They've always had an "Alliance", but it was tenuous at best. Eventually, some malicious snow spirits who feed on negative emotions sensed their strife and it turbo-charged them into causing a vicious blizzard. This made tensions worse (as they were unaware of the malicious spirits) and further fed the storm. Eventually, the lands of the 3 tribes became so inhospitable that the Sovereigns of the 3 tribes and their assistants just had to just set out and try to find more hospitable land. They coincidentally all wound up at the same place and all tried claiming for their own tribes, which of course re-ignited tensions and it turned out the malicious spirits had followed them and brought the blizzard there too. They went into a cave for shelter but the Sovereigns were all frozen solid anyway, and just as the assistants were about to be frozen solid too, something happened. The assistants did not share their sovereigns' negativity towards the other tribes, they just wanted a functional society- which all these tensions in this tenuous alliance were not. When the storm got bad, they huddled together and tried to help each other through it, and that compassion caused the Unicorn assistant to unconsciously cast a spell that banished the malicious spirits they could not have cast with their own power- it was only because of the compassion between the 3 tribes shared by the assistants that they were able to survive and founded that new country for all 3 tribes together. But while the spirits who caused the storm were gone, that doesn't mean the storm they already caused just goes away too, so with no other options they just waited out the rest of the storm singing songs until all their sovereigns thawed out. And long after Hearthswarming was established, a Unicorn who thought all the sappy sentiments just got in the way of work that really mattered tried to disestablish the holiday with a spell until some benevolent spirits showed her the consequences such an action would carry and that there was significance to the holiday beyond those sappy sentiments.
+Stump Day is a great parody Holiday. When the Settlers of the kingdom of Mewni first landed there, they were not on good terms with one another and nearly went their separate ways- but then a Blizzard struck and they were forced to take shelter by a giant tree stump and share supplies (you likely see similarities between it and Hearthswarming). This reinforced their alliance and they decided not to split after all and now they honor that alliance and the founding of the kingdom by celebrating their friendships and the stump for a full day and not let anything else distract from it, or else the stump comes to life and eats everyone (really hits you with that twist).
+Wolfbarktooth day is a canine holiday honoring the ancestor to all domesticated dogs. Back in Caveman times, a Sabre tooth tiger was threatening a family of Cavemen and a wolf saw what was going on and was like "looks like a nice and warm, think I'll go in", and chased the tiger away, and the cavemen were so grateful that they sort of adopted the wold into their family and called him Wolfbarktooth. And now all domesticated dogs honor their ancestor and the founding of their relationship with humans.
Thas a lottah words
@@lmbusiness5300 I separated it into paragraphs and I tried to give only the relevant points of the holiday. Wish I knew how to edit it down further without losing too much nuance.
You are wayyyyy to hard working
I was really hoping Hearth's Warming would be here. Not only is it a very major point in Equestria Lore (being the literal Founding Of Our Nation Day) it also has great themes of togetherness touched with a hint of darkness. The pony tribes basically had to get along or else they'd all freeze, starve and die. Sure Clover, Pansy and Cookie were decent enough friends, the tribes as a whole probably didn't share their sentiments but had to cooperate because any large enough objections would bring the Windigos back.
@@Elfos64 You did great, I'm a lazy ass who is too overwhelmed by the amount of text to really appreciate the points you made, but keep up the awesome effort levels.
YE GODS POINTS FOR TERRY PRATCHETT! Made my christmas. Best channel. 10/10
Happy Hogswatch!
How in the Literal Hell did we get a second-rate show about a third-rate book, and NOTHING from Discworld!?
Chalk up a few more points for Michelle Dockery, I mean seriously good lord
As soon as I saw the thumbnail I thought of Hogswatch. I love Terry Pratchett's world building and narration ❤️
MLP:FiM had their Hearthswarming. Relevant to the story, it celebrates when the three tribes came together in harmony and banished the Wendigos. So it's about peace and goodwill towards all good ponies... uh creatures, and the founding of Equestria. They manage to squeeze iirc 4 episodes out of the season, including the "school play" grade presentation starring the main characters, A more sinister version of A Christmas Carol (Somepony plans to destroy Hearthwarming), an episode that is relevant to the real world pressures that have lead to things like drawing the person whom you are gifting out of a hat rather than having everyone track down a gift for everyone, and an episode surrounding similar traditions among various races of the Student 6, even indicating that a few of them either don't celebrate or don't celebrate something within the analogous time frame.
