Holiday Fanworks

Tropes and genres
Tropes and genres
Synonym(s)	holiday fic
See also	Secret Santa, Yuletide, Gift Exchange, Holiday Hats, Ugly Holiday Sweater (trope), Valentine's Day, List of Annual Holidays, Observances, and Events in Fandom
	Sarek ringing in a new stardate from the zine, Happy Holidays (Star Trek: TOS) (1986)
	Related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Common Elements in Fanworks; 2 Religious Holiday Assumptions and the Future 2.1 Fan Comments; ; 3 Exchanges; 4 Secret Santas; 5 Holidays Only Unique to Canon Source Text 5.1 My Little Pony; 5.2 Star Wars: Life Day 5.2.1 Fiction; 5.2.2 Art; ; 5.3 Beauty and the Beast (TV); 5.4 Seinfeld; 5.5 Fortnite; 5.6 Warhammer 40,000; 5.7 Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons; 5.8 Stardew Valley; 5.9 Animal Crossing; 5.10 Multifandom; ; 6 Fanworks 6.1 Halloween 6.1.1 Fiction; 6.1.2 Art; ; 6.2 Passover 6.2.1 Fiction; 6.2.2 Art; ; 6.3 Christmas 6.3.1 Fiction; 6.3.2 Art; 6.3.3 Print Zines With a Christmas Focus; ; 6.4 Chanukah 6.4.1 Fiction; 6.4.2 Art; ; 6.5 Thanksgiving 6.5.1 Fiction; 6.5.2 Art; ; 6.6 Valentines Day 6.6.1 Fiction; 6.6.2 Art; ; 6.7 Other Holidays 6.7.1 Fiction; 6.7.2 Art; ; ; 7 Fic Lists by Fandom; 8 Archives; 9 References;

"Big Santa is Watching You" - a Person of Interest holiday meme by Marcus L. Rowland (2017)

Holiday Fanworks are holiday-themed fanfic, filks, art and more.

Most holiday fanworks are about holidays as they are celebrated by characters. These fanworks have overlay with their creators, and they may also be ways for the fiction and art to reflect fans and their own observances.

Most often it is created for/about religious holidays. The most common type is Christmas fic. In 2005 hyperfocused orchestrated a Ten Plagues challenge which sparked a surge in Passover-themed fic across many fandoms. Holidayfic is also written for secular and national holidays such as Veteran's Day, Valentine's Day, or Halloween. White Day stories are common in anime/manga fandoms.

Holiday fanworks are very popular in Harry Potter fandom, perhaps due to the fact that Halloween and Christmas are lavishly celebrated in the canon.

Holiday fanworks can also be created for and reflect holidays created specifically by fans, such as Star Wars Day. Fans also create works to celebrate holidays only found in canon, such as Beauty and the Beast (TV)'s Winterfest.

Sometimes holiday fanworks can cause controversy, for example when an author writes Christmas fic for Jewish characters but doesn't acknowledge that the characters are not Christian. (See Judaism and Fandom for more on this.)

Common Elements in Fanworks

Commonly the characters observe the holiday in some way -- the characters celebrate Christmas or Passover, go on Valentine's Day dates, etc -- though the fanworks can also be thematically related to the holiday. For example in military fandoms, fanworks dealing with Veteran's issues is then posted on the occasion of Veteran's Day and thus tied to that holiday by the author or artist.

Religious Holiday Assumptions and the Future

Some fanworks portray Christmas (and other holidays) being celebrated by characters on the Enterprise and other shows that take place in the distant futurea, leading to much discussion on whether this is likely or is a projection of one's reality and assumptions.

cover of Beyond Antares #13, Santa pays the bridge a visit and gifts Spock with a Teddy Bear
cover of Back Trekking, Spock detains an alien

Fan Comments

Exchanges

However much of the fanfic posted for holiday-centric gift exchanges, such as Secret Santas, is not holidayfic in this themed sense.

See also Purimgifts - though there's no requirement for stories or art to be Purim-themed, they often wind up that way. Also see Days of Awesome and Eid Fic.

Secret Santas

[need short description and link]

Holidays Only Unique to Canon Source Text

My Little Pony

MLP has a number of canon holidays which fics are commonly written about or included in stories.

Hearth's Warming - Christmas stand-in
Hearts and Hooves Day - Valentine's Day stand-in
The Summer Sun Celebration - Summer Solstice stand-in
Nightmare Night - a Halloween stand-in
Winter Wrap-Up - A generic spring festival type stand-in, involves the ponies banding together to manually change the season from Winter to Spring in the traditional way, owing to the fact that seasons do not change on their own in the setting.
Winter Wishday - another Christmas stand-in from Generation 5
Eggstravaganza - an Easter stand-in from Generation 5

Star Wars: Life Day

Life Day is a Star Wars holiday celebrated by characters in that universe. It was first shown in The Star Wars Holiday Special.

It is a conglomerate of many holiday traditions and celebrates love and family.

