Celebrations, feasts and traditions have always been part of what makes us human. They bound our ancestors to their ancestors and can do the same for characters in historical fiction. Some feasts are moveable; all can be moving, both to characters and to readers. Some end-of-year festivals, like Kwanzaa, were created specially to re-forge connections that had been severed. Others, like Hanukkah, evolved over thousands of years, and may have looked different and meant different things to different people in different places. Here are some ways you can instil historical rituals and rites with the importance they would have had for your characters, while sharing them with your contemporary readers.
Most of us have probably never heard of the Mexica custom of nemontemi or “the hollow days”, which fell between the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one. The tradition was broken by conquest. In his historical epic Aztec, Gary Jennings revives it for a modern-day readership. In just a handful of pages, Jennings uses five different techniques to bring the tradition back to life: explaining, describing, comparing, contrasting, and subverting. Each of these techniques gives us ways to shine new light on old celebrations.
Explain the tradition
Jennings’ novel takes the form of a series of letters in which a Spanish bishop transcribes his conversations with the tale’s real narrator, Mixtli. Because Mixtli is giving an account of his culture and his life to an outsider, Jennings can put explanations like this into his mouth:
“That was the time of year when the gods lazed and drowsed; even the sun was pale and cool and low in the sky. No sensible person would do anything to disturb the gods’ languor and risk their annoyance.”
This tells the reader why the tradition existed and what those who observed it believed but stops short of showing what it was actually like.
Describe the tradition
Jennings and Mixtli go on to describe how people practised the tradition:
“So, during the five hollow days, all work stopped. All activities ceased, barring the most essential and unavoidable tasks. All house fires and lights were extinguished. No cooking was done and only meager cold meals were served. People did not travel or visit or mingle into crowds… Throughout all our lands, then, most people stayed indoors and occupied themselves with trivial timepassers like flaking tools or mending nets.”
Because this description is of days when, by definition, very little happened, it may not be evocative to readers. A description of almost any other festival could draw readers in by depicting the colours, flavours, smells, sounds and feelings associated with the day, and conveying how characters experienced these.
Explaining and describing may be clear and concise ways of telling readers what a particular rite was like, but if there is no outsider present, then they may feel like an interruption. After all, characters who are part of the same culture and period have no need to tell each other about rituals they already understand equally. While adding this in for your readers’ benefit may be important in worldbuilding terms, it may also seem artificial and could break the sense of immersion in your tale. The following three techniques may provide subtler ways of weaving customs into your story without pulling the reader out of the flow.
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Compare the tradition
The intermediary in Jennings’ tale, the Spanish bishop, offers a perspective closer to the reader’s. He remarks that, to his eyes, the hollow days look like “a parody of Lent”. Although the comparison is unfavourable, it brings the pre-Hispanic tradition into sharper focus for today’s reader.
Contrast the tradition
Once Jennings has shown what the hollow days are, he contrasts this with what they are not by having his narrator outline the “round of general gaiety” that followed.
Michelle Paver also uses contrast in her historical ghost story Wakenhyrst, which shows two parallel New Year’s Eve celebrations taking place in one manor house – the dreary atmosphere above-stairs, and the lively celebration below-stairs by which the servants set the tone for a good year for themselves, “[growing] merry on kitchel cakes and spiced elderberry wine”.
To find contrasts in your work, ask yourself if all your characters perceive a festivity in the same way, if it felt similar or different to earlier versions they had experienced of the same event, or if their feelings about it were the same at the time and in hindsight. Contrasts like these can help your reader see how characters are different from one another, how the events of the story have impacted them, and how they have changed.
Subvert the tradition
Although the hollow days were meant to be a time of inactivity, Mixtli’s memories of them are interspersed with moments of transgressive passion with his lover. By showing that not even a fear of the gods can come between them, Jennings upends the tradition he set out to resurrect.
Some festive traditions are already somewhat subversive. Naming a peasant the Lord of Misrule and giving him responsibility for Christmastide revelries has the potential to be hilarious or revolutionary – perhaps both. A Mari Lwyd horse skull chanting poetry at a door and asking to be let in could lead into a horrifying scene or a hospitable one. Mummers can be traced back as far as antiquity and have been associated with end-of-year celebrations since mediaeval times. They remain with us in a wide range of historical fiction, from Jo Beverley’s Regency revenge romance A Mummers’ Play to War and Peace, in which Tolstoy dresses and cross-dresses his characters until their neighbours recognise them only by their horses. He then sends them chasing all over Moscow, bubbling over with laughter and love. Nikolai – dressed as an old lady in a farthingale – and Sonya – as a Circassian soldier with a burnt cork moustache – find that their costumes reveal feelings they had previously kept hidden, resulting in one of the sweetest, silliest scenes in a novel generally considered very serious.
Bringing historical festivities back to life is a way of celebrating your characters’ blend of faith and fun. End-of-year celebrations, in particular, provide natural opportunities to look back at what has gone before and to foreshadow what may still be to come. Make it your New Year’s resolution to invite your characters, and your readers, to the party.
Sarah Conway is a guest contributor to The History Quill. She studied History at the University of Edinburgh and Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, and works in educational publishing. Originally from Scotland, she has called Mexico home since 2007. She is writing the last draft of her first novel–a historical romance, set in newly-independent Mexico, about finding love and belonging a very long way from home. She posts about reading, writing, and her very spoiled former street dog on Instagram @sarahmgconway.
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