Also one about learning to accept that different families will have different holiday traditions and not to try and push your own onto people in the belief they are 'better'.
@@7Seraphem7 I forgot about the Apple-Pie one.
Hearth's Warming Eve from MLP: FIM. It carries weight in the lore of the show and emphasizes togetherness, love, generosity, and reaching out. In relation to your list...an Honorable Mention. It is celebrated in winter and was only relevant outside that in the series finale.
LarkManEXE I was hoping it would be here somewhere, alas, my brony self has been left disappointed.
I’d say, following the metrics they laid out, it should’ve at least been on there somewhere. Plus, a fantasy-adventure show with mythical animals as characters seems like it would be down Red’s alley to some extent.
I can only assume they didn't know about it, or the fact that it did come back in a season finale.
@@snakeman830 I call BULL! I know Red knows about the show because she mentions it in her Trope Talk: Power Of Friendship video (though you may have a point about the series finale)
I am honestly surprised to see “The Wheel of Time” on this list!
An incredible and great book series of Robert Jordan, that easily keeps up with other great fantasy stories like “Lord of the Rings”.
I am glad to see that you are also aware and appreciate this great and yet fameless story.
I think i have one of those books on my shelf: the dragon reborn.
Can’t believe you guys didn’t mention Heathswarming Eve from My Little Pony. Every time it came up it was the plot of the episode firmly orbiting a holiday theme or it was a nuanced retelling of an older Christmas story, deeply integrated into the lore of the setting. I thought for sure it would show up on the list here!
I know, right?
Yeah but it's in mlp. -1000 points
@@marvalice3455 Still way better than the Star Wars Holiday Special.
Remember folks, if you don't believe in the holiday cheer, then you and everyone you know will be killed by vengeful spirits!
@@kamikazelemming1552 Oddly enough, that's not uncommon in winter celebrations worldwide. Take Krampus and Gryla, for example.
Normie: Merry Christmas
Awoken people : happy holidays
Me, an intellectual: enjoyable winter times for you, heathen
Awoken people?
@@timvanrijn8239 it's a play on "woke"
AAAAA YES SEEING DISCWORLD WITH HOGSWATCH IN THE FIRST SPOT MADE MY DAY!!! ^-^ THAT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES AND IT'S JUST SO GOOD!!!!!!
I would love for Red to do a mini series on Discworld. That would be amazing! Like a video about the setting, and maybe one for (and I'm only using these next words, in lack of better terminology) every main storyline, like The Watch, The Wizards and The Witches (and of course also the ones not starting with a W).
*Edit*: I know that is being very greedy xD
Happy Hogswatch! And I very much agree there needs to be some vids from Red on Discworld.
Agreed! Discworld is such an important collection of literature and very dear to my heart. Not sure there's any character who I didn't immediately like save for maybe Mort. (Still reading the book but he's at the angsty teen stage fueled by otherworldly powers)
@@justinjacobs1501 I like Mort, but mostly in context with Ysabell. Their conflict and (in the end love) is a story that is masterfully told. Wont spoil anything more than that. But yeah, by him self Mort is kind of a twat xD
I want to up vote this thirty times
I dunno...Pratchett's pretty sarcastic already...and I get the feeling Red would be Overly Fangirl Producing at that point. I know I would.
HEARTHS WARMING EVE...
_Hearth's_ Warming, and yeah! That one has an interesting origin story (one that I like to imagine was a lot darker than the pageant makes it look).
@@DJ_Mystic You mean the implied years, perhaps even decades, of escalating famine, bigotry, political unrest, the likely deaths of hundreds as a consequence, and the looming threat of all out war? Nah. This is a cartoon about ponies, and friendship, and rainbows. You know, for kids! *laughs nervously*
I was actually disappointed when this didn't show up on their list.
Ralph Elvin Macanlalay yeah
@@Fireclave Um... and you missed the part with the semi-demonic spirits of eternal ice who fed on all the negative emotions that all that conflict generated. And that can't be destroyed, only dispelled by more positive emotions, friendship, and a harmonious co-operative union.
So be good, for goodness' sake. Because if you don't, everypony will freeze to death.
I really like the 40k one because 40k is at its best when it doesn't take itself to seriously
That monologue from Death may be my favorite passage from the entire series.
Also, GNU Terry Pratchett
But also "What can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?"
Sin is, treating people, including yourself, as things
I mean, of course Hogswatch got first place. It's Sir Terry Pratchett, is anyone surprised?
Just Terry Pratchett, I'm afraid. The knighthood dies with the knight. An argument can be made that GNU Terry Pratchett still holds the memory of honour as long as his memory is honoured, though, so GNU Sir Terry Pratchett.
@@stanrogers5613 oh, really? I suppose that makes sense, as it's not an inherited title. Poland hasn't had actual nobility since the 16th century, so I'm not very knowledge on the subject.
Well, I guess I would be shouting at you for trivial reasons, except you made the exact right choice for #1, so, um : well done!
I did like doctor who’s incredibly weird explanation, which was literally every species in the universe has a holiday just like Christmas
Halfway out of the dark. :)
Also, most creative way to un-scrooge scrooge award goes to The Doctor.
@@avatarofaiyel"Who needs to show to the Scrooge his child self to remember him of what he's lost when I can just take his child self from the past and show the Scrooge to him so that he never wants to become that" - the Doctor, probably.
If the red chair was originally yours, and now you are in a blue one and only Red shows up in it, did Red steal your chair?
How very Red.
HURRAH!!! My favourite made Number One! I love both the book and the movie about Hogswatch (actually I love the entire Discworld series!)! Thank you for making it Number One!
Pretty solid list! Only one I'd really liked to see added would have been MLP: FiM's Hearts Warming Eve. I mean, no matter how you feel on FiM, I think most of us can agree that very few kid's shows has the stones to have their in-universe Christmas episode be the celebration of when the near species killing civil war ended.
The chairs! The chairs are back! It's a Christmas miracle!!!
The chairs?
Chairs?
CHAIRS!!!!!!!!!!
I love you both so much for including the Hogfather on this list, and making it number one on top of that! I watch it every year with my family and it always gets us into the spirit of the holidays. More people need to see it and read Terry Pratchett's books.
Frieza Day
Freeza
I was just about to comment that.
Best comment here 😂
Frieza Day is my favorite!
Dang it! You said it first!
I'd also recommend Hearts Warming from the My Little Pony :Friendship Is Magic a honorable mention, it has multiple episodes dedicated to it and it's used to explain why Pegasus, Unicorns and regular ponys formed a society. Originally the three groups fought each other causing Wendigos (in this case large snow horses that cause massive blizzards) to destroy their lands fuel by the blatant racism. When one of each type of pony find friendship inches away from freezing to death a magical fire shaped like a heart erupts form the unicorns horse melting the snow. We also learn that as times passed the holiday has adapted giving us a Christmas Carol episode, an episode dealing with differences with tradition between distant family, an episode of the game secret Santa. Each episode ends on a high note with a really good moral about how holidays bring people together no matter their differences.
I love the Belgariad reference. This was the first adult fantasy series I ever read. I stan Silk!
Disappointed for no Equestria's Hearth Warming Eve, Decemberween of Homestar Runner, or the inclusive Snowflake Day for Clone High :p
Hearthswarming Eve is all I could think of.
Same
One of my favorites is Hearth's Warming Eve from MLP.
It's basically Christmas, but the story behind it is different from most: the three pony tribes (pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns) originally hated each other, but then one night a terrible snowstorm struck their land, one that couldn't be stopped even by magic. So they set off on a quest to find a new land, but all ended up claiming the same land, and they fought over it. But then the snowstorm started again, and they discovered the truth behind it- the storm was caused by "Windigos", giant horse-like wraiths that fed off of hatred, turning the land around them "as cold as their hearts". But the ponies learned to get along and work together, driving away the Windigos and the freezing cold. And thus the land of Equestria was founded.
I like this for two reasons: first of all, the implications are rather dark for the setting (I.E. be nice and get along or we'll all freeze to death), but also because it sort of ties in with some of the reasons behind real-world winter holidays. They have their religious and spiritual origins of course, but I hypothesize that part of their creation was because Northern European winters are long, cold, dark, and miserable, so having something fun and joyous to look forward to helped make the winters more tolerable. They could also be seen as a reward for all the hard work done during summer, growing and harvesting crops to store for the winter. That's what harvest festivals like Samhain were about: a celebration that you and your neighbors would be able to live another year. Same with the winter holidays- we're all cold and cooped up in our houses, but we have each other so let's make the most of it and have some fun to pass the time!
