I would LOVE to have holidays in Skyrim and hears why 1). They could show towns and homes getting ready for da holidays 2).There could be a quest involved with one (like say a guy needs you to get his decorations out of his "HUNTED" basemant. Or say this guy needs you to find some missing actors that were supposed to put on a play about what the holiday is about. Another quest could be were you need to "HUNT" down some animals for THE GREAT FEAST! (thanksgiving i guess). So watch you think?

Sounds very Nord-like. Nords like mead. I like mead.

This gets the viking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qera4rz1peY

glad you like!

If I recall correctly before they had to put limitations on the Radiant AI for Oblivion, Beth had it to where on certain days on certain months, festivities would occur in the town centers for holidays and such. Know that developers like to carry over scrapped ideas and concepts from past games into their sequels, and I wouldn't expect anything different from Bethesda since they have more that they can accomplish with Radiant AI this time around with Skyrim. In a mag article, they said in one of the towns, a festival occurred where the townspeople had a burning effigy for the king there. Seems like with Radiant AI's overhaul, we can finally see their ideas from Oblivion more fleshed out, and in a more realistic fashion. :celebration:

Holidays for da win deen but what are the holidays of elder scrolls? tell me!!!!!!!!!!! or die!!!!!!!! who said that? me. who are you? you. me? ya. ok well by. mm k by. hay what. what? do you think Justin bebeirs gay? ya. yeeeeeeey.

Lol!! You just got crazy all of a sudden. Most holidays are race-specific and are practiced solely within the homeland of said race. No idea on the wider and secular practiced ones. I think maybe the Mid-year may be celebrated by everyone. That's why we have to wait to see when the game comes out to look at all the region and culture specific festivities, and that's even if they decide to include it on a large scale (but I'm totally calling it now).

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Holidays

list here.

are nords based off vikings? if so then sense skyrim is home of Nords we will see viking like holidays?

Bethesda is using viking material as their main source for Nord culture in Skyrim so it's safe to say that we'll see a blend and clash of culture here. You'll have to wait and see what they bring in from real-world viking tradition to mix with Nordic Elder Scroll tradition.

Will I be able to make a scene at a major festival and slaughter people left and right like some sort of madman (It shall be epic!).

Or maybe even leave a corpse on the stage and have the entire town freak out and cancel the festival ;p.

So many possibilities.

Holidays, festivals, a new year celebration, Dovahkihn day (after the main quest) sure. why not.

Now thats just silly.

I supported holidays and festivals in Oblivion. I'm on the fence about this when it comes to Skyrim simply because of the game's theme. It's supposed to be darker and grittier, which is counterintuitive to festivals. Plus, the subject matter in the game is the end of the world and I don't see much to celebrate about given those circumstances. Festivals are realistic and would be a unique addition to the game, but given this game in particular, they might just change the mood too much.

But they were appropriate in Oblivion when daedra were pouring out of gates and even destroyed Kvatch? It was an end of the world scenario there too in a way.

Totally unrelated, but you got me thinking of http://artaban7.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/2009-4-22-viking_funeral.jpg.

Also, from wikipedia:
"On the seventh day after the person had died, people celebrated the sjaund, or the funeral ale that the feast also was called since it involved a ritual drinking. The funeral ale was a way of socially demarcating the case of death. It was only after the funeral ale that the heirs could rightfully claim their inheritance. If the deceased was a widow or the master of the homestead, the rightful heir could assume the high seat and thereby mark the shift in authority."

I know I read somewhere that most funerals also had another celebration attached to it. They were going to Valhalla afterall. But this was early Norse times.

The difference is that Oblivion never felt all that dark. For the most part, unless you yourself were actually at an Oblivion gate, life seemed pretty normal and the people of Cyrodiil sipped their tea as if there was no crisis going on. The conflict just seemed really disassociated with the environment, which was very bright and civilized. Skyrim is supposed to be dark and dirty all around, the environment is harsh and unforgiving, and the people are not exactly the gentle Imperial cityfolk who have never picked up a sword. I'm not entirely against the idea of having holidays, but it just seems like it won't fit in Skyrim in the same way it could have in Oblivion.

Daggerfall had holidays, nothing like people putting up decorations and what not but it did mean you get free blessings in certain alters and small stuff like that. Be awesome if Skyrim retook the idea as op suggested as well as expand on it.

No. They're too specific and rare, meaning many of us wouldn't even get to see them and the extra work would be for nothing. Witnessing bonfires/city-wide celebrations once every in-game week would be cool, though, in my opinion. It would be nonspecific, we'd all have plenty of chances to see them, and therefore, we won't be missing out by daring not to check out the local town every single in-game day.

Dark settings can have holidays too. I don't see why one makes the other impossible. Do you think people didn't celebrate holidays during the plague? Those were dark times, but people still need to unwind and try to brighten the place up on occasion. Holidays make the setting more believable and immersive.

Well just to point out, there is no Christianity in the world of tamriel...
no Christmas, no Thanksgiving, no Easter... this isn't earth, this is tamriel.

Although I cant see why we shouldn't have tamrielic holidays, not sure what they would be though.

Arena has holidays and you'd get discounts or other small perks on those days. It's a good idea.

that was stupid... :shakehead:

OP- at first I was thinking that you wanted us as the character be able to take a holiday. haha glad I read it. I think it would be cool if they could incorporate that somehow, but I don't know if it would really fit with a civil war going on, and when a bunch of dragons are attacking. If they could find a way to make it happen, then I would be all for it.

I'd love to have holidays!

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8959/calendarah.jpg

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Holidays_of_the_Iliac_Bay

I don't think they celebrated Carnevale during the Black Plague. But it's not really a question of "would they do it", it's a question of "would a holiday thematically distract the player from the overarching dark and gritty theme". Would they celebrate Christmas in Fallout 3? The ruins of DC could certainly use a little cheering up, but that really breaks the feel of the game if you include something that contrasts with it so much.

However, if there are big cities that are overall civil and tranquil, then holidays would work fine. I still need to see the game before I make a final judgment.

Well obviously it wouldn't have that renaissance feel that we've all seen before and which I hated about Oblivion. People are always looking for a way to raise spirits in dark times. It wouldn't even be limited to just holiday festivals. What about celebrating around a slain dragon in the town, or perhaps the rebel faction/pro Empire winning a victory? These can be meshed with other festivals to create atmosphere. Just because some people may know that Alduin is approaching doesn't mean that they're gonna shut themselves inside with despair. It's a morale thing. They might as well take out woodcutting and other job skills because people know that doom is upon them, so they would quit the jobs since that's a low matter at hand. Doesn't work that way.

I believe in your case that it should start happening at a certain point in the main quest, like after you visit High Hrogthar and the people of Skyrim have some sort of confirmation that you are indeed the Dovahkiin, giving them a shred of hope.