Star Wars Day: "May the Fourth Be With You" is a Star Wars holiday celebrated by fans.

Fiction

"Life Day Carol," filk by Paula Block, Judi Hendricks, Jackie Paciello and Paula Smith, accompanied by a Gordon Carleton cartoon (from Facets #5 (1980)

Art

Joni Wagner from Facets #5 (Life Day) (1980)
a Gordon Carleton cartoon for "Life Day Carol," filk by Paula Block, Judi Hendricks, Jackie Paciello and Paula Smith, from Facets #5 (Life Day) (1980)

Beauty and the Beast (TV)

"Winterfest" is a holiday celebrated by characters in Beauty and the Beast (TV). It is also celebrated by fans of that show in their own circles.

Winterfest, a canon Beauty and the Beast glossary term
Winterfest, a Beauty and the Beast convention
Winterfest, a Beauty and the Beast con zine
Winterfest, a general term for in-person gatherings of Beauty and the Beast (TV) fans
Winterfest, Beauty and the Beast online celebration

Seinfeld

Festivus

Fortnite

Winterfest is an in-universe stand-in for Christmas

Warhammer 40,000

Feast of the Emperor's Ascension

Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons

Stardew Valley

Animal Crossing

Multifandom

Yuletide and Festivids

Fanworks

Halloween

Fiction

Art

Anja Gruber portrays Ray Vecchio and Benton Fraser, from The Star of Palermo, (Due South) (1997)
A.G. Steyn, from Bright Center of the Universe #8 (Star Wars) (1998)
from I Don't Care What You Smell #6 by Zawiah (Star Wars) (2000)
from My Mongoose by unknown artist (The Sentinel) (2001)
Happy Roscest Halloween 2024 by birdandfoxboys (2024)

Passover

Fiction

For the Want of a Goat by roga (Discworld/Passover)
Family Plagues by roga (Harry Potter)
Four Sons by roga (Harry Potter)
Kosher for Passover by nightdog_barks (House MD)
Paint the Town Red by Kass (House MD)
Passover by rageprufrock (House MD)
Pesach by pwcorgigirl (House MD)
Prodigal by nightdog_barks (House MD)
End Times by fairlyironic (Lost)
B'Chol Dor Vador (In Every Generation) by mara (Marvel Comics)
Seder Round Table by bessemerprocess (Pundit RPF)
Haggadah by scrunchy (Sports Night)
The Pretty Peculiar Pegasus Pesach by roga (SGA)
Urchatz by miss_porcupine (SGA)
Why is this night different from all other nights? by july_july_july (Star Trek XI)
Passing Over, Passing Out by hyperfocused (The OC)
All the Land of Egypt by daegaer (Weiss Kreuz)

See also Roga's List of Passover-themed Fics, which also includes The Prince of Egypt stories.

Art

Christmas

Fiction

A Gift for Miya-chan by geri-chan (Haru wo Daiteita)
A Non-Denominational Holiday Mission Report / Or, How Rodney McKay Got His Head Out of His Ass and Learned to Decorate Christmas Trees Again by smittywing (SGA)
A Supplement to the Second Edition, Etc. by sheafrotherdon (SGA and Temeraire fusion)
How the Dark Lord Stole Christmas by alyxbradford (HP)
Kentucky Fried Christmas by geri-chan (Haru wo Daiteita)
Present Understanding by Ribbons (Haru wo Daiteita)
list of Starsky and Hutch Christmas fic
FK Christmas fic listed on the Forever Knight Wiki
The Great Agreste Tree Heist [1] by shadowmayura (Miraculous Ladybug)

Art

Pam Whitelark portrays Chewbacca, Leia, R2D2, and C-3PO decorating the carbonite block like a Christmas tree, from Imperium #3 (1983)
KOZ shows Harrison Ford as three characters meant to be The Three Wise Men (from Facets #5) (1983)
from SMUT!, Spock is a naked Christmas tree (1983)
Mary Jean Holmes, from Shadowstar #16 (Star Wars) (1984)
Mary Wood, from Shadowstar #29 (Star Wars) (1988)
some Christmas wishes from their house to yours, from Sons and Daughters of the Force (Star Wars) (1990)
from Christmas in Collinsport by Sherlock (Dark Shadows) (1992)
from Christmas Lites by Anja Gruber (The Professionals) (1993)
Cover art for Once Upon a Time is Now #50 by Sandy Shelton (Beauty and the Beast) (1993)
from Tales of the Empire #4 by Gerald Crotty (Star Wars) (1998)
from Data Entries #43 by T'az (Star Trek: TNG) (1999)
Jim and Blair don santa hats, art by Ankaree for a story in My Mongoose (The Sentinel) (2005)
from Supernatural Christmas Tales #2 by Tree66 (Supernatural) (2008)
banner for The Great Agreste Tree Heist. Art and fic by shadowmayura (Miraculous Ladybug) (2019)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!! have an AWESOME DAY!!!!!!!!! by yellowceiling (Marvel) (2024)