Be it in times of annual
holidays or the various social gatherings in which Goreans take
part, color and noise are the order of the day. The Gorean's thirst
and passion for life is clearly observed in the exuberance of his
celebrations.
Fairs and festivals, whether
they are a local or larger-scale celebration, tend to go on for
multiple days more often than they are limited to just one day.
Carnival caravans of actors, players, musicians, singers and various
other entertainers from acrobats to poets fill the streets of the
city, as well as reveling masqueraders and those participating in
public contests of various sorts. Sometimes a perimeter is specially
set up for the event, or a temporary site erecting what may seem
like an entire fair village with housing and other facilities for
the enjoyment of the many visitors who visit and tour the festivities.
Another commonly observed
custom is that of declaring some sort of truce for the duration
of the festivities. This is something which is found in a number
of occurrences and cultures. Whether the carrying of weapons within
the festival site is forbidden or not has, more than likely, as
much to do with culture as with the scale of the event, the local
crowd and the enforcability of such a rule.
The reader will note, for
example, that on the occasion of the Thing fair in Torvaldsland,
John Norman speaks of how a man of Torvaldsland would never be found
separated from his weapons, not even in sleep. On the other hand,
during the festival which marks the end of the year in Port Kar
which Tarl Cabot attends in the beginning of Players of Gor
, it
is seen that all are asked to leave their weapons with the guards
at the entry; although it does seem that this rule is not a standard
one but rather one which was decided upon by the Council of Captains
that particular year.
Seasons
and Holidays
The changing of year
One of celebrations which the reader is most often a witness
to is the changing of a year. Chronologically although year numbers
or names vary from area to area and from city to city, there is
pretty much consensus on the layout of the year as far as where
it begins, ends and how it is divided.
There are essentially two
major calendars on Gor - that which is used in Ar and most of the
North including Torvaldsland, and that which is called the 'Turian'
calendar, which would be more likely used in the southernmost cities
of Gor. The fact is that while we find passages mentioning areas
which use what we will call the Ar calendar (Port Kar and Torvaldsland
are mentioned) we are not specifically told of any city using the
Turian calendar other than Turia.
...Most Gorean
cities use the Spring Equinox as the date of the New Year. Turia,
however, uses the Summer Solstice. The Spring Equinox, incidentally,
is also used for the New Year by the Rune-Priests of the North,
who keep the calendars of Torvaldsland. They number years from the
time of Thor's gift of the stream of Torvald to Torvald, legendary
hero and founder of the northern fatherlands. In the calendars of
the Rune-Priests the year was 1,006.
---Marauders, 4:58
For
most Goreans, the Gorean year begins with the vernal equinox (first
day of spring), though we are told that for Turia and possibly other
more southern cities, the year begins with the summer solstice.
(Calendar information may be found on the chronology
page of this reference guide)
According to the standard
Gorean calendar then, between the last 'passage hand' of one year
and the first hand of the first month of the following year, there
is a period of five days called 'the waiting hand'.
The changing of year
- The Waiting Hand
In preparation for the new year, Goreans spend the five days of
the waiting hand bidding the old year farewell by taking part in
a number of rituals which include both mourning the passing year
and preparations to welcome the new year. They will fast, meditate,
refrain from singing, paint their door white and attach branches
of the Brak bush to them in order to discourage the entry
of bad luck into the house in the coming year. In
Torvaldsland, the vigil of the vernal equinox is also said to be
the time when the stones and columns which decorate homes are repainted.
...On the
first day of the Waiting Hand, the last five days of the old year,
the portals of Ar, including that of even the House of Cernus, had
been painted white, and in many of the low caste homes had been
sealed with pitch, not to be opened until the first day of En'Kara.
Almost all doors, including that of the House of Cernus, had nailed
to them some branches of the Brak Bush, the leaves of which, when
chewed, have a purgative effect. It is thought that the pitch and
the branches of the Brak Bush discourage entry of bad luck into
the houses of the citizens. During the days of the Waiting Hand
the streets are almost deserted, and in the houses there is much
fasting, and little conversation, and no song. Rations even in the
House of Cernus were halved during this period. Paga and Ka-la-na
were not served. The slaves in the pens received almost nothing.
...
---Assassin of Gor
, 16:211
The changing of year
- The New Year
When this period is ended, on the day of the vernal equinox, (or
the summer solstice in the south), they begin celebrating the New
Year and will do so for ten days with as much splendor as can be
afforded. Aside from the expected festivities, cities will have
fairs, games, tournaments and carnival type events, their flavor
and color depending on culture and location. In Port Kar, for example,
the New Year celebrations and festivals include a 'Procession to
the Sea'.
