Contest Idea: May 1 st

[LaLia]

I don't know if this is a holiday in your country and has a special significance or not? Here in Germany, we celebrate the so-called "Dance into May" on the night of April 30th to May 1st, and Walpurgis Night is very well known in the Harz Mountains. Witches, mysticism, horror...wouldn't that be an idea for a story contest?

[Shocker]

I don't know if this is a holiday in your country and has a special significance or not? Here in Germany, we celebrate the so-called "Dance into May" on the night of April 30th to May 1st, and Walpurgis Night is very well known in the Harz Mountains. Witches, mysticism, horror...wouldn't that be an idea for a story contest?

I think it’s largely a germanic concept, but if you focus in the Walpurgisnacht, a witches sabbath is more widely known. I like the idea if either as a concept for a contest or challenge.

[Nickamano]

I was made aware of Walpurgis Night through the hentai anime "Bible Black" Though I don't know what the real day / celebration relates to. We have a May Day public Holiday in the UK.
I think a witch, mysticism, supernatural horror inspired theme for a contest would be a good idea though.
Saying that, I'm pretty sure, I would not have the time to write something for it myself...
...then again, I just thought I do have an old Witch based story (decades old) that I could perhaps supply to the contest becomes a thing... Maybe?

[LaLia]

I was made aware of Walpurgis Night through the hentai anime "Bible Black" Though I don't know what the real day / celebration relates to. We have a May Day public Holiday in the UK.
I think a witch, mysticism, supernatural horror inspired theme for a contest would be a good idea though.
Saying that, I'm pretty sure, I would not have the time to write something for it myself...
...then again, I just thought I do have an old Witch based story (decades old) that I could perhaps supply to the contest becomes a thing... Maybe?

So, the cultural significance is that in the Middle Ages, witches held a large festival on the Blocksberg (Brocken) on the night of April 30th to May 1st. The name "Walpurgisnacht" became popular in Goethe's Faust. As Shocker wrote, in other countries, it's probably more closely associated with the term "Witches' Sabbath." Here, we celebrate the dance into May, and traditionally, people dance around the maypole to welcome summer, but in the Harz Mountains, Walpurgis Night is still specifically celebrated; people dress up as witches, fires burn everywhere, and so on.

[Nickamano]

Thanks for the details. Yeah, I'd say its a good background theme for plenty of potential Academy stories.

[Claire]

In general, if somebody wants to organize a contest, do it. I think we should be careful that we don't have too many contests at once, especially in these very early days. Because 5 contests at the same time would definitely stretch our authors a bit thin. But in general, you don't need to be an admin or mod to organize your contest. If you need help with announcement messages, titles as special prizes, pinning the thread for the contest or something similar, just send me a PM. And if you want to talk an idea for a new format through, I will try to find some time to chat with you.

Regarding this specific idea: Personally, I'm not a big fan of holidays as themes. That is also why I initially didn't want to participate in the Valentine's Day contest on RavishU. I think I would enjoy abstract concepts and seeing how people interpret these in their stories much more than something like Christmas or Halloween as a theme. But that's just me. Let's see how much people here will hate the themes I come up with for the Flash Fiction tournament.

[LaLia]

@Claire

One doesn't necessarily exclude the other, Claire. I think some dates are simply indirectly a theme that lends itself to discussion. Halloween, like my idea, would be a perfect fit. I find Christmas exciting because of the different approaches. You could also take the topic of football in the summer, when the European Women's Championship is on. And yet we don't have to forget other ideas: for example, a contest where the stories can only be written in the first person, or only on the topic of homosexuality, or the story must take place before a certain year, etc.; there are a thousand ideas.