Fun example of the bystander effect in everyday life: last night, I hosted a Twelfth Night party, where people came over and all read the the play aloud and ate boozy cake (“Dost thou think because thou art virtuous, there will be no more cakes and ale?”)
We all had a lovely time, and someone asked why we hadn’t done this before. And I realized that it was because Shakespeare could happen any time, so we were never pushed to schedule it any particular time. We only managed Twelfth Night because it’s pegged to the actual holiday of Twelfth Night.
I think this is more about Schelling points than the bystander effect. “Everyone agrees to have Shakespeare parties at time X of the year” is a Nash equilibrium for every X, so in practice the easiest way to decide on an X is if some particular X stands out in some way. This is why Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. are nice; otherwise an entire family (not to mention their employers!) would have to agree on what time of year is a good time to meet, etc. There may also be a scarcity effect involved in only one X standing out and the feeling that it would be a waste to let it pass.
Corollary: if you want to start having more interesting themed parties, look for more interesting dates to put them on. History-themed parties pegged to the dates of important historical events seems like a good place to start. (Followed by fictional-history-themed parties pegged to the dates of fictional important historical events?)
That’s how I handle seeing friends who are bad at logistics/scheduling. The standing plan is that we have dinner the first Sunday of each month, and, then, if one of us becomes busy, we have to reschedule it to a new specific day.
Not everyone was back in the city in time for normal Twelfth Night, so we consulted some schismatic calendars and picked the Twelfth Night of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, but then I had to go out of state, so we finally used doodle to have a heretical Twelfth Night.
As the other replier pointed out, we did happen to land on Candlemas/the Feast of the Presentation.
But if you missed Twelfth Night, Candlemas would be a Schelling point for rescheduling, because it’s the other “Christmas now definitely over” holiday.
Fun example of the bystander effect in everyday life: last night, I hosted a Twelfth Night party, where people came over and all read the the play aloud and ate boozy cake (“Dost thou think because thou art virtuous, there will be no more cakes and ale?”)
We all had a lovely time, and someone asked why we hadn’t done this before. And I realized that it was because Shakespeare could happen any time, so we were never pushed to schedule it any particular time. We only managed Twelfth Night because it’s pegged to the actual holiday of Twelfth Night.
I think this is more about Schelling points than the bystander effect. “Everyone agrees to have Shakespeare parties at time X of the year” is a Nash equilibrium for every X, so in practice the easiest way to decide on an X is if some particular X stands out in some way. This is why Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. are nice; otherwise an entire family (not to mention their employers!) would have to agree on what time of year is a good time to meet, etc. There may also be a scarcity effect involved in only one X standing out and the feeling that it would be a waste to let it pass.
Corollary: if you want to start having more interesting themed parties, look for more interesting dates to put them on. History-themed parties pegged to the dates of important historical events seems like a good place to start. (Followed by fictional-history-themed parties pegged to the dates of fictional important historical events?)
That’s how I handle seeing friends who are bad at logistics/scheduling. The standing plan is that we have dinner the first Sunday of each month, and, then, if one of us becomes busy, we have to reschedule it to a new specific day.
which is in early January. Is that just because arranging parties takes time, or did someone get Twelfth Night mixed up with Candlemas?
[EDITED to add: great idea, though.]
Not everyone was back in the city in time for normal Twelfth Night, so we consulted some schismatic calendars and picked the Twelfth Night of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, but then I had to go out of state, so we finally used doodle to have a heretical Twelfth Night.
As the other replier pointed out, we did happen to land on Candlemas/the Feast of the Presentation.
But if you missed Twelfth Night, Candlemas would be a Schelling point for rescheduling, because it’s the other “Christmas now definitely over” holiday.