...Then,
at dawn, on the first day of En'kara, in the name of the city, the
Administrator of Ar, or a Ubar if it be Ubar, greets the sun, welcoming
it to Ar on the first day of the New Year. The great bars suspended
about the walls of the city then ring out for more than an Ahn with
their din, and the doors of the city burst open and the people crowd
out onto the bridges, clad in the splendor of their finest, singing
and laughing. The doors are painted green and the pitch washed away,
and the branches of the Brak Bush burned in a small ceremony on
the threshold. There are processions in the city that day, and songfests,
and tournaments of the game, and recitations by poets, and contests
and exhibitions. When the lanterns on the bridges must be lit the
people return home, singing, carrying small lamps, and give the
night over to feasting and love. Even the slaves in the iron pens
in the House of Cernus received that day a small cake with oil and
had their troughs filled with water mixed with Paga. ...
---Assassin of Gor, 10:211-212
...in the
annual Procession to the Sea, which takes place on the first of
En'Kara, the Gorean New Year. ...
---Raiders of Gor
, 10:134
The Planting Feast
Celebrated early in the growing season this feast of rituals and
prayers is meant to ensure a plentiful harvest; it lasts three days
during which the Home Stone of the city is visited by representatives
of each high caste and left 'alone with the Priest Kings' for the
time it takes to make an offering and a prayer of sorts for the
prosperity of his caste for the coming year.
The feast culminates after
three days with a ritualistic celebration held usually on the City's
highest cylinder and during which the Home Stone is sprinkled with
sa-tarna grain and Ka-la-na wine by the Administrator, Ubar, or
a member of the ruling family who then prays on behalf of the entire
population for an abundant harvest.
The Home
Stone of a city is the center of various rituals. The next would
be the Planting Feast of Sa-Tarna, The Life-Daughter, celebrated
early in the season to insure a good harvest. This is a complex
feast, celebrated by most Gorean cities, and the observances are
numerous and intricate. The details of the rituals are arranged
and mostly executed by the Initiates of a given city. ...
---Tarnsman of Gor
, 5:68
Kajuralia
Annual festival of slaves, Kajuralia is celebrated once a year
in most Gorean cities at one of two different moments. The first
chosen date for Kajuralia is the last day of the twelfth passage
hand. The other common date which is used by the city or Ar among
others, is the last day of the fifth month of the year which is
the day preceding the Love Feast. The only city which is said not
to celebrate Kajuralia is Port Kar though we are not told specifically
why that is.
The Kajuralia,
or Holiday of Slaves, or Festival of Slaves, occurs in most of the
northern, civilized cities of known Gor once a year. The only exception
to this that I know of is Port Kar, in the delta of the Vosk. The
date of the Kajuralia, however, differs. Many cities celebrate it
on the last day of the Twelfth Passage Hand, the day before the
beginning of the Waiting Hand; in Ar, however, and certain other
cities, it is celebrated on the last day of the fifth month, which
is the day preceding the Love Feast.
---Assassin of Gor, 17:229
This Holiday of Slaves is
a time when slaves play pranks upon Masters and Mistresses and are
generally granted more patience than usual. A number of scenes of
Kajuralia can be found in Assassin of Gor, where in the city of
Ar, Tarl Cabot and others falls prey to the pranks of slaves on
the streets of Ar and within the walls of the house of Cernus. From
the mixing of salt into porridge to the kidnapping, roping and use
of free men as serving slaves for a few hours, slaves will, on this
day, take their chances with the understanding that they remain
at the mercy of those they chose to prey on and that this apparent
leniency lasts but a day.
“KAJURALIA!”
CRIED THE slave girl hurling a basket of Sa-Tarna flour on me, and
turning and running. I had caught up with her in five steps and
kissed her roundly, swatted her and sent her packing.
“Kajuralia yourself!” I said laughing, and she, laughing,
sped away.
About that time a large pan of warm water splashed down on me from
a window some sixteen feet above the street level. Wringing wet
I glared upward.
I saw a girl in the window, who blew me a kiss, a slave girl. “Kajuralia!”
she cried and laughed.
I raised my fist and shook it and her head disappeared from the
window.
A Builder, whose robes were stained with thrown fruit, hastily strode
by. “You had better be indoors,” said he, “on Kajuralia.”
---Assassin of Gor, 17:223
The Fest-Season of Odin
Said to be celebrated in the fall, in the Torvaldsland. More
will be found on the traditions of Torvaldsland in the pages on
specific cultures.
...Torches,
unlit, in wall rings, were still illuminated as we passed near them.
Many of the columns carved, with painted surfaces, on the walls,
reminded me of rune stones. These stones, incidentally, are normally
quite colorful, and can often be seen at great distances. Each year
their paint is freshened, commonly on the vigil of the vernal equinox,
which, in the north, as commonly in the south, marks the new year.
Religious rune stones are repainted by rune-priests on the vigil
of the fest-season of Odin, which, on Gor, takes place in the fall.
...
---Marauders, 16:230
Harvest Fests
As the name would indicate, these are festivals, celebrations
and various rituals which are performed late in the growing season,
at the time of harvest. In a world where the peasant is said to
be 'the ox on which the home stone rests', one would be likely to
find many rituals based on the growing and harvesting of various
crops. What will also be common in the many of the tribal cultures
are the ritual feasts that follow the harvest of meat, the hunt.
