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.
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.
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.
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:
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.