Myths of Merriment

[Jeremy]

Have you heard of the tale of the legendary Christmas Spider, Grýla the child-eating ogress, the thirteen mischievous Yule Lads, or Krampus the terrifying Christmas demon? These are just a few examples of the strange Christmas and winter solstice folktales that have been told and retold over the last several centuries. In this two-part event, you'll start by telling your own Christmastime folktale. Then you'll retell someone else's tale through art! Over time, folklore changes through adaptation and reinterpretation, which will also be the case for your stories when, one year from now, they are retold again in writing based only on these depictions.

This thread has two different tasks, allowing you to earn up to 80 Snowflakes. Don't forget to come back for part 2!

How It Works and How To Participate

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Part 1, Storytelling: Write a short holiday-themed folktale or description of an invented folklore character. It should be original and have a length between three sentences and three paragraphs.

• Starts: Thursday, December 12th. OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
• Ends: Monday, December 16th at 11:59 PM EST.
• Write your original folktale and post it in this thread before the end date.
• It should be at least three sentences and at most three paragraphs long.

Part 2, Retelling Through Adaptation: Select one of the folktales written by another user and create a drawing that tells the story or depicts the described character.

• Starts: Tuesday, December 17th. NOT OPEN YET
• Ends: Tuesday, December 24th at 11:59 PM EST.
• Look through the thread and select a story you'd like to depict.
• You're free to select any story you'd like, but some users may not have theirs drawn by anyone. Let's try our best to draw as many different stories as possible!
• Draw the scene or character, doing the best you can to tell the folktale with a single image using either digital or traditional art.
• Include your full TBT username in the artwork.
• To submit, quote the original post that contains the folktale you are depicting and upload the image you created for it. Check "entry" on the attachment so it gets marked as an event entry.

Christmas Yet to Come: During a future winter event, users will select one of the drawings from part 2 without seeing the original written folktale. They'll be tasked with writing a folktale based on the drawing and we'll see how different the story becomes after multiple retellings.


Rules

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• Only one entry per part per person.
• Do not edit your posts after submitting them unless requested to do so by a staff member.
• Your entries must be suitable for a PG-13 audience and must not violate our Rules and Guidelines.
• A reasonable amount of effort should be put into your submissions. Entries that appear rushed and/or submitted jokingly will not be accepted.
• For written submissions in part 1:
  • The piece must be written by you alone without assistance from other people or AI.
• For art submissions in part 2:
  • Your full TBT username must be clearly visible on both pages for a digital submission or in the photo(s) for a traditional submission.
  • You must attach the images of your entry and check "entry" on the attachment's thumbnail. (See this post from a previous event if you're unsure how.)
  • Your entry must comply with the TBT Art Event Submission Policies and Guidelines. This includes no AI generated work. If we have reason to believe that AI was used to generate all or part of your submission, it will not be accepted.

Prizes

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Part 1, Storytelling

• Participation: 30 Snowflakes

Part 2, Retelling Through Adaptation

• Participation: 50 Snowflakes and 2 Chocolate Coins
• Staff Favorite:
  
  Special Snowflake collectible

FAQs

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Q: Does my folktale need to be holiday-themed?
A: It should be related to the holidays, the winter season, or gift-giving in some way.

Q: Does my drawing need to be based on Animal Crossing?
A: No, your drawing does not need to be based on Animal Crossing at all, but you can draw it that way if you'd like.

 

[Firesquids]

The Jinglehopper
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The Jinglehopper is a most wondrous Yuletide beast that not many can truthfully claim to have witnessed. Only surfacing from its underground burrow as the season's first snow starts to stick, its pure white fur blends in so well with the fallen snow that it's nearly impossible to spot! Its form is that of a glittering white rabbit with long floppy ears and two delicate twig-like antlers that can be adorned with holly berries. Extremely timid and quick to flee, most "sightings" of the Jinglehopper are actually just accounts of hearing the soft ringing of jingle bells fading into the blanketing quiet of the snow as it makes its escape. It is said that hand feeding the Jinglehopper brings good fortune for the following year.

 

[You got mail!]

Every year, tons of poor snowmen get burned and melted by mischievous pranksters. One very special snowman, named Justy, (short for justice) seeks to avenge the melted and the kind people that took the time to build them. Whenever Justy spots a prankster melting a snowman, he goes in and turns the prankster into a snowman themselves! So give snowmen the respect they deserve or Justy The Snowman will make you chill.

 

[seliph]

The Egg Noggin

This Christmas, be sure to keep an eye on those ornaments! The big-headed creature known as The Egg Noggin will make an attempt to take over Christmas, turning all of your shiny sparkly ornaments into eggs! If you notice one of your ornaments has taken on a more ovular appearance than usual, be sure to dispose of it quickly, for the eggening has begun! If the infection is not handled with haste it will spread to the others around it, and you'll be scrambling to save your precious Christmas tree! The Egg Noggin - He's no yolk!

 

[Jacob]

Legend has it that Jingle doesn't ALWAYS hand out presents to the villagers of Jakecity...

Much like a more familiar acting Santa Claus, Jingle actually keeps both a nice AND naughty list throughout the year. Except, getting coal for being bad would be a treat compared to the myth of what Jingle punishes naughty villagers with on Toy Day.

The nasty Grinchoid has been known to appear under the tree on Toy Day, but instead of making a routine silly noise all year like his other gyroid cousins, the Grinchoid has a habit of throwing things at whoever he's been gifted to. I'm talking Snowballs... coal... tomatoes sometimes... Anything Grinchoid can get his hands on, he's chucking right at your face.

I have chills just thinking about it!

 

[Alolan_Apples]

The Present Phantom

Every year, a family puts toys or other stuff in boxes before wrapping the boxes. However, they forgot to put one toy in its box before wrapping the present. The empty present came to life and started haunting others. It can suck in anything to store it, and it spits out what it stores as a way to attack others. It can even eat snow and use it to spit snowballs at people.

 

[Yanrima~]

The Clawed Present
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These monsters appeared during winter disguised themselves as various packages and presents to scare unsuspecting villagers. They may look like a normal gift when being seen, but they actually look hideous and at times horrifying in their true forms.

The true form is described to have Ribbons that were shaped like claws and they can grow multiple of these ribbon-like arms, the box-like body possesses multiple eyes in which they can see through everything. Inside these clawed presents lies an empty black hole that can sometimes include missing items although it's an ilusion. You can only escape from the black hole once you have a star fragment in your possession which you can get outside during night or within the depths inside the black hole.

 

[Plainbluetees]

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"Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"
Most people have come to learn this familiar quote regarding our late and dearly departed gingerbread man.
However, most are not aware of the backstory.
You see, the gingerbread man was initially baked my Mrs. Claus. She put intricate detail into his design. Two gumdrop eyes, frosting smile, candy buttons. She could not force herself to consume him, so she had the elves work some Christmas magic, and voila, a new gingerbread friend came to life.
Everything was going good for the gingerbread man. He had it made, living an easy life of luxury at the North Pole. However, one characteristic of our good friend the gingerbread man was that boredom came to him too easily. He tried ziplining, sky diving, base jumping, nothing seemed to get him excited. He was tired of being bored all the time, so he decided that he would move out of the North Pole to become a bull fighter in Spain. Mrs. Claus was sad to see him go, but supported his dream.

In his first practice, the zealous, eager gingerbread man could not get the bull to notice him. He tried waving his petite red flag. No response. He used the biggest thing he could to get the bull's attention: his voice.
Now, you'll be surprised to hear, that in a drastic turn of events, Mr. gingerbread man's fate is not decided by the bull, but instead by the bird sitting in a nearby telephone pole, who was in need of a tasty snack. Thus, the moral of the story, is never keep your guard down, especially if you're only 5 inches tall.

 

[skarmoury]

A tall tale of the Fugitive Feline Felon.

Be cautious of leaving out cookies and milk on the table on Christmas Eve... I heard a few homes around the world have noted a creature with cat-like ears and a cat-like tail jump into chimneys and eat the gifted treats before the holiday man Santa can even get to them, causing his immense disappointment. A thief in the night, it lets out a chilling meow before leaving the home, indicating you have become a victim! And if that wasn't enough damning evidence, in the morning, unsuspecting people visited by this thief will note a chocolate pawprint on the empty plate of cookies.

Is it a cat, you ask? They say no. Close to one, they suppose, but some witness accounts state they describe it more as an odd creature. Who's to say, though? No one has actually caught this fugitive feline felon.