A Red Letter Day - a holiday & festival generator

         Everyone needs a day off. While not all holidays can be as good as Halloween, they're usually a good time, at least if they're supposed to be about celebration in the first place. Many holidays or festivals are more about honoring the gods, commemorating an event, or simply bringing the community together in difficult times. In many settings these rituals or festivals could be of huge import, even vital to the survival of a community or people. Or they could just simply fun events largely divorced from their once dire underpinnings.

          These sets of tables seek to give you a large number of Holidays, Festivals, Carnivals, Galas and Fetes for use in your setting. To use this generator roll 4d8 and then consult the relevant results.

d8	What sort of holiday?
1	Religious, explicitly performing rituals and celebrations in regards to a faith.
2	Civic, sponsored by or in celebration of the prevailing government or society.
3	Cultural. A sort of blend of Civic and Religious holidays, cultural celebrations tend towards jovial atmospheres and often draw upon local folklore or legend.
4	Commemoration, set aside for mourning or celebrating some grand event.
5	Celestial, celebrating or noting something like an eclipse, lunar cycle, comet or similarly sidereal event.
6	Seasonal, focusing on the passage of one set of weather patterns for another.
7	Environmental, coinciding with the return of some plant or animal to the area.
8	Mixed. This day draws upon several sources, roll twice on this table and weld the results together.

d8	How widespread is observance?
1-3	A particular faith, sect or culture.
4	A small region such as a few villages or towns, perhaps even a city.
5	A large region such as a kingdom or an empire.
6	Members of a certain profession or guild.
7-8	Members of a certain race or ethnicity.

d8	What form do the proceedings take?
1-2	Public feasting, drinking and celebrations.
3-4	People are gathered for stories, speeches, songs and other forms of public performance.
5	A procession, from a civilized area to a ritual site.
6	Somber rituals, observances and sacrifices (whether they be living creatures or otherwise)
7	A ritualized competition or combat that could range from bloodless sport to free-for-alls which result in the deaths of one or more participants.
8	Certain norms and taboos are meant to be challenged during this festival; perhaps folk dress opposite to their normal gender expression, act in strange or transgressive ways, or debts may be forced to be forgiven.

d8	How long does it last?
1	Only a few hours, such as during the daylight hours or through the night.
2-5	An entire day.
6	Several days.
7	An entire week.
8	A month.