AI Models Invent Two New Winter Holidays: Thawmark and The Clatter
Key Points
- ChatGPT created "Thawmark," a quiet winter holiday focused on small repairs, neighborhood walks, and shared warmth breaks.
- Thawmark occurs on the "first clear Sunday after the deepest midwinter stretch" and ends with a simple clap ritual.
- Gemini invented "The Clatter," a bold holiday featuring furniture relocation, loud metallic sounds, and a frozen spicy dish.
- The Clatter is set for the "second Friday of February" and encourages disruptive, high‑energy activities.
- Both holidays illustrate AI’s capacity to generate culturally resonant traditions based on human winter experiences.
ChatGPT and Gemini each created a fictional winter holiday, offering distinct rituals to break the monotony of the season. ChatGPT's Thawmark focuses on quiet, reflective activities like small repairs, neighborhood walks, and shared warmth breaks. Gemini's The Clatter encourages bold, disruptive actions such as moving furniture and loud, sensory challenges. Both concepts showcase how AI can simulate cultural traditions, illustrating contrasting approaches to coping with winter’s stillness.
AI-Generated Winter Celebrations
Two leading artificial‑intelligence chatbots, ChatGPT and Gemini, were tasked with inventing new holidays that would fit within the winter season without echoing existing celebrations. Each model produced a distinct concept, highlighting different human responses to the cold, dark months.
Thawmark: A Quiet Re‑Expansion
ChatGPT’s holiday, named Thawmark, is described as a low‑stakes way to interrupt the feeling of being trapped indoors. It is scheduled for the "first clear Sunday after the deepest midwinter stretch." The day begins with a "Small Repair," a modest task such as sewing a button or tightening a chair leg, completed before noon. Participants then take a "Marking Walk," a quiet stroll through the neighborhood to notice changes in trees, storefronts, and neighbors.
Midday brings "Borrowed Heat Stops," where neighbors open their homes for brief warmth breaks, each accompanied by a prompt for quiