Enter the Runway #128!

[Nielo]

Be sure to check out the rules if you're new to this contest (or if you simply want to refresh your knowledge of them). They can be found right here.
If you want to send me a screenshot of your entry (instead of the image DTI provides), but don't know how, check out this guide.

Current theme: Holiday Happiness
Description: Dress up any pet you'd like in a way which celebrates your favourite (or not, I can't check that) holiday. Local to where you live, or international; "official", or more of a tradition for a (small) group of people, anything goes. (Although, maybe steer clear of any potentially offensive parts that some holidays haven't quite gotten rid of. I say this as a person from a country with a particular holiday that somehow still involves blackface.)
Entering period: Monday, July 19 - Sunday, July 25
Voting period: Monday, July 26 - Sunday, August 1st

If you have any questions about this round, or the Runway in general, just post them here, or send me a message*.

*And if my inbox ever happens to be full (again), just tag me in a post here and I'll get right on that.

[jellysundae]

  On 7/19/2021 at 8:21 PM, Nielo said:

(Although, maybe steer clear of any potentially offensive parts that some holidays haven't quite gotten rid of. I say this as a person from a country with a particular holiday that somehow still involves blackface.)

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Of course completely intrigued by this now! @__@ Will you educate us?

[Singledwish123]

  On 7/20/2021 at 6:43 PM, jellysundae said:

Of course completely intrigued by this now! @__@ Will you educate us?

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I think Nielo means Sinterklaas, a children's holiday in the Netherlands. Google "Black Pete" or "Zwarte Piet."

[Nielo]

  On 7/20/2021 at 6:43 PM, jellysundae said:

Of course completely intrigued by this now! @__@ Will you educate us?

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  On 7/20/2021 at 6:54 PM, Singledwish123 said:

I think Nielo means Sinterklaas, a children's holiday in the Netherlands. Google "Black Pete" or "Zwarte Piet."

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That's correct. I'll add context below, but I'll put it in spoiler tags, so people can choose whether or not they want to read about this, and also because - even though I assume there will be no young Dutch kids here (who can read English at this level) - there are things about this children's holiday that I'd usually not discuss with actual kids present. XD
 

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In short (well, as short as possible while still giving some context, but not delving too deep into the rather long history/current discussion about the holiday):

Sinterklaas (based on the historical figure of Saint Nicholas of Myra, and, let's say, a distant cousin of Santa Claus ) arrives from Spain each year (not sure how he ended up in Spain though) to give presents to the children. He arrives by steamboat. (Don't ask me why he opted for this particular form of transportation...) He delivers these presents at night, through the chimney, into shoes the kids will have placed there before going to bed (they'll often include a gift for Sinterklaas, like a drawing, or a carrot for his horse).
(Yes, he rides a horse. On the roof. At night.)

However, since he's quite old, he has help delivering these gifts, from "Black Pete". As the story (at least, the version which I was told as a kid) goes, Pete's blackness is due to the soot from all the chimneys he goes through to deliver the presents. Which, story-wise, makes sense. But, in practice, this translates to a bunch of people walking around in blackface each November/December. (This holiday is celebrated all over the country, and the arrival of Sinterklaas is actually a televised event that's even reported - in all seriousness - on the actual news each year, to give you an idea of how big this holiday is over here, and how seriously people take it.)

Historically, Pete's origins are obviously super shady (slavery connotations), and there have been times where Pete wasn't so much represented as a white dude with soot on his face, but as a full on racist caricature.  
Now, this had already improved somewhat when I was a kid, but blackface was definitely still the default. (From what I recall, us kids definitely assumed all the black stuff on their faces was soot though. I remember one particular instance in kindergarten, where most (all?) of my classmates wanted to touch Pete's face, because they were wondering if the soot would come off. It did, obviously, because it was face-paint. This satisfied their curiosity.)

For the past decade (or two?), there has been a lot of discussion (to put it mildly) about the use of blackface during this holiday, and there have been some changes (for instance, Pete now being obviously white, with just a couple of soot stains on his face), but some people are holding on tight to the blackface part, because "iT's TRadiTIOn".

That's about where we're at right now. It's a sloooooow process, apparently.

 

[GlitchtaleLover]

Ok this has to be the perfect theme for me, I'm obsessed with random silly holidays!! XD

I'm looking forward to this one, hope everyone has fun making their entries!

[Aussiechick]

Here is Zafareene at our Easter show. A fun fair based celebration of the Easter festival in Australia.

http://impress.openneo.net/outfits/2381199

Entitled At the Easter Show.

[Nielo]

  On 7/21/2021 at 7:23 AM, Aussiechick said:

Here is Zafareene at our Easter show. A fun fair based celebration of the Easter festival in Australia.

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Hi, thanks for your entry! But could you please send it as a personal message to me? For more info, check the rules page.  

[aleu1986]

Sent in my entry! Looking forward to seeing what fun holidays and celebrations will be showcased.

[jellysundae]

Didn't manage to enter this one, inspiration just wasn't having any of it. So there'll be much from me when I see the entries and realise what I could have done!

[Nielo]

  On 7/26/2021 at 10:14 AM, jellysundae said:

Didn't manage to enter this one, inspiration just wasn't having any of it. So there'll be much from me when I see the entries and realise what I could have done!

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I totally get that, this is definitely one those themes that requires inspiration. (Back when I still entered, my usual M.O. was just trying random things until I found something that worked; don't think I could've managed that with this theme. )