The Grand Duchy is, to my mind, something like Greece or Italy in the Middle Ages - a generally Mediterranean country for a start, and also, a lost province of a failing empire.
The religion of my corner of the Known World (as it was still called when I lost touch with anyone else who played there) is a mish-mash; different cults (based on real-world religions as culled from the pages of DDG) overlain with some continent-spanning religions derived from the Nehwon Mythos (though I'm only using Nehwon in a similar way to other mythos, I'm not actually setting the campaign there). Karameikos, Thyatis and Minrothad, all being former provinces of the more or less 'Greco-Egyyptian' Empire of Thyatis, have a mix of Greek and Egyptian deities under generally (partly-)anagrammatic names, and some of the Nehwon gods as well.
So, where is all this going? Well, I've made a table of religious festivals in Threshold, as that's where my PCs are at the moment. The main gods and goddesses of Threshold all have their own holy days and I've gone through and calculated dates for them over 2 years.
I've split the holidays into 3 kinds: greatest importance, normal importance, low importance. Low importance festivals are those of lesser gods and goddesses; middling-importance festivals are those of greater gods or goddesses that appear with regularity; highest-importance festivals are yearly events of significance to greater gods and goddesses, or synchronicities in frequency that render regularly-occurring festivals significant.
In recent years, I've run with the idea that the cult of Issek of the Jug (from Nehwon) is beginning to assume something of the role of Christianity in the Late Antique-Early Medieval period. It hasn't managed to stamp out the pagan cults but it has started the process of colonising both space and time. It does this through martyr-cults (the theology of Issek being one of suffering, and his greatest devotees being those undergoing torture). I have as part of the 'fluff' both the appearance of 'Tassit, Servant of St Cuthbert' from B1 (St Cuthbert is I believe still a feature of D&D Lore) and the Monastery of Osterlin from 'A Box of Old Bones' (WD71) which houses '... the bones of St Giles the Martyr'. So, I decided that the 'saints and martyrs' should be the devotees of Issek, persecuted in previous centuries, and now venerated by the Church of Issek, which may have departed somewhat from the ideals of its founder.
I also divided the calendar up into months. For simplicity's sake (no, really) I divided the year into 12 months of 30 days, and began the year at the Winter Solstice. This leaves 5 days left over, which I put around the Summer Solstice. I'm ignoring Leap Years. Maybe in 40 years of campaign time some Arch-Theogonist of the Church of Issek will decree a new calendar. Maybe not. I named the months after modern astrological signs; they may as well serve some purpose, and personally I think my D&D campaign has much more reality to it than astrology. If asked, any sages in my campaign will say that the names of the months come from 'old superstitions'.
The other day I happened upon a fine publication, issue 5 of 'Brave the Labyrinth' for Labyrinth Lord, which contains a list of 'Saints of the Church of Law and Order', which is more or less what the Church of Issek is in my version of the Grand Duchy. So I have purloined the list, added 'St Giles the Martyr' to it, assimilated 'St Cuthbert' with the 'St Keth' of the list, and randomly determined two more saints by splitting the now-48 saints into a d4 and d12 determination, followed by finding out which d12 month, d4 week and d8 day of the year their feast-day is held. This is a bit rough-and-ready; on an '8' for the day of the week, I assigned the feast to a day not covered by the dice. I will use the same method to calculate a set of festivals for all the Saints, a religious calender for the Church of Issek, with 48 saints' feast-days on it; this will probably be observed no-where in the Known World except the biggest temple of Issek in Specularum, I guess, because I get the idea that many of these saints might be quite local. Would an Issek worshipper in Thyatis or Tel Akbir have heard of St Giles? Perhaps not, though he's an important Saint in the Grand Duchy. Would an Issek worshipper in Threshold have heard of St Tara, who looks after sailors? Maybe not, as Threshold is in the mountains and several days' travel from the sea.
Then I calculated the New and Full Moons, on the basis of a 29-day lunar cycle. If, as in the case of Alol (a rather sexy god of archery, music and sometimes bears who has both a 10-day holy 'week' and a 29-day lunar cycle of New Moon festivals) two sets of festivals repeat on different cycles, I have counted the points in the calendar where the cycles come together as being significant. In Alol's case, I have taken the first New Moon after the Winter Solstice as being his first festival and calculated the rest of his 'year' of 36 holy 'weeks' from there.
So here it is - Threshold's religious calendar.
