Celebrating Gor - The month of August

Fifth Month
~Third Hand (July 29 -August 2)
~Fourth Hand (August 3-7)
~Fifth Hand (August 8-12) Kajuralia in Ar
Fifth Passage Hand (August 13-17) Love Feast in Ar
Sixth Month
~First Hand (August 18-22)
~Second Hand (August 23-27)
~Third Hand (August 28-Sept. 1)

The month of August straddles two seperate Gorean months again.  Todate, John Norman has not seen fit to name them.  

There are two specific celebration we can hold during this month.  The Love Feasts of Ar, which may or may not have variations within other cities, we know that when Kajuralia is mentioned, most citie hold such a event, only dates, or times of year might change.  Here however it DOES take place in Ar.

The Kajuralia celebration 

This is more of a extreme version of a Sadie Hawkins dance, where slaves have no limits, where they run wild.  During this time you will find slaves doing just about anything that pleases them.  Including, but not limited to 'turn about is fair play' where occassionally men are captured and put to their use. Keep in mind, the day after Kajuralia ends, these same slaves, slide back into their comfort level.  You know, I have often thought, what if Kajuralia is practiced more often in Second Life Gor, what if  we allowed all the slaves to have a day where they can run wild.  Might we have less to worry about when it comes to them sliding into 'princess tiara mode'.
By all accounts, its takes place for approximately ONE HAND, which is our equivalent of a week.

Love Feasts of Ar 

This festival takes place according to established 'canon' right after 'slaves gone wild' or as it more widely known, kajuralia (See above)

On the other hand, the single greatest period for the sale of slaves is the five days of the Fifth Passage Hand, coming late in summer, called jointly the Love Feast.

Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 193

Many houses would doubtless have put them up for sale in En'Kara but Cernus, as I had heard, was saving them for the Love Feast, which occupies the five days of the fifth passage hand, falling late in the summer. There was a variety of reasons why he was postponing their sale. The most obvious was that good prices are commanded on the Love Feast. 

Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 205

in the late summer, during the Fifth Passage Hand, on the Love Feast.

Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 211

on the last day of the fifth month, which is the day preceding the Love Feast.

Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 229

The Love Feast, incidentally, as I may have mentioned, occupies the full five days of the Fifth Passage Hand, occurring late in summer. It is also a time of great feasting, of races and games. Cernus, sensing the temper and curiosity of the crowds, had determined to make them wait for his surprise delights, over a hundred Of them, whose supposed qualities of beauty and skill, enhanced by the mysterious aura of barbaric origin, had been for months the object of ever more eager rumors and excited speculations. Many were the furious Gorean slave girls who found themselves, early in the Love Feast, forced to ascend the block, while buyers were still waiting, before the larger quantities of gold would be spent, to be sold for prices less than they might otherwise have won for themselves under the conditions of a more normal market. The evening of the fourth day of the Love Feast is usually taken as its climax from the point of view of slave sales. The fifth day, special races and games are celebrated, regarded by many Goreans as the fitting consummation of the holidays. These games are among the most heavily attended and important of the year.

Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 281

The Ubar's Race is the final and climactic race of the Love Feast.

Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 335

Slavers remain active all year on Gor, but the peak seasons for slaving are the spring and early summer. This has to do with such matters as the weather, and the major markets associated with certain feasts and holidays, for example, the Love Feast in Ar, which occurs in the late summer, occupying the full five days of the Fifth Passage Hand.

Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 13

For all intensive purposes, its a time of great celebration.  Perhaps on a level one might consider similar to the sardar fair.  Just held in Ar.  While at the same time being a major source for sales among slaving houses, it is a time of many games, probably not unlike celebratons like 'The Thing' in Torvaldsland.

The rest of the month of our month of August seems to be celebration free, at least so far, until John Norman deems the need to include something else.  This does NOT mean we can not find something to celebrate, a variation on a theme of these perhaps, or on others held throughout the year.

Celebrating Gor,

Godric Kharg