For me, one of my favorite holiday celebrations is on Final Fantasy XIV, the Starlight Celebration. There's a lot of borrowed imagery from Christmas, but it's got its own story and its own questlines and you don't just get free stuff. It's really fun! We always decorate our in-game house with Starlight decorations around the holidays!
*THE EMPEROR PROTECTS!!!*
Happy Sanguinala
I love how elegant red’s chair is and then blue just sits on chair shaped jello
Magnus isn't the god of the sun in TES. That's Auri-el, the elven avatar of Akatosh. Magnus' only relation to the sun is that it's said to be the hole he left when he fled back to Aetherius.
You spelt Alkosh wrong...
Magnus is actually the Sun God in TES, Auri-el is the ancestor god of the elves, the soul of Anui-el, which in turn is the soul of Anu the Everything, He's asociated with the sun because it's a conduit to Aetherius. Also, big mistake from Blue placing the New Life Festival on the 25th, ESO's crap shouldn't even be canon.
I like MLP: FIM's winter holiday that is suspiciously similar to Christmas, but actually used to provide lore on the founding of Equestria and provides an in-universe plot point for the celebrations and togetherness being to prevent the Windigo ice spirits from condemning the world to eternal icy death!
It's like a mashup of Discworld, Fraggle Rock, and Game of Thrones! (though they haven't gotten to the Discworld/Fraggle Rock level of meta commentary, it comes surprisingly close...)
Love the list overall, wish Hearthswarming eve was on it, and about Erastide, wow was not expecting that one. Also the holiday had a bit of extra relevance (very small bit extra) due to also being Garion's birthday.
I’m so happy you added “Hogs Watch” as it is the best fictional Christmas story ever me and my family watch it literally every Hogs Wa-... I mean Christmas Eve.
Hey red I was wondering if you could do a video on Ali baba and the 40 thieves.Almost all people have heard the line from Aladdin but most don’t see the cultural story behind it.
Ah, yes, I'm quite curious about that.
The line in Aladdin stuck out to me since I _have_ heard the story, but I was, like, three. I barely remember it.
Fun fact, booth that story and several other famous ones from One Thousand and One Nights (including Aladdin) was not actually part of the original Arabic version
They instead mysteriously appeared in the early 18th century when Antoine Galland translated it to french for the first time, with the general belief being that his main source (a Syriac by the name of Hanna Diyab) made them up himself for reasons that has never really been cleared.
@@jimhjortsberg2990 I didn't know that! interesting.
I knew from the very beginning that Terry Pratchett would take the top spot. I just knew.
@Lover Boy That is EXACTLY what I was thinking xD
Happy Hogswatch!
Perfect place
A couple I enjoyed are "Hearth's Warming Eve/Hearth's Warming" from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. A series about love and friendship has lore about the world and it is actually pretty important to the well being of the fantasy land. The togetherness brings all the different types of ponies together and eventually other creatures too.
Another I enjoyed is Adventure Time. It's not named, though, and not a worldwide celebration, much more intimate. It's in the episodes "Holly Jolly Secrets" parts one and two. Christmas traditions are rediscovered in an Adventure Time way. Once a year, the core cast gathers together to celebrate what happens near the end of the second part. It's a massive spoiler, though.
Blue: "A key difference [from Christmas] is that Erastide isn't explicitly a winter festival."
Entire southern hemisphere: *twitches*
Yes, people from the US or UK often forget the rest of the world exists...
Aussie christmas cards still have snowmen and reindeer on them.
@@theomegajuice8660 Which is hilarious. I do miss the Christmas trees, though, they can be really pretty.
The Mallorean does address the flipping of the seasons
No Hearthswarming.
I see how it is.
I was really expecting for it tho, sad they overlook it
Hearthswarming is Christmas, it's just given a different name and backstory
random artist321 Isn’t that what most of these Pseudo-Christmases are?