Threshold calendar, Yr 1701:
(Goat-month)
1 – Winter
Solstice & New Year: Offerings to Issek: sacrifices to Huran and Rosh
2 – New Moon:
Offering to Alol & Alol's Day
12 – Alol’s Day
16 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
22 – Alol’s Day
(Water-month, sacred to Efun)
1 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
2 – Alol’s Day
11 – Feast of St
Ronnad of the Flagon
12 – Alol’s Day
15 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
22 – Alol’s Day
30 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
(Fish-month)
2 – Alol’s Day
12 – Alol’s Day
14 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
22 – Alol’s Day
29 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
(Sheep-month)
2 – Spring
Equinox: Burnt offerings to Kos: Alol’s Day: sacrifice of animals to Efun, prayers to Orem-Thep at home
12 – Alol’s Day
13 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
22 – Alol’s Day
28 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
(Cow-month)
2 – Alol’s Day
12 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas: Alol’s
Day
22 – Alol’s Day
27 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
(Month of the Twins)
2 – Alol’s Day
11 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
12 – Alol’s Day
22 – Alol’s Day
26 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
(Midsummer)
1
2 – Alol’s Day
3 – Midsummer’s
Day, sacrifices to Ekes, Huran
and Rosh
4
5
(Crab-month)
5 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
7 – Feast of St
Luwagen of Castel: Alol’s Day
17 – Alol’s Day
20 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
27 – Alol’s Day
(Lion-month, sacred to Huran)
4 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
7 – Alol’s Day
17 – Alol’s Day
19 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
27 – Alol’s Day
30 – Feast of St
Cuthbert (St Keth)
(Maiden-month, sacred to Tas)
3 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
7 – Alol’s Day
17 – Alol’s Day
18 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
27 – Alol’s Day
30 – Autumnal Equinox, prayers to Orem-Thep at home
(Balance-month)
2 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
7 – Alol’s Day
17 – New Moon:
Offerings to Alol: Alol’s Day:
27 – Alol’s Day
(Scorpion-month)
1 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets
7 – Alol’s Day
16 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
17 – Alol’s Day
27 – Alol’s Day
30 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
(Archer-month, sacred to Alol)
7 – Alol’s Day
14 – Feast of St
Giles
15 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
17 – Alol’s Day
27 – Alol’s Day
29 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
Threshold calendar, Yr 1702:
(Goat-month)
1 – Winter
Solstice & New Year: Offerings to Issek: Sacrifices to Huran and Rosh
7 – Alol’s Day
14 – New Moon:
Offering to Alol & Alol's Day
24 – Alol’s Day
28 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
(Water-month, sacred to Efun)
1 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
4 – Alol’s Day
11 – Feast of St
Ronnad of the Flagon
13 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
14 – Alol’s Day
24 – Alol’s Day
27 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
(Fish-month)
4 – Alol’s Day
12 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
14 – Alol’s Day
24 – Alol’s Day
26 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
(Sheep-month)
2 – Spring
Equinox: Burnt offerings to Kos: sacrifice
of animals to Efun, prayers to Orem-Thep at home
4 – Alol’s Day
11 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
14 – Alol’s Day
24 – Alol’s Day
25 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
(Cow-month)
4 – Alol’s Day
10 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
14 –Alol’s Day
24 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas: Alol’s
Day
(Month of the Twins)
4 – Alol’s Day
9 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
14 – Alol’s Day
23 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
24 – Alol’s Day
(Midsummer)
1
2
3 – Midsummer’s
Day: Sacrifices to Ekes, Huran
and Rosh
4 – Alol’s Day
5
(Crab-month)
3 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
7 – Feast of St
Luwagen of Castel
9 – Alol’s Day
17 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
19 – Alol’s Day
29 – Alol’s Day
(Lion-month, sacred to Huran)
2 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
9 – Alol’s Day
16 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
19 – Alol’s Day
29 – Alol’s Day
30 – Feast of St
Cuthbert (Keth)
(Maiden-month, sacred to Tas)
1 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
9 – Alol’s Day
15 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
19 – Alol’s Day
29 – Alol’s Day
30 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol: Autumnal Equinox, prayers to Orem-Thep at home
(Balance-month)
9 – Alol’s Day
14 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
19 – Alol’s Day
29 – New Moon:
Offerings to Alol: Alol’s Day
(Scorpion-month)
1 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets
9 – Alol’s Day
13 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
19 – Alol’s Day
28 – New Moon: Offerings to Alol
29 – Alol’s Day
(Archer-month, sacred to Alol)
9 – Alol’s Day
12 – Full Moon: Offerings to Isi and Ets and sacrifices of snakes to Tas
14 – Feast of St
Giles
19 – Alol’s Day
27 – New Moon:
Offerings to Alol
29 – Alol’s Day
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