Life Day greetings from Nar Shaddaa

A belated merry Christmas! Err... I mean, happy Life Day of course! In SWTOR, Christmas is celebrated in true Star Wars style and that means a Life Day celebration. This is what Wookieepedia says about Life Day, or "Wookiee Christmas":

"Life Day was a Wookiee holiday celebrated by the inhabitants of Kashyyyk every three years. It was a celebration of the planet's diverse ecosystem and the many forms of life it encompassed. It also was a time to remember family members who had died, and the young ones who continued to bring new life to a family. Life Day was a sacred holiday, and many Wookiees considered it their duty to return to Kashyyyk in order to celebrate it. Life Day was held once every three local years for many generations, but during the Galactic Civil War, its importance to the Wookiees became more pronounced. Wookiees were spread across the galaxy, either because they had been enslaved by the Galactic Empire or for personal reasons, and they began celebrating Life Day each year as a way to remain in touch with their history. Over time, the holiday found its way into various other cultures." (source: Wookieepedia)

The Female Geek Blogger community is die-hard: what do you mean, Christmas? It's a Friday, so there's 5 Fandom Fridays to be written! This one was themed "favourite holiday decorations".

Because I flew all the way from Sweden to the Netherlands to celebrate Christmas with my family I spent yesterday doing just that (and not blogging), but to make up for it I decided to 'nerd out' and show you my Life Day-style Nar Shaddaa stronghold (a house I own in SWTOR), including some favourite in-game Life Day decorations. Enjoy!

1) Life Day holo-trees

I unlocked my Nar Shaddaa balcony recently and haven't had inspiration to finish it yet. These giant Life Day trees make it look festive from the outside, though. Think of it as the Star Wars equivalent of putting luminous reindeers in the garden.

Some people dislike that the trees don't resemble Christmas trees very well; however, they do resemble the Tree of Life as revered by the wookiees better than a pine tree would do:

"In its deepest meaning, that holiday comemorated the renewal of life on Kashyyyk,[4] a planet that supported a rich biodiversity. An important part of the celebration consisted in a spiritual passage; by chewing roots of the orga plant, the Wookiees would journey in spirit form and join the essence of the Tree of Life." (Source: Wookieepedia)

The Life Day trees come in three different seizes. This smaller pink one fits the turquoise and pink interior of the restaurant well. It looks the same seize as the one on the balcony here, but that's due to the difference in distance. It's really a lot smaller.

2) Life Day ceiling light (icicles)

I never really liked this lamp, until I found out it has falling-down snow flakes. It gives a fairylike atmosphere to this room where smugglers and other shady characters wait to meet their contacts.

3) Life Day small & medium potted trees

This is the entrance to Nar Shaddaa's smuggler's haven. Usually there's some friends or guildies hanging out, using the GTN and cargo bays. There are six living Life Day trees hidden in corners (you can just about see one in the far right corner). They don't jump to the eye very much, a result of my attempt to keep the room from being very cluttered. The Massassi ceiling light has nothing to do with Life Day, but I think it fits the theme very well - also, it just creates the ultimate cosy light.

4) Snow and ice

The snow and ice I placed in my stronghold are less well-received by my visitors: Conrad keeps complaining about the noise of the Life Day snow blower (even though I turned it around) and the Life Day wall freezer unit, and threatens to relocate to the guild ship, and Marinka keeps getting stuck in the Life Day icicle mound. At least that keeps her from blowing everyone up with the custom huttball (her favourite way to spend time)!

5) Jukebox: grand metropolis & riveting themes

The jukeboxes don't have anything to do with Life Day officially, but they happened to be released around the same time and were red and green, which matched perfectly with the rest of the entrance room. After the holidays are over I'll replace them with my yellow jukebox and the rest of the room will return to turquoise, pink and purple.


This post is part of 5 Fandom Friday, a weekly event organized by the Female Geek Bloggers group on Google+.