tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Dec 22 06:30:14 2009

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RE: Feast of the Long Night

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



ter'eS:
>> The "Klingon Christmas Carol" that I saw recently referred to the
>> Ceremony of the Long Night, and then I saw someone's Facebook
>> status update that they are attending a Feast of the Long Night
>> (appropriate for today!).  Which got me thinking, is there a
>> tlhIngan Hol equivalent of "feast"?  I thought of {ram nI' lopno'},
>> but does that convey the idea of a capital-F Feast?

ghunchu'wI' 'utlh:
>> I've always used {yupma'} "festival" for that kind of meaning.

Christopher Kidder:
>Reasons we used {tay} ... "Rite" or "Ritual".
>1. The frequent use of the word Rite or Ritual in some neo-pagan
>religions for their activities on holidays.  For instance, the
>"Great Rite" of Wicca, and such.
>2. {ram nI' tay} scans better than {yupma'} "festival" or {'uQ'a'}
>"Great Dinner"

Christopher reminds us that we do have {'uQ'a'} "banquet, feast":

KGT 100:  Unless one is dining alone, a meal is typically quite noisy, with a great deal of talking (and often singing) accompanying the clattering of plates and bowls. This is particularly true of a {'uQ'a'} ("banquet, feast"; literally, "great dinner" or "big dinner", but used regardless of the time of day of the banquet).

If you want to avoid {tay} - though I'm not sure why you'd want to as Klingons certainly have a lot of them! - perhaps you could say {yuQ'a' nI'} "lengthy feast".  {nI'} "be long, be lengthy (duration)" isn't just used with time words (poH, DaHjaj, ram, jaj, etc) but can refer to events such as songs:

KGT 78:  The drinking songs are always sung loudly (this would probably be described by using the term pe'vIl [forcefully]), seldom with instrumental accompaniment, and they tend to be rather lengthy ({nI'}) and, from a non-Klingon perspective, repetitive.

... or a person's life:

  nI'be' yInmaj 'ach wovqu' 
  Our lives burn short and bright. (Anthem) 

  yIn nI' yISIQ 'ej yIchep 
  Live long and prosper!  (RT)


 
-- 
Voragh                          
Canon Master of the Klingons






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