Many of these festivals,
of course, will carry the local culture as much in terms of their
timing as in the events that will occur during their time, whether
they pertain to crops, herds or hunts. Certainly, the harvest festivals
of rencers, the Red Savages festivals and the Harvest Fest in Torvaldsland
would all be quite different from each other. More will be found
on the various festivals of cultural origin in the pages of the
culture section.
...After
the murder of Om, who had been on tolerable terms with the Administrator,
the new High Initiate, Complicius Serenus, in studying the omens
of the white bosk slain at the Harvest Feast had, to his apparent
horror, discovered that they had stood against Kazrak. ...
---Assassin of Gor, 2:15
...For rence
growers, the first of Se'Kara, the date of the Autumnal Equinox,
is a time of festival. By that time most of the year's rence will
have been cut, and great stocks of rence paper, gathered in rolls
like cord wood and covered with woven rence mats, will have been
prepared.
Between Se'Kara
and the winter solstice, which occurs on the first of Se'Var, the
rence will be sold or bartered, sometimes by taking it to the edge
of the delta, sometimes by being contacted by rence merchants, who
enter the delta in narrow barges, rowed by slaves, in order to have
first pick of the product.
---Raiders of Gor, 3:17
...This crop
had actually been sown the preceding fall, a month following the
harvest festival. ...
---Marauders of Gor
, 7:102
Carnival
Celebrated in most Gorean cities on the last week
of the year, the 12th passage hand, Carnival is reminiscent of Earth
Mardi-Gras events.
...In many
Gorean cities, accordingly, the Twelfth Passage Hand, the five days
preceding the Waiting Hand, that time to which few Goreans look
forward with eagerness, is carnival. The fact that it was now only
two days to the Twelfth Passage Hand, explained the presence of
the unusual number of theatrical and carnival troupes now in the
city.
---Players of Gor, 1:10
During this
week of theater, performers and entertainers, a number of opportunities
to use the cover of a mask and disguise in order to explore and
take part in certain games of the nature which allows a certain
level of freedom which is otherwise looked at as improper especially
for women. One such game is the game of favors, a race in
which free woman must hand out ten scarves which in turn are traded
for kisses. (See games page)
Traditional
Happenings
The Sardar Fairs
It is said that each Gorean must, before the age of 25, journey
to the Sardar Mountains to honor the Priest Kings. For most of the
Goreans who honor this tradition, one of the 4 annual fairs held
at the foot of the Sardar will be the time chosen to fulfill this
expectation.
...each
Gorean, whether male or female, is expected to see the Sardar Mountains,
in honor of the Priest-Kings, at least once in his life, prior to
his twenty-fifth year. ...
---Priest-Kings of Gor
, 1:12
Organized, regulated and
administered by the Merchant Caste, the fairs, of course, are not
what this edict of Initiates speak of; the pilgrimage to the Sardar
is not about the Sardar Fairs and indeed may take place at any time
of the year. It is, however, for those who are ready to make this
holy journey, a convenient time and an opportunity to join the caravans
headed to the fairs rather than journey with smaller, more vulnerable
groups.
Held four times a year,
at the equinoxes and solstices, the Sardar Fairs are described as
small cities, extending over a perimeter of many pasangs at the
foot of the Mountains after which they are named. Over numerous
streets of tents and booths, amphitheaters, slave blocks and platforms,
public tents where one may find paga and the use of the slaves that
serve it as well as soup or shelter for the night, the Sardar Fairs,
governed by merchant law, are an opportunity for numerous types
of exchange and interaction between Goreans who otherwise would
never meet each other.
Indeed as the fairs are not
limited to the spiritual aspect of the Sardar mountains but also
and clearly, more importantly, a place of trade under all its aspects,
one will not be surprised to find Goreans of all walks of life there,
including many who do not partake in the reverence of Priest Kings.
Hence how it is, that as we follow Tarl through the En'Kara fair,
for example, we encounter men of Torvaldsland, Wagon People as well
as Red Hunters and Black Slavers who are said to have a place of
choice on the Fair's street of coins.
The fairs are used as a gathering
of the minds for many castes. Caste members from various cities
meet on these neutral grounds to trade secrets, discuss theories,
experiences and new discoveries pertaining to their trades as well
as engage in a number of contests and competitions meant to test
their skill levels, taking advantage of the peaceful premise of
the fairs. The fairs are the opportunity to enter various tournaments
and contests, be it in the arts of war such as bow stringing or
precision spear throwing, song and poetry contests or the arts of
debate.
By the same token, they are
a paradise for both merchants and shoppers as the largest market
on Gor; a common grounds to merchants from all areas and cultures
of Gor and a chance to discover and purchase items otherwise unknown
in the area the shoppers comes from.
