Due to it's very nature, Tazmily doesn't celebrate any of the religious or other cultural holidays that we do today, but every civilization, no matter how small, has it's own traditions. Because of the intimate nature of the people of the village, no one's birthday goes unnoticed and every anniversary is remembered, usually marked with gifts and gatherings of friends and family. Of course, while they're very important days for the village, they're still familiar to us... but Tazmily has it's own special holidays as well.

Founder's Day happens every year on the first day of Spring, and commemorates the birth of the village long ago. While it is viewed as a time of pride and respect by most of the adults in the village, children are given a map of the village marked with specific houses and shops to visit in a certain order. As a group of children arrives at each stop, someone who lives or works at that location will tell them a small bit of a story called The Great White Dove, and then give each child a small snack to eat 'on their great journey' before sending them on their way to the next spot on the map. Once a child has visited every location and heard the entire story, they will receive a white or black ribbon that they will use for the next game.

Just before sunset, Pusher, the mayor of the village, will divide the children who finish the entire journey into groups based on which ribbon they received, while Leder puts on a tremendous sheet and finds a place to hide. Each group of kids represents a faction from The Great White Dove... one group playing the roles of the heroic mice who escape with the titular dove, and the other representing the tremendous black hawks that tried to prevent their exodus. The mice will then rush through the town in search of Leder, while the hawks chase down the mice and do their best to tag them out of the game. When a mouse finds Leder, they will also hide under the sheet until the game is over, resulting in a hiding place that continues to grow comically larger and lumpier. The game ends when every mouse has been captured or has 'escaped' with Leder, at which point the results are tallied up and announced in the town square. If more mice escaped than were captured, it is believed that it will be a bountiful Spring ahead, but if most of the mice were captured, then the harvest won't truly begin until Summer.

Despite pretty much everyone knowing The Great White Dove by heart, and most kids finding some discrete place to dump the Nut Cookies that they receive from Mike every year, Founder's Day continues to be a beloved tradition that every family looks forward to.

Taking a more somber tone, Day of the Dragon is that holiday that just about every kid wishes they could sleep through. While very few people on the island still believe in the mysterious dragon of legend, many still treat the holiday with respect, abstaining from consuming anything but water until sundown. Adults and children are encouraged to put aside their work and play, instead spending the entire day at home with their families as an act of reverence and thankfulness, leaving only to spend some time meditating in silence at the Dragon Shrine in Sunshine Forest.

Dinner is meant to be a very simple affair, usually consisting only of raw fruits and vegetables, as to keep the parents from laboring in the kitchen. However, some have said that they love cooking and consider it to be disrespectful not to use the gift they've been given, preparing large bountiful meals for their family, and usually preparing extra for any friends and neighbors who would like to drop by. While many villagers continue to strictly adhere to the traditions of the Day of the Dragon, more and more groups are beginning to accept it as a more social holiday, especially among families where the elderly have passed away.

Tradition is simply an artifact of human nature, one that not even Tazmily Village can escape. And in the end, perhaps that's for the best... after all, history should always be remembered in some way.

- vid

From the ashened questions we let burn out, Pheen-X tries to bring these questions back to life, with an inferno of answers. This week's question, what holidays do the Tazmilyites celebrate every year? Well, suffice to say, this jolly theorist has discovered many holidays the town loves to get together for, but we'll focus on 3 in particular.

The first one we'll bring to topic takes place in the summer, during the time where the nuts start to sprout across the land. This holiday was refered to as, Nutvayosday. This holiday is when the town goes across the land and forest, grabbing any nuts they feel can be used to develop a large sculpture project or be used in the nut baking competition. This started about 3 years after the town's discovery on the Nowhere Islands, and has since become an annual holiday, and interesting thing to note...the most well known family of the holiday is the one that runs the nut bakery in Tazmilly. The great-great grandfather of the family actually built the home out of the nuts, and the great-great grandmother knew how to make one heck of a nut bread. And it's easy to say, those genes have certainly been passed down, trust me, you haven't lived until you've tried some Tazmilly Nut Pie! And, the family has won the competitions for pratically every year, but this holiday is what expresses the creativity and togetherness the town witholds.

The next holiday takes place within mid-autumn during the drago migration. This day is refered to as, Dradragodon. This is when the dragos migrate to the lands near the town of Tazmilly and began upon the first migration discovery. This day helped represent the peace with the dragos, and after a few years of merely playing with the dragos that migrated, the festivities began when a little girl gave a small baby drago one of her own dolls, and upon the next year, the drago returned with a small cloth blanket it found upon its travels. This helped spread the sensation of not only giving amongst the town on this day, but it also helped spread the feeling of giving amongst two different species. And even though some people didn't like bones from a previous drago meal, or the dragos didn't have a specific taste for nut cookies, they still gather every year, just to enjoy each species company, and the migration is now indicated with fun games and events for both human and drago to participate in.

Finally, comes the holiday, of Melodifican. This holiday begins in the winter, upon the first snow fall. Once the snow begins to fall, each citizen writes their own song to sing amongst the whole town that gathers within the Yado Inn for the songs, all bundled of with a nice cup of tea. The songs are sung two weeks after the snowfall, and not only does every Tazmilinite get a good warm sensation in their hearts, but sometimes even get a good laugh. There's no competition, this was actually started by the first people to discover Tazmilly, and celebrated the towns development with a group song, just as the snow began to fall. So, each member gathers, relaxes their vocal cords, and gives the town the best song they have, even if it was made up on the spot. The most famous one know, was from the first discovers themselves, infact, let me sing a few lines.

For the love of us all
who built this town up tall
with gloriy within our hearts
we all know that we did our parts
Now we share, our loving glow
Under the falling snow.

There's more to it, but I can't truly remember it all. Still, after all songs are sung, they sing that very song, to indicate the end of the holiday, as they all settle in the inn together for the night.

Now of course as I said there are other holidays, like the chicken chasing Clukowaish, or the campfire festivities of Wamrastro, or even the goat/pig racings of Baoinkash, but the 3 I described, are the ones I've come to love the most.

And thus, another question is allowed to...actually it really can't burn in a beautiful flame (you try lighting a fire in the snow filled winter, it's not easy) but instead, it can glitter in the snow shined beauty of a winter night's sky. This is Pheen-X saying...happy holidays, and warm wishes to all.

- Firej7