@@gamingemail769 true but they still have all the same things, there's even a Santa claus like workshop in the far north of equestria
random artist321 except it’s just reindeer, also, WoW had two Santa’s fighting eachother
Hearth’s Warming Eve from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Also, turns out each of the other species have their own version of Pseudo-Christmas too.
Could you make one about hades and persephone and the pomegranate story?
They did.
Legends summarised: underworld myths, is what the video is called, Merry Christmas!
And also please subtly reference Lore Olympus?
Oh my GOD that's what I was thinking
NO POMEGRANATES!!! NO POMERGRANATES
Is that Garion, Polgara, and Ce'Nedra?
*In Red's ART STYLE???*
My dreams have come true.
Wait... Ce'Nedra should still be in Tol Honeth, no?
@@markg5611 ...pretty sure that scene is when Garion is declared the king of Riva and Ce'Nedra gives her iconic "NOOOOOO!"
All I want for Hogswatch is Red illustrating and summarizing the Belgariad. And maybe the Mallorean too. Imagine her starry Zandramas
@@livendus yes this! Make it so!
I have to admit, I wasn't even expecting Erastide to make the list. I didn't think it was as well-known a series.
This was a really unique topic I've never seen anyone do. I'm glad you guys decided to make this.
I am quite surprised Heart's Warming didnt make it into this list, and left to wonder if it was due to being more of the same as the others, or an effort to stave off Coppa.
Shoutout to Frieza Day
The present is Freeza blowing up your planet. :D
I was hoping this list would have Hearthswarming and my dreams were dashed.
Hearth’s swarming Eve: A Winter holiday celebrating when the 3 species of Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns teamed up to stop a bunch of demon horse ghosts named Windigos. Afterwards they all founded one country and every winter, this occasion is celebrated with gift-giving, decorations, and also has reindeer. No pseudo-Santa. Is used multiple times as a backdrop for a Christmas Carol story, a Secret Santa story, and a few others I’m not mentioning.
Creativity: 6/10. The lore behind it is original but still has most of the same holiday traditions as christmas
Relevance: 8/10. Is relevant to at least the plots of the stories in the specials, even if the show is episodic.
Seasonal Message: 1/10. I haven’t found one yet but it’s probably something about working together or whatever.
I was waiting the whole time for Life Day, getting more excited with each entry and I was not disappointed.
I'll be honest, love this list, you guys just got a huge amount of respect from me for your #1 spot. Because IMO that is the single best Holiday Fantasy Story I have ever read, reread, and watched the Made for TV Show of. Also I made Susan as a D&D character, because of course I did. (She's a Death Domain Cleric, I used the Shadar-kai, for her, because it just works.)
Me: "This better have Hogswatch on it."
*Hogswatch has the top spot*
Me: "YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Happy Hogswatch!
My exact same thought.
I know, it made me so delighted.
Blue and Red, when I saw the video title, my thought was "Hogswatch better be the top spot, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!" Mostly rioting and burning down of Ahnk-Morpork, because it's a thing in the Discworld.
Well at least I can collect on my insurance payments.
So...you're saying it'll be like any other day in Ahnk-Morpork...maybe even a slow one on average?
@@merrittanimation7721 Don't you mean In-sewer-ants payments? I know I'm all set, I'm all paid up with the Thieves' Guild.
@@palmerharrison7660 Yeah no one's even trying to overthrow the government and/or take over the world.
I was watching through the entire video and was saying to myself “if hogswatch isnt number one I’m going to scream.” So I’m glad it was.
Blue's chair reminds me of the chair from Blue's Clues
He totally stole it from Blue's clues.
@@kortmann9 a terrible crime
Hogswatch is the best.
Agreed
Well we just proved it scientifically. For all those that disagree enjoy your fiery ball of gas tomorrow!
What about Saturalia from Elder Scrolls? I'm pretty sure that's canon now, and its much more Christmas-y compared to the New Life Festival. They Even have a Santa equivalent named "Father Saturalia", who has Falmer as minions, and drives a sleigh lead by a dragon delivering gifts to all the boys and girls across Nirn. I say that is awesome!
Blue’s got his own f***ing chair YASSSS!
Reeeee! Yes!
@NecroMelodia It's the Blue's Clues chair. What's not to like?
It’s a Christmas Miricle!
@NecroMelodia I think his chair looks comfier then Red's actually. It look like would be the soft type, maybe a recliner-esk