Indeed, one
might buy slaves here and there, publicly and privately, at many
places in the Fair of En'Kara, one of the four great annual fairs
at the Sardar. It is not permitted to fight, or kill, or enslave
within the perimeters of the fairs, but there is no prohibition
against the buying and selling of merchandise within those precincts;
indeed, one of the main functions of the fairs, if not their main
function, was to facilitate the buying and selling of goods; the
slave, of course, is goods. The fairs, too, however, have many other
functions. For example, they serve as a scene of caste conventions,
and as loci for the sharing of discoveries and research. It is here,
for example, that physicians, and builders and artisans may meet
and exchange ideas and techniques. It is here that Merchant Law
is drafted and stabilized. It is here that songs are performed,
and song dramas. Poets and musicians, and jugglers and magicians,
vie for the attention of the crowds. Here one finds peddlers and
great merchants. Some sell trinkets and others the notes of cities.
It is here that the Gorean language tends to become standardized.
These fairs constitute truce grounds. Men of warring cities may
meet here without fear. Political negotiation and intrigue are rampant,
too, generally secretly so, at the fairs. Peace and war, and arrangements
and treaties, are not unoften determined in a pavillion within the
precincts of the fairs.
---Beasts of Gor
, 3:44
The spirit of exchange and
the promotion of higher knowledge are protected by a number of rules
to ensure that participants will indeed take part in these events
without fearing that they will not be returning home to apply the
newly acquired skill to experiment with the shared theories.
For example, it is forbidden
to shed blood at the Sardar fairs (excluding, of course, the blood
of slaves or other animals).
I heard a
girl screaming, being lashed. She was on her knees, to one side,
between two tents; she was chained at a short stake, about which
she had wrapped her arms, holding it for support. The side of her
cheek was against the stake. The prohibition against violence at
the Sardar, of course, does not extend to slaves. They may there,
as elsewhere, be lashed, or tortured or slain, as it should please
the master. They are slaves.
---Beasts of Gor, 3:45
It is forbidden to enslave;
peaceful resolution attempts will often be made to settle grievances
of commercial, political or territorial nature as well as enter
peace talks or alliance-negotiation and if sometimes the settlement
involves the trade of free women into slavery, the actual enslavement
games, such as with the game of girl catch (see games
page), will take place on the outside perimeters of the fairs
so as not to break fair rules.
"Make
way! Make way!" laughed the brawny young fellow. He had a naked
girl over his shoulder, bound hand and foot. He had won her in Girl
Catch, in a contest to decide a trade dispute between two small
cities, Ven and Rarn, the former a river port on the Vosk, the second
noted for its copper mining, lying southeast of Tharna. In the contest
a hundred young men of each city, and a hundred young women, the
most beautiful in each city, participate. The object of the game
is to secure the women of the enemy. Weapons are not permitted.
The contest takes place in an area outside the perimeters of the
great fair, for in it slaves are made.
---Beasts of Gor, 3:41
It is also of note that the
Initiates' mandate that all Goreans must make the journey to the
Sardar at least once in their lives does create a number of opportunities
which may otherwise never happen. Indeed, the distribution of beauty
throughout Gor is much owed to the fact that the routes traveled
by otherwise housebound free women from all corners of Gor, offer
ample raiding and enslaving opportunities.
Although
no one may be enslaved at the fair, slaves may be bought and sold
within its precincts, and slavers do a thriving business, exceeded
perhaps only by that of Ar's Street of Brands. The reason for this
is not simply that here is a fine market for such wares, since men
from various cities pass freely to and fro at the fair, but that
each Gorean, whether male or female, is expected to see the Sardar
Mountains, in honor of the Priest-Kings, at least once in his life,
prior to his twenty-fifth year. Accordingly, the pirates and outlaws
who beset the trade routes to ambush and attack the caravans on
the way to the fair, if successful, often have more than inanimate
metals and cloths to reward their vicious labors.
This pilgrimage
to the Sardar, enjoined by the Priest-Kings according to the Caste
of initiates, undoubtedly plays its role in the distribution of
beauty among the hostile cities of Gor. Whereas the males who accompany
a caravan are often killed in its defense or driven off, this fate,
fortunate or not, is seldom that of the caravan's women. It will
be their sad lot to be stripped and fitted with the collars and
chains of slave girls and forced to follow the wagons on foot to
the fair, or if the caravan's tharlarions have been killed or driven
off, they will carry its goods on their backs. Thus one practical
effect of the edict of the Priest-Kings is that each Gorean girl
must, at least once in her life, leave her walls and take the very
serious risk of becoming a slave girl, perhaps the prize of a pirate
or outlaw.
The expeditions
sent out from the cities are of course extremely well guarded, but
pirates and outlaws too can band together in large numbers and sometimes,
even more dangerously, one city's warriors, in force, will prey
upon another city's caravans. This, incidentally, is one of the
more frequent causes of war among these cities. The fact that warriors
of one city sometimes wear the insignia of cities hostile to their
own when they make these attacks further compounds the suspicions
and internecine strife which afflicts the Gorean cities.
