Blame this.
Eglanauth (High Elven Holiday)
Alternate name: Lanath, Elves’ Laugh, Night of Nonsense (All Human Common names)
Date: The first new moon after the spring equinox.
The Elves have celebrated Eglanauth for as long as non-Elves can remember; whether they themselves remember when they started the holiday is an open question. Whenever the subject comes up, an Elf will typically adopt a slightly puzzled expression, and then say that he has forgotten. The suspicious uniformity of this response suggests that Elves find the question itself highly funny.
Eglanauth is traditionally the day when Elves officially ‘forget’ things. Sometimes it’s for forever – which is a long time for a species immune to old age – and sometimes it’s just for the night. Either way, it’s a fairly vigorous Night of Misrule for Elves: traditionally, you can say anything you want to anybody you want, without permanent consequences. In practice, there are several significant caveats to this rule, but Elves take it generally very seriously.
In fact, it’s about the only thing about this holiday that they do take seriously. There’s a particular ritual that Elves go through in order to forgive quarrels and disputes: one Elf will mention a particular event or action involving a second Elf (one that was usually to the second Elf’s detriment); the second Elf will say something along the lines of I don’t remember that happening; and then the first Elf will say something along the lines of Then it never did. After that, the first Elf gives the second a gift of some sort, value unofficially but quite tangibly determined by the original transgression. And that ends that particular dispute or quarrel, permanently.
Eglanauth can be a rather surprising event for non-Elves who aren’t familiar with the species; it can get remarkably raucous. It’s made more so by the detail that traditionally Elves will try to make sure that at least some non-Elves are around for the celebration. As the Elves themselves put it: Perriannath an-madeth, Anfang an-sogad, Adanath an-hendcared. Freely translated, it means: Hobbits for the eating, Dwarves for the drinking, and Humans for the… and then somebody traditionally interrupts the Elf offering the translation. Elves apparently find that joke highly funny, too.
… dancing! Yeah, that’s it.
Wen Spencer’s elves have a day for remembering. They specifically remember bitter and sweet: things that you want to learn from [or remember a lesson/moral], things that bring you joy.
A halfling specific holiday would have to involve food. So, like a Seder? Sitting around a table, telling a story either by one person or as a group, with a meal involved in the middle, having specific rules.
I also see them being very relationship oriented, so a set of feasts, for different times of the year, celebrating/ relating different parts of the holy text, with odd habits arising in different parts of the world.
1) The Feast of Celebration: starting at dawn after the longest night of the year. The Mother of Gods gives birth to the world. Gifts [usually practical] are given from parents to children. Usually just a family or extended family, although special friends might be invited. Considered an auspicious day to start new things, including businesses, so in some parts of the world business partners are involved, and are likely to bring expensive gifts for the children.
2) The Feast of Remembrance: starting at midnight, sometime in fall, determined by complex formulae. Kind of similar to the day of the dead. Nearly always just close family, young kids not involved. The spirits may show up, so food is whatever their favorite was in life, or that has an emotional connection for the living [granny always made the best pancakes!]. The story involves the usual “hero descends into the underworld” story, with a twist- getting past cerberus didn’t involve a feat of arms, but food, acts of kindness, and the help of people indebted to the hero [he makes soup for the witch, who gives him a steak for cerberus, who refuses to attack during the tea ceremony with the Hades equivalent].
3) The Feast of Love: first day of spring, an even number of courses to the feast, often half made by one partner, half made by the other, sometimes a big deal is made of keeping what they’re going to make a surprise. Always food reputed to arouse the passions. Thought to be better luck, the more, er, vigorous the activities afterwards.
4) The Feast of Community: the whole town throws a potluck. Think one part pie-eating contest, one part bbq cookoff, one part small town 4th of July parade. Lots of stories are told, often with prizes. Anything that doesn’t have the halfling hero winning by being the most caring or the cleverest won’t win.
5) The Feast of the Forgotten ones: in celebration of the ancestors as a whole. Often held either in an old cemetery, or the site of an important battle. Date will vary, often held on the anniversary of a battle, or of the establishment of a community, or a time of exile. Food for the ancestors is burned, and sometimes is not actual food- a well done drawing of a pleasant dinner is better than dumping a tureen of soup on the fire.
6) The Feast of Vengeance: a heretical/evil Feast. Sometimes with the intended target there, ignorant, and likely to be poisoned. Sometimes with something representing the target, doll with a lock of hair, or a painting most commonly. Lots of horror stories are told about Feasts of Vengeance gone wrong, usually without details that would clue in non-halflings.
7) Feast of the Gods: A calm evening meal, late summer, everyone wears their best dress, everyone serves their best food. Extended family. Anyone [and often anything] who happens to wander by is always invited, just in case they are a god going incognito. It is poor manners to eat everything on your plate, or to take the last serving of something, since the gods might want it. Leftover food is left outside until something eats it, often left on a formal place setting.
8) Different worlds might have other feasts as well, Feasts of the Wizards and Feasts of the Fae being most common.