I'd like to have my players run into trouble int he midst of some festival on Mars, but I realize I don't know what sorts of holidays they'd celebrate on the Red Planet. Earth holidays would probably carry over in specific clades, but given the extreme cultural diversity, and the fact that Mars's year is significantly longer than earth's, I'm betting people would've starting creating new holidays or merging multiple, similar holidays into one. Here's what I could come up with: [b]Solstice[/b] - Mid Winter Your basic Christmahannukwanzule celebration. Since Mars has a similar axial tilt to Earth, it makes sense that you could time sort Earth-native holidays based on the Summer and Winter Solstice. A lot of Earth cultures have a general family gettogether/feasting.gift exchange holiday near the Solstice already, it makes sense after the Fall they'd start to blend together. It's even more convenient, from a Planetary Consortium perspective, to encourage all the holidays to be unified into one: It provides a more common identity as humans beings (and means minor factions aren't squabbling and making a fuss), it neatly rolls everyone's time off into one period, and it means you get everyone on board with extravagant holiday shopping, even if they weren't into Christmas-level spending before the Fall. Solstice is a three-day festival of gift-giving, feasts, and visiting family and friends. The first day is typically spent with immediate family, the second day with extended family, and the third day with friends, though extended family celebrations usually happen in simulspace. [u]What this means for players[/u] is that for three days, virtually everything on Mars shuts down unless it can be operated by AI. Mass transit, public safety, and shopping are freely available, but most business functions, creative services, and especially government offices close. During the day, shopping centers and restaurants are packed with transhumans preparing for the holiday, but by evening, most streets and public areas stand deserted. In general, even surveillance equipment won't be monitored except by AI, making the first night of Solstice the perfect time to commit a subtle crime and enjoy a head start on your getaway. [b]Atmo Day[/b] - Late Spring A holiday pushed entirely by the Consortium, Atmo Day celebrates the terraforming of Mars and serves to keep public opinion strongly in favor of the process. Most government and hypercorp offices close for the day to prepare for street festivals and outdoor parades (under the protection of domes, naturally), followed by various live and holographic performances. Naturally, every bit of media in the major cities is scrubbed and squeaky-clean, and pushes the general idea that a terraformed Mars will be a human paradise, though the holiday takes on a stranger tone the further one travels from Hypercorp influence. Rednecks celebrate Atmo Day with a quiet mix of reverence and dread, and have spun the holiday into a day of drinking and protest songs. Regardless of location, most transhumans end Atmo Day by sowing a seed, doing their part to bring life to the once-dead world. [u]What this means for players[/u] is a crowded, public gathering in the cities, and a day of seething resentment in the boonies, and either gathering could become a mob with the right stimulus. Three years ago, Barsoomian activists co-opted the New Shanghai festival, hacking the festival entoptics to displays scenes of carnage from unannounced comet impacts; since then police work the parade route especially hard, and every year Experia turns loose increasingly hostile defense AIs for their festival media streams. I'll post more as they come, but in the meantime, any additions are welcome.