Homeland's throwing a Festival of Sen Pad'rek party for the third year running!
It's getting close to that time of year again! The cold bitterness of winter is beginning to recede from many parts of the world and thoughts turn toward spring and the upcoming Noblegarden festival. Love is still in the air for now, so the time isn't quite here yet, but that too will pass (although, of course, love is never forgotten).
Yes, everyone, the time is fast approaching for the Festival of Sen Pad'rek! This tale and associated mythology has yet to spread through the lands of Azeroth far beyond Sen'jin Village and, now, the Echo Isles; but in recent years knowledge of Mr. Pad'rek has begun to spread.
The Trolls, including the Darkspear tribe of the Echo Isles, have long had a relationship (sometimes good, sometimes bad) with the snakes that live in and around their settlements. Snakes can be found in a wide variety of environments and were famously common throughout the troll city of Zul'gurub; the trolls that lived there until recent years often worshipped snakes, fashioning bows and staves, among other things, to resemble the scaled serpents in the belief that snake worship would keep the snakes around them happy and that the Loa of Snakes would see fit to keep her people in and around trolls' settlements.
The Trolls depended on the snakes for food, skins, pest control, and for religious worship. Sometimes, they even extracted venom from some species of snake; the tips of their spears and arrows were dipped in the venom to create lethal weapons with which to kill their enemies -- for trolls were, and still are, a notoriously warlike people. To this day, many Troll tribes do not welcome outsiders and will kill on sight. Only the Darkspear tribe of Kalimdor has allied with the Horde or the Alliance -- and even they have only recently given up their cannibalistic ways (and whether any of those traditions remain alive among themselves, the Darkspear aren't saying).
It is said that Sen Pad'rek brought the snakes to the Trolls. Some say that it was Pad'rek who convinced the Loa to help the Trolls -- but, in any case, the Trolls don't need much of an excuse to party. For reasons long since lost -- although Poni will venture the guess that the Loa perhaps first appeared as a green serpent, or that the first snakes that appeared in Troll villages were green -- the color has been associated with the festival. It's possible that Sen Pad'rek feast celebrations were once more religious in nature (trolls will still pray to the Loa and invoke the "voodoo" when opening Festival of Sen Pad'rek celebrations) but today the celebrations are largely secular in nature.
As such, this year the Festival of Sen Pad'rek will be a big party.
There will be merrymaking in the form of lots of booze (perhaps the AAMS will be willing to assist here, or Tatta of Homeland; or even both of them!).
There will be a trivia contest -- show what you know about Azeroth's geography, history, current events, and much more!
There will be a a Most Outrageous Outfit contest -- how green can you get? (We're not talking green-quality items here, but literally-green items). Accessories count, including mounts and pets! And if you can't go green, how outrageous can you get? Make the judges laugh!
And who knows ... will that rascal Leper Khan make another appearance?
Prizes are planned!
And, hopefully, fun times will be had!
When: Sunday, March 13, 6PM server/Pacific time (that's 1800 hours) (NEW DATE/TIME!)
Where: TBD, probably somewhere in the Echo Isles
Why: To have as much fun as possible!
It's getting close to that time of year again! The cold bitterness of winter is beginning to recede from many parts of the world and thoughts turn toward spring and the upcoming Noblegarden festival. Love is still in the air for now, so the time isn't quite here yet, but that too will pass (although, of course, love is never forgotten).
Yes, everyone, the time is fast approaching for the Festival of Sen Pad'rek! This tale and associated mythology has yet to spread through the lands of Azeroth far beyond Sen'jin Village and, now, the Echo Isles; but in recent years knowledge of Mr. Pad'rek has begun to spread.
The Trolls, including the Darkspear tribe of the Echo Isles, have long had a relationship (sometimes good, sometimes bad) with the snakes that live in and around their settlements. Snakes can be found in a wide variety of environments and were famously common throughout the troll city of Zul'gurub; the trolls that lived there until recent years often worshipped snakes, fashioning bows and staves, among other things, to resemble the scaled serpents in the belief that snake worship would keep the snakes around them happy and that the Loa of Snakes would see fit to keep her people in and around trolls' settlements.
The Trolls depended on the snakes for food, skins, pest control, and for religious worship. Sometimes, they even extracted venom from some species of snake; the tips of their spears and arrows were dipped in the venom to create lethal weapons with which to kill their enemies -- for trolls were, and still are, a notoriously warlike people. To this day, many Troll tribes do not welcome outsiders and will kill on sight. Only the Darkspear tribe of Kalimdor has allied with the Horde or the Alliance -- and even they have only recently given up their cannibalistic ways (and whether any of those traditions remain alive among themselves, the Darkspear aren't saying).
It is said that Sen Pad'rek brought the snakes to the Trolls. Some say that it was Pad'rek who convinced the Loa to help the Trolls -- but, in any case, the Trolls don't need much of an excuse to party. For reasons long since lost -- although Poni will venture the guess that the Loa perhaps first appeared as a green serpent, or that the first snakes that appeared in Troll villages were green -- the color has been associated with the festival. It's possible that Sen Pad'rek feast celebrations were once more religious in nature (trolls will still pray to the Loa and invoke the "voodoo" when opening Festival of Sen Pad'rek celebrations) but today the celebrations are largely secular in nature.
As such, this year the Festival of Sen Pad'rek will be a big party.
There will be merrymaking in the form of lots of booze (perhaps the AAMS will be willing to assist here, or Tatta of Homeland; or even both of them!).
There will be a trivia contest -- show what you know about Azeroth's geography, history, current events, and much more!
There will be a a Most Outrageous Outfit contest -- how green can you get? (We're not talking green-quality items here, but literally-green items). Accessories count, including mounts and pets! And if you can't go green, how outrageous can you get? Make the judges laugh!
And who knows ... will that rascal Leper Khan make another appearance?
Prizes are planned!
And, hopefully, fun times will be had!
When: Sunday, March 13, 6PM server/Pacific time (that's 1800 hours) (NEW DATE/TIME!)
Where: TBD, probably somewhere in the Echo Isles
Why: To have as much fun as possible!
Edited by Poni on 3/10/2011 9:47 PM PST