---Priest Kings of Gor, 1:13
Incidentally, the fairs
at the Sardar Mountains are each named after the month in which
they occur, and numbered year after year as a means of keeping some
sort of record. Since many areas of Gor use different calendars
as well as different rules for numbering the years, for many, the
Sardar Fair dates represent a chronological marker in an otherwise
confusing time keeping system.
The Love
Feast
Celebrated in Ar, during the fifth passage hand,
the Love Feast is an annual social happening which includes tarn
races, games and first and foremost, one of the largest and most
attended slave auctions of Gor.
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 the summer, called
jointly, the Love Feast.
---Assassin of Gor, 15:193
...The Love
Feast... is also a time of great feasting, of races and games ....
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 a fitting consummation of the holidays...
---Assassin of Gor, 19:281
The Love War
An annual challenge celebrated in the spring between Turia and the
4 tribes of the Wagon Peoples of the southern plains.
Thousands of Free Women
of both Turia and the Wagons, carefully selected for their beauty,
are bound at stakes and put up as prizes for bidding by combat.
Men fight in order to acquire the women of their archenemy and keep
them as their slaves. Each woman is defended by a champion, a warrior
or fighter of her own people who will fight off any wishing to claim
her as prize.
Once claim has been laid
on a given woman, her champion selects the weapon which will be
used in combat and the two men engage in battle under the close
scrutiny of judges. Combats generally end with the death of one
of the opponents, the winner of the fight taking the other party's
Free Woman as slave while the woman he is defending remains free.
More will be found on the
traditions of the Wagon Peoples in the pages on specific cultures.
The institution
of Love War is an ancient one among the Turians and the Wagon Peoples...The
games of Love War, of course, are celebrated every spring...
---Nomads of Gor
, 10:115
The theoretical
justification of the games of Love War, from the Turian point of
view, is that they provide an excellent arena in which to demonstrate
the fierceness and prowess of Turian warriors, thus perhaps intimidating
or, at the very least, encouraging the often overbold warriors of
the Wagon Peoples to be wary of Turian steel. ...
---Nomads of Gor, 10:116
As I knew,
not just any girl, any more than just any warrior, could participate
in the games of the Love War. Only the most beautiful were eligible,
and only the most beautiful of these could be chosen.
---Nomads of Gor, 10:117
The Thing-Fair
The Thing-Fair is held by the high Jarl of a given territory
for all his men to attend, and serves as well as a gathering of
Northerners from areas beyond the Jarl's territory. The one and
only occurrence of a Thing-Fair the reader happens upon is found
in the pages of Marauders of Gor and appears to be set in late spring
time (if one uses the clues given about the growth of fall sa-tarna
and the access to water for visiting ships).
It is not said whether or
not this festival is related to a specific annual event or seasonal
time though some of the games and events held at the fair would
not be possible in winter time when the waters are frozen. Furthermore,
as we are told the ships are put away for the winter months and
taken out of the sheds in the spring time, attendance to the fair
by as many as is read about would not be likely.
What we do know is that
the Thing-Fair is an event that all free men MUST attend unless
they are alone, needing to stay on their land to tend to it; that
during this fair that they will present their weapons for inspection
to one of their Jarl's officers; that there exists a set of rules
and laws which pertain to what may or may not happen within the
perimeter of the fair and that this law extends over the entire
duration of the Thing and seems to supersede other existing laws
for that time.
...At the
Thing, to which each free man must come, unless he work his farm
alone and cannot leave it, each man must present, for the inspection
of his Jarl's officer, a helmet, shield and either sword or ax or
spear, in good condition. ... Those farmers who do not attend the
Thing, being the sole workers on their farms, must, nonetheless,
maintain the regulation armament; once annually it is to be presented
before a Jarl's officer, who, for this purpose, visits various districts.
...
---Marauders of Gor, 10:142
The general feel of the
Thing-Fair may well remind the reader of the fairs at the Sardar
in that the Fair is considered to be a peaceful event. Indeed, though
the men of Torvalsdland would never consider it acceptable to move
about unarmed, use of weapons and bloodshed for other than contests
and settlements under what the reader learns is called the 'law
of the Thing' are forbidden and will have to wait until after the
event.
I carried
my short sword. I carried, too, the great bow, unstrung, with its
quiver of arrows.
The Forkbeard,
too, and his men, were armed. Blows are not to be struck at the
Thing, but not even the law of the Thing, with all its might, would
have the temerity to advise the man of Torvaldsland to arrive or
move about unarmed. ...
---Marauders of Gor, 10:141
"But
the peace of the Thing is upon you," said Svein Blue Tooth.
"You are safe among us. Do not fear, great Champion. We meet
here not to threaten you, but to do you honor. Be not afraid, for
the peace of the Thing is upon you, as on all men here."
