Full support. Im Jewish, and as much as I appreciate the advent calendar, it would be very nice to see Chanukah themed decors/mini holidays. In terms of opening up for more holidays: why not? Theres a lot of beautiful holidays and religions in the world, and they could just be small decors or mini events.

Id say most of LD probably practices Christianity, but for those who don't such as myself it would be nice to see a mention of our religion along side.

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Even as someone who isn't religious in the slightest, I fully support this! even if it's something small, it's better than just restricting the holiday season to Christian traditions <3

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The advent calendar goes past Christmas though, so it isn't related to christianity at all.

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Well, from my understanding its a Christian tradition, and you have to admit a lot of the decors do center around Christmas. Even if it extends pass Christmas, its still very much for it

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Personally I'm a former Christian turned atheist but I still celebrate xmas. It's nice to gather everyone around appreciate them. A traditional advent calendar is opened the 12-25 days leading up to xmas, which LD's doesn't. Most of the decors are snow decors or wintry themed. We've never had a Santa claus hat decor because it's directly related to xmas so they won't make it. Maybe instead you could suggest some things related to hanukkah that could be a decor in the calendar? Or maybe a related encounter in explore? Although there's nods to xmas in this event, there's nothing overwhelming.

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Venex- Ah I see, I didn't see them that way maybe because I'm against religion n my fam is more muslim than christian n our christmas is more about being together as family and presents and food over religion lol so ty for explaining! owo

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Exactly! Its not overwhelming, its just acknowledgment. which I think is what this suggestion would do.

and its still an advent calendar, just a little shorter

(also we have holly decor, lights, Rudolph, jingle bells, and a garland. all pretty christmasy.)

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I support this idea. I think it would be very nice.

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I don't understand how anyone could not support this tbh

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I'm on the fence here-- I love this in theory, but accommodating all religions (or at least, those suggested) would inevitably take a lot of work on the staff's part if on the scale of the advent calendar (a lot of unique art every few years). Ultimately, it depends on the scale.

Now, I am absolutely open to future mini-events similar to Pride Month, where themed decor are released at Monkey Business for a limited time, or as decor available in the respective event shop of that month. One or two decors/a bunch of recolours to reduce the workload.

It seems a little too complicated to do anything huge when there are other holidays that'd likely be given love, too. There is the option to revamp/generalize this event so that Christmas gets similar attention, but as 1. this is a popular event and 2. it has been around since the beginning and copious decor, bases, encounters, etc. were made for the event- one option would be to take the Flood approach, but in that case, the Flood event was apparently largely disliked by the community.

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Christmas as it is shown on Lioden is limited almost exclusively to the symbols, tradition, and items that have become so commercialized and secular as to have no real religious significance or impact anymore. Half of which weren't religious, or at least not Christian, to begin with. Rudolph was a marketing campaign. Christmas Trees began as pagan symbols. December was selected for celebration to replace Saturnalia and similar celebrations (December 25th is the Julian Calendar Solstice date), as Jesus would have been born in Spring (no one conducts a Census that requires people to travel in winter) and has many similar customs and item use (Candles, gifts, etc) as Saturnalia and similar Solstice and Mid-winter celebrations. Advent Calendars are sold to and enjoyed by people who don't even realize it was supposed to be anything more than a way to shut up children who are getting impatient to get gifts. It's a phenomenon that spans the globe and is recognized, even if not participated in, by almost everyone. Some places even promote it as Santa's birthday, not Jesus's. And while St. Nicholas may have been a Christian figure, the chubby, red-suited Santa Claus who lives at the North Pole and gives presents to little children on Christmas Day is in no way a Christian figure.

Adding in any other holiday would not have the same impact or range of items that could be made without being seen by some as pandering, appropriation for profit gimmicks, or cheapening the meaning behind the symbolism, depending on how it is done. Like dinner conversations, there are 2 things that businesses, including online games, tend to avoid - religion and politics. If you can find some symbolism and items from those holidays that are not associated with the actual religion (Santa and his reindeer) or can be used without being explained (like Advent Calendars), then there might be a chance of it being added. But until they decide to add a Nativity, I wouldn't expect to see a Menorah, and I certainly wouldn't consider it a "religious" event.

Now I'll let you make up your own minds on what I wrote above. But I know my Jewish friend would be actually very put off to hear that there were people out there lighting candles on a Menorah without knowing or caring what they actually stood for because it was a nifty trick to get some kind of online prize.

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@timbergray

What about different decors from different holidays. That way, there wouldn't be an over blast of religious pushing. I think adding in little scenes or symbols as apart of the shop decors means that if you aren't into the christmas stuff, you at least have some options to turn to. I think if handled the right way, adding different holiday decors to the december shop would be a good thing. It also means if you don't want to buy it, thats okay, there are plenty of others who might want to ^^

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I'm not religious in the slightest, but I fully support this :)

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Supported!

I think adding Hanukkah would be a neat idea. It’ll be different, it’ll add some more to the month. I dunno, maybe a lion comes in that celebrates Hanukkah that has his little store that sells things or something.

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Everyone's strong negative reactions here are unwarranted. All OP was asking for is some recognition of Hanukkah- that could be decor, explore encounters, ETC. Saying you don't want to see a Jewish holiday because Lioden is 'escapism from the real world' is ridiculous and also implies your form of escapism is avoiding every minority. Calling OP entitled in any way or treating the addition of a non-majority holiday as political pandering is just an incredible reaction. I'm sorry that you find it to be the highest act of kindness to recognize people other than Christians exist and asking for anything not tuned to the needs of you and the holidays you personally celebrate is apparently entitled and spoiled.

The Easter event has no nod to Jesus coming back to life, and there's no Lioden Ash Wednesday- the December event is the most obviously Christian, with light decors and gifting and everything related to that holiday. Christmas is a Christian holiday. It makes sense to add Hanukkah themes here because this is a specific month in which religious holidays are referenced. October literally has Abrahamic heaven and hell, and it's clearly the more Christian/Catholic interpretation. Here, I'll list some decor for you: Scar: Pentagram (christian satanic symbol), Scar: The Goddess and Witche's Sabbath background (pagan), Spirits of Goetia from King Solomon (a biblical and islamic figure), Spirit of Nav and Navfire (slavic afterlife). Lioden doesn't shy away from religious depiction. There is also the entire month of November for traditional spiritual beliefs. (Edited in this sentence that had been cut off: The point is that December specifically opens up references to real holidays whether you like it or not, and those can be filled in many ways. Untwist your arms, no one is suggesting we get rid of Christmas.)

I'm sorry that the idea of Hanukkah is making everyone squirm, apparently. A month dedicated to Christmas is fine, a month dedicated to Heaven and Hell is fine, and November is also fine, since people can pretend that that's just lion lore. But mention an IRL holiday that's anything but Christian or 'cool ancient history', and just generally nod to its inclusion, and everyone's going to be clutching their pearls. Apparently if we reference Hanukkah in any way we'll have to add every other holiday too and it'll ruin everyone's perfect escapist Christmas. Next month let's play the event about famine and dying baby animals. That's sure better than having to think about Hanukkah, apparently.

Sorry to sound sensitive or upset or whatever. This thread was a good idea for a discussion and a few rude replies to it genuinely got my blood boiling.

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