Jerri asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Happy Winterfair wishes to Lois and all who read her works. I am assuming that Winterfair takes place on and around the Winter Solstice, which is today, as I type this, on Old Earth. And Penric, Des and the rest in the world of the Five Gods should be celebrating Father's MidWinter? I can't remember, do the Sharing Knife characters celebrate a middle of winter holiday?

Lois McMaster Bujold I could swear I answered this this morning, but apparently I sent it into oblivion. Anyway, winter solstice would be the Father's Day proper; "Father's Midwinter" would be halfway through the quarter, or about Groundhog Day. (Hence the point of the old joke, which I never got as a kid, that if the groundhog sees its shadow there will be six more weeks of winter.)

You all can do your own arithmetic for the other god-mids, although there is no certainty that the year or even the day is the same length on the Five Gods world as our own. (Solstices and equinoxes would still divide it up evenly.)

I didn't much address holidays in the world of The Sharing Knife, but one may assume solstices, equinoxes, harvest festivals, and local memorials would be observed variously.

Ta, L.

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