---Marauders of Gor, 12:183-184
The Omen
Year
Once a decade, the four tribes of Nomads known as
the Wagon People gather for the Omen Year. What is known to the
Wagon Peoples as the Omen year lasts in fact the time of a season,
at the end of which omens are read that will determine if the times
are favorable to the choosing of a One Ubar, or Ubar San, who will
lead all of the Wagon Peoples.
...The animals
sacrificed, incidentally, are later used for food, so the Omen taking,
far from being a waste of animals, is actually a time of feasting
and plenty for the Wagon Peoples, who regard the Omen taking, provided
it results that no Ubar San is to be chosen, as an occasion for
gaiety and festival. As I may have mentioned, no Ubar San had been
chosen for more than a hundred years.
---Nomads of Gor, 13:171
...In the
thinking of the Wagon Peoples it is called the Omen Year, though
the Omen Year is actually a season, rather than a year, which occupies
a part of two of their regular years, for the Wagon Peoples calculate
the year from the Season of Snows to the Season of Snows...the Omen
Year, or season, lasts several months, and consists of three phases,
called the Passing of Turia, which takes place in the fall; the
Wintering, which takes place north of Turia and commonly south of
Cartius, the equator of course lying to the north in this hemisphere;
and the Return to Turia, in the spring, or as the Wagon Peoples
say, in the Season of Little Grass. It is near Turia, in the
spring, that the Omen Year is completed, when the Omens are taken,
usually over several days by hundreds of haruspexes, mostly readers
of bosk blood and verr livers, to determine if they are favorable
for a choosing of a Ubar San, a One Ubar, a Ubar who would be High
Ubar, a Ubar of all the Wagons, a Ubar of all the Peoples, one who
could lead them as one people.
The omens,
I understood, had not been favorable in more than a hundred years.
...
---Nomads of Gor, 2:11-12
During the
time of Omen Year, the tribes of the southern plains who are habitually
at war with each other live in what appears to be semi-harmony although
quite clearly, the contests of skills and wagers are taken with
much enthusiasm and competitive spirit. During this time it is good
form and acceptable sport to take from the other tribes as much
as one can, under the peaceful air of truce, of course. More
will be found on the traditions of the Wagon Peoples in the pages
on specific cultures.
Social
Gatherings
Though we
will cover most public forms of entertainment in the Games
and Entertainment pages, the following are the larger scale
forms of public gatherings and seemed to fit more under the headings
of traditional events than that of simple entertainment labels.
Gladiatorial Games
Reminiscent of Rome's gladiatorial combat and arena type events,
organized fights and races take place in a number of set ups and
ways, from the grandiose stadium fighting events and races to the
more local stable circuits we discover with Fighting Slave of Gor
.
In major cities it would
appear that the various stadium events follow seasons, much like
our sports calendars do here on earth. The games in the Stadium
of Blades, for example, are said to finish their season at the end
of Se'Kara, a month following the season of races (tarn races in
this case). This would indicate that there are time out periods
for the rebuilding of teams and the training of fighters, tarn or
tharlarion racers, etc.
Although it is said that
some participation in these fights is voluntary, the more usual
scenario is that the participants are criminals or prisoners of
the city in which the games are held. In the city of Tharna, under
the silver mask rule, the Amusements of Tharna were used as a way
to dispose of those who broke the laws of Tharna in as public a
way as was possible. The men of Tharna, incidentally, were expected
to attend these games 4 times a year or find themselves participating
in them; yet another way for the ruling women to remind the males
of Tharna of their place.
The golden
scarf fluttered to the sands of the arena and the Tatrix resumed
her throne, reclining upon its cushions.
The voice
speaking through the trumpet said, "Let the Amusements of Tharna
begin."
---Outlaw of Gor
, 13:111
Though not all cities reserved
the stadium fights to those sentenced to them, these combats were,
for the large part, not of the type in which warriors would willingly
partake. The spectacle of blood for blood without other purpose
and the presence of habitually highly unfair odds strictly to ensure
that death will occur would be beneath the warrior's code of honor,
and if clearly those warriors made prisoner would have no choice
in fighting to survive, they would not be of the sort to volunteer
strictly in exchange for the gold or the glory of coming out alive.
Stadium combat comes in a
large variety of flavors and themes, more than likely for the purpose
of holding the crowd's interest. Men fight one on one using various
weapons, and being subject to various handicaps such as blinding
hoods or yokes, they fight in teams against other teams or beasts
of as wide a selection as Gor offers. Slave girls fight each other
or are rounded up in groups to fight one man. There is even mention
of flooding the arena with water so that sharks and Vosk turtles
may be used.
