You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

SGrouchy comments on Solstice 2015: What Memes May Come? (Part I) - Less Wrong Discussion

14 Post author: Raemon 02 November 2015 05:13PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Article Navigation

Comments (5)
Tags: ritual solstice

Comments (5)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: SGrouchy 09 November 2015 10:35:30PM 1 point [-]

I think the topics list is too long for a single holiday. For comparison:

Thanksgiving Giving Thanks Family National Heritage -Pilgrims and Indians

Christmas Generosity/ Giving
Family
Christ
Community of All People/ Brotherhood

Also the more major themes you throw at Solstice, the less you have available to differentiate future possible holidays. Instead of eventually having 3-4 different holidays with different themes and feels, you'd get 3-4 holidays that all cover all the themes.

X-Risk is covered pretty well by Petrov Day, so you could probably cross that off the list since it's taken care of elsewhere. And making atheism a major theme doesn't feel right, because then it feels more like a nyah nyah pooh pooh of Christmas rather than something solemn and important in it's own right.

Comment author: Raemon 09 November 2015 11:38:46PM *  0 points [-]

I actually agree with a lot of this: if you look at the next post, you'll see my thoughts about atheism are "it's not actually a priority at all." (All the topics listed there are not necessarily ones that should be included, just ones that have played some role historically)

That said, I'm also defining subthemes a bit differently than you. For example, if I were making a similar list for Christmas, it'd be:

Generosity
Peace on Earth, Goodwill
Theological Birth of Christ
The Nativity Scene (i.e. Mythological Birth of Christ)
King Herod et all
Family
Winter Festivities / Winter Wonderland
Santa Clause (and Christmas Magic) Christmas Candy/Food (candy canes, gingerbread, etc)

It's not just about the core-themes, it's about the surrounding mythology that springs up around those core themes. Several of the things I just listed also have a lot of sub-components.

The mythology is going to evolve over time, but I do think it's important to give it a strong definition early on, because that can shape how it further evolves over time.

Powered by Reddit Powered by Reddit