Magic Festivals

Magic can be a powerful addition to any world, from solving problems to literally holding the world together. Because of this magic and magic systems have been studied to death, hard magic systems, soft magic systems, magic systems revolving around cats, you name it someone’s looked into it when it’s comes to magic. This group of people often then talks about applying these magic systems. Today is about applying magic to festivals. I believe there are two ways to apply magic to the festival: the festival with magic and the magic festival, if magic is an addition to a festival or if magic is the reason for the festival.

Festivals with magic could exist without magic. It’s a festival like what we talked about on Wednesday just with magic added to enhance one part or another. This means they tend to be easier to create, but harder to get to land. An example would be when magic simply replaces a modern sound or lighting system. Technically it counts, yet can ‘cheapen’ the magic; making the use of magic dissatisfying or worse feel like it’s out of place with the system. For a better usage I would take Wednesday’s Autumn Ball and decide, “this is a magic school now” and change the established mathematical formulas that set the rules on what colors women should be wearing, to actual magic rather than a convoluted system described as magic. It would do the same thing, deny the color our heroine wants to wear and force her to wear a color she looks properly good in, but feels uncomfortable in. Just with more punishing magic rather than social convention she’s too meek to challenge. In this case magic is used to enhance the festival, add more punch and raise the stakes without having to change from the base festival formula.

Magic festivals on the other hand are festivals that cannot exist without magic. In some way the magic is woven in that one couldn’t create a mundane replacement. To put it more explicitly things like magical hide-aways or venues that could be replaced with bouncers, or secret basements don’t count. This is more difficult from the magic side of the house as the magic has to provide for this tie. To pull from my own world Slonminma, the Winter Solstice is one of these festivals. On the winter solstice the ley lines (not the in world term but close enough) that fuel davlaiga grow and shift putting out more power. This is seen as, and often is, a sign from the divine. Thus the Winter Solstice is a festival reacting to how these veins of power affect your area of it. Almost universally for the better, however when a portion does retract or die off during winter that is quite the omen. In this set up the magic is the reason for the festival and without it the festival couldn’t exist.

When it comes to creating either of these the start is to take what we did on Wednesday and then add magic to it. The difference is where the magic gets added. By adding magic either direction it adds layers to the festival which will add more depth to both the festival and the magic system. As it adds another place for the magic to be tied to and shape the world. Embedding it further into the world and giving the audience another way to view the magic.

For a festival with magic the magic should be added after the core of the festival is developed: meaning understand the festival, using what we talked about on Wednesday, then add magic where it makes sense throughout the celebrations and history. Make sure that the magic is used to enhance something apart the festival rather than replace something out of convenience. Using the Autumn Ball, there’s a difference between having the mean popular girls throw shade, and being barred from entry and marked for the next year because you showed up with the wrong color dress.

The magic festival, the magic goes into what is celebrated or why it’s celebrated. This shifts the magic from an enhancer to the catalyst of the festival, and ensures that the festival requires magic to exist. This ties the magic very closely to the festival. Thus the flow is understand the magic, build a festival that’s tied to the magic. As the festival comes from the magic the magic needs to be center stage of the festival. It does mean if the magic changes, either in the notebook or the story book, the festival will need to be looked at again. Taking Slonminma’s Winter Solstice, if that growth and renewal were to end or change dates it would ripple through everything tied to that magic, festivals included.

Combining both approaches, building a magic festival that uses magic to enhance the festival, can layer on depth. There is a risk, by starting and finishing with magic there is a chance to overdo the magic and lose the depth and meaning in the magic. For example, if this festival is showing off characters’ magic, explaining why they have said magic, and has festival drama and stakes on top of it already. It turns it from a magic festival or a festival with magic to a wall of magic that may lose your audience. Thus while I can say do it, and it can have amazing results; I advise caution.

Putting the cautions aside, magic is something that fantasy festivals can and should use to stand out. It could be adding magic to a regular festival or centering a festival on the magic. Leveraging the magic correctly will not only bring a spotlight to the magic system but it will also make the festivals more memorable. It doesn’t matter if they are festivals with that extra spark of magic, or full-on magic festivals, both will add depth to a fantasy world, and the stories told in them.

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