...Buckler
and short sword are perhaps most popular, but there are few weapons
on Gor which are not seen over a period of three or four days of
the games. Another popular set of weapons, as in the ancient ludi
of Rome, is net and trident. Usually those most skilled with this
set of weapons are from the shore and islands of distant, gleaming
Thassa, the sea, where they doubtless originally developed among
fishermen. Sometimes men fight locked in iron hoods, unable to see
their opponents. Sometimes men wrestle to the death or use the spiked
gauntlets. Sometimes slave girls are forced to fight slave girls,
perhaps with steel claws fastened on their fingers, or several girls,
variously armed, will be forced to fight a single man, or a small
number of men. Surviving girls, of course, become the property of
those whom they have fought; men who lose are, of course, slain.
Beasts are also popular in the Stadium of Blades, and fights between
various animals, half starved and goaded into fury by hot irons
and whips, are common; sometimes the beasts fight beasts of the
same species, and other times not; sometimes the beasts fight men,
variously armed, or armed slave girls; sometimes, for the sport
of the crowd, slaves or criminals are fed to the beasts. The training
of slaves and criminals for these fights, and the acquisition and
training of the beasts is a large business in Ar, there being training
schools for men, and compounds where the beasts, captured on expeditions
to various parts of Gor and shipped to Ar, may be kept and taught
to kill under the unnatural conditions of the stadium spectacle.
Upon occasion, and it had happened early in Se'Kara this year, the
arena is flooded and a sea fight is staged, the waters for the occasion
being filled with a variety of unpleasant sea life, water tharlarion,
Vosk turtles, and the nine-gilled Gorean shark, the latter brought
in tanks on river barges up the Vosk, to be then transported in
tanks on wagons across the margin of desolation to Ar for the event.
---Assassin of Gor, 15:189-190
Stadium Races - Tarns
The most heavily attended and followed public contest, at least
in the city of Ar, is the season of tarn racing. Its popularity
and league set-up are not too unlike what we are used to as far
as team sports, be it hockey in Canada, soccer in Europe orf football
in the US. The league is subject to rules and standards as well
as participation fees and we can clearly see that tarn racing isn't
just a matter of racing, but a business in itself. Other than the
cost of joining the league, poor showing or failing to meet standards
in racing results for a number of consecutive seasons is said to
result in penalties of financial nature, or even the loss of the
right to belong and compete for as long as ten years, in the tarn
racing circuit.
...It might
be noted, however, that a serious investment is involved in attempting
to form a faction. There are often attempts to found a new faction,
but generally they are unsuccessful. If a substantial proportion
of races are not won in the first two seasons the law of the Stadium
of Tarns discontinues its recognition of that faction. Moreover,
to bring a new faction into competition is an expensive business,
and involves considerable risk to the capital advanced. Not only
is it expensive to buy or rent tarncots, acquire racing tarns, hire
riders and Tarn Keepers, and the entire staff required to maintain
a faction organization, but there is a large track fee for new factions,
during the first two probation years....
---Assassin of Gor, 16:219-220
Fans dress up in the colors
of their favorite faction and as the time of the final races approach,
the entire city becomes a rainbow of colored banners and patches.
Goreans of all levels of society flaunt patches of the color of
their favored team on their left shoulder and even the slaves in
paga taverns end up in silks of one or the other faction's color.
The racing stadium has the
spectators sitting around an aerial track of 12 rings which hang
by chains from their respecting supporting towers over a net and
through which the racers, on their tarns, must pass. There are a
number of possible setups and track arrangements, though we are
given details on only one, in the city of Ar. Further, although
the only race the reader has the opportunity to witness is located
in the city of Ar, the reference to racers being of other cities
such as Melipolus of Cos and Menicius of Port Kar allows us to think
that tarn racing is indeed more than likely popular in any city
where tarns can be found.
The track
flown by the tarns is one pasang in length. In English measure the
two sides of the track are each about seventeen hundred feet in
length, and the measure at the corners would be something under
a hundred and fifty feet in width. The flight track itself, of course,
is rather like a narrow, aerial rectangle with two rounded ends.
The course is determined by twelve rings, hung on chains from great
supporting towers; six of these "rings" are rectangular
and six are round; the large rectangular "rings" are three
on a side; the smaller, round rings are set at the corners of the
dividing wall, and one at each of the narrowest portions of the
dividing wall. Thus, in leaving the perches at the beginning of
the race, the tarns pass first through three rectangular "rings,"
then come to the first turn, where they negotiate three round rings,
two of which are at the corners; and then they encounter three more
rectangular "rings" and then come to the second turn,
where they again encounter three round rings, two at the corners
and one in the center; skill is required in flying such a course,
particularly in making the turns and passing through the small round
rings. If four tarns were flown perfectly, one above, one below,
and one on each side, four could just pass through one of the round
rings; one of the objects of course is to maneuver the tarn in such
a way that it takes the center of the ring, or forces the following
bird to strike the ring or miss it altogether; I doubt that this
fierce form of racing would be practical were it not for the almost
uncanny agility in flight of the short-winged racing tarns.
