Hearth's warming eve

The Ponyworld equivalent of Christmas (because, as I've said before, if there IS a religion in Equestria, it's kind of kept out of the episodes*) is Hearth's Warming Eve, which is also a bit of a Founder's Day type thing - in the original mythology of it (Season Two, if I remember correctly?) it was how the three Pony tribes (Earth Pony, Unicorn, Pegasus) managed to start working together and survive a harsh winter as a result.

But just as Christian Christmas has changed greatly through the years (from a minor festival of the church, to an outright banned celebration under Cromwell, to the Victorian festival, to the feast-of-consumption that secular American Christmas has become...), so has Hearth's Warming Eve apparently changed.

It seems it's largely a celebration of enjoying friends and family, which is fitting given the ethos of the Ponyverse. Gifts are exchanged but they seem to generally be small and not lavish. There's a big meal, there are traditional decorations (they have something like a Christmas tree in modern Ponyville), there are games that are played....generally, it does seem to be spending time around ponies you love, which is a good thing.

Anyway, there have been three episodes on it: the "origin" episode where we see a pageant that supposedly tells the "original" story; a family story where the Pies and the Apples join forces (because they might just be distantly related) but find they have somewhat clashing traditions (but, in the best pony-episode traditions, they are resolved), and then, most recently, a retelling of A Christmas Carol which I personally found tremendously fun and endearing. And it has a lot of songs in it - those kinds of storytelling episodes seem to lend themselves well to being mini-musicals.

One of my favorite songs from the entire series comes from this episode. I'm not sure if it's more the tune (sort of a vaguely ragtimeish song that is very catchy) or the sentiment behind it (being loving and generous makes you feel good) that I like more. But Pinkie Pie songs are generally really fun songs:



(*I have hypotheses on this. There have once or twice been things suggesting the Ponies are aware of the existence of God, though God - in whatever form the Ponies understand God - isn't mentioned. Others have suggested that Luna and Celestia are actually goddesses, and that has some merit as an idea, seeing as "As Celestia is my witness...." has been said at least once.)