---Assassin of Gor, 12:146
Racing tarns are described
as smaller and much lighter than the more common tarn; they are
not the sort of bird which would be used for war or raiding and
transport of loot. The training of the racing tarn is of course
far different, as would be the training of the rider in how to maneuver
such an animal for its specific use, but the difference between
the racing tarn and any other bird is first physical, as the following
quote describes quite well.
...The racing
tarn, interestingly, is an extremely light bird; two men can lift
one; even its beak is narrower and lighter than the beak of a common
tarn or a war tarn; its wings are commonly broader and shorter than
those of the other tarns, permitting a swifter takeoff and providing
a capacity for extremely abrupt turns and shifts in flight; they
cannot carry a great deal of weight and the riders, as might be
expected, are small men, usually of low caste, pugnacious and aggressive.
Racing tarns are not used by tarnsmen in war because they lack the
weight and power of war tarns; meeting a war tarn in flight, a racing
tarn would be torn to pieces in moments; further, the racing tarns,
though marvelous in their particular ways, lack the stamina of the
common tarn or the war tarn; their short wings, after a flight of
perhaps only fifty pasangs, would begin to fail; in a short-distance
dash, of course, the racing tarn would commonly be superior to the
war tarn.
---Assassin of Gor, 12:143-144
Stadium Races - Tharlarions
The breeding and racing of tharlarion is mentioned as a preferred
sport in a number of the cities. The most important or at least
the most mentioned city when it comes to tharlarion racing is the
city of Venna, home to the Stadium of Tharlarion and to what seems
to be the heart of the world of tharlarion racing.
...Rather
our mounts were typical of the breeds from which are extracted racing
tharlarion, of the sort used, for example, in the Vennan races.
To be sure, it is only select varieties of such breeds, such as
the Venetzia, Torarii and Thalonian, which are commonly used for
the racers. As one might suppose, the blood lines of the racers
are carefully kept and registered, as are, incidentally, those of
many other sorts of expensive bred animals, such as tarsks, sleen
and verr. This remark also holds for certain varieties of expensive
bred slaves, the prize crops of the slave farms. Venna, a wealthy
town north of Ar, is known for its diversions, in particular, its
tharlarion races. ...
---Magicians of Gor
, 19:290
Stable Fights - The Fighting
Slave
We are looking at a gambling sort of game, a sport which seems
to have begun between the men who run breeding stables as a sort
of pastime/sideshow to their gatherings. The custom is to pit stable
slaves, one against the other, in a cross of street fighting/boxing/wrestling
type matches and making bets on who will win. It is said to be a
form of amusement much favored by lower castes although oddly, the
slaves would likely belong to important people with enough money
to have breeding stables and many stable slaves.
...Many slave
fights are little more than bloody brawls, which free persons are
pleased to witness. Kenneth and Barus, on the other hand, who bet
on such matters, took these fights seriously. They had, over the
years, devoted time and intelligence to the training and development
of fighting slaves. The stables of the Lady Florence of Vonda had
been, as a result of this, particularly in the last four or five
years, unusually successful in the stable bouts. Indeed, Kenneth
and Barus had accumulated small fortunes as a result of their efforts
in this area. Gorean free persons of high caste, of course, tended
to take little note of these matters.
---Fighting Slave of Gor, 19:240
The fighting slaves use hand
wraps, gauntlets and sometimes hook knives, though by the short
visit the reader makes into the world of stable fighting, it would
not seem that these fights are expected to end in the death of one
of the participants. This makes sense as habitually, the stable
Master is but an employee of the stables and hence not the owner
of the slave he uses for these wagers.
Over time, this pastime would
appear to have developed it own network of fans and participants.
In cities where fights are common, their time and date is often
known and the event gathers quite a crowd, much to the joy of those
who make money from taking wager fees. Although
the higher class stable owners are less likely to be seen at the
fights, there does seem to be a form of higher level contest between
them and we get the impression that they are often quite aware of
their stable's rank in the fighting circuit as well as if who their
current champion is.
Sometimes
as often as every fourth or fifth day I was hooded and chained,
and placed in a wagon, usually with some fellow slaves, fighters,
too. I would then be unchained and unhooded, in my turn, in a shallow
pit, about which free persons, almost always of low caste, would
be gathered. ln the pit, too, would be another slave. Our hands
would be wrapped in leather that they might not be easily broken.
One might kick but holds to the death were not permitted. One fought,
with occasional rest periods, for this makes the fight last longer,
the fighters being briefly refreshed, until one man or the other
could no longer fight. There would be much shouting and betting.
I had lost my first matches in our own stables but, in time, with
training and advice, and pit experience, I had begun to do well.
I had won my last seventeen bouts, five of which had been outside
our own stables. I was usually one of a team of five fighters, divided
by weight. I was in the heaviest weight class. Some small men, as
is well known, are extremely fine fighters, though, of course, they
do not have the size and weight to consistently best larger men,
assuming that the distribution of skills is similar.
---Fighting Slave of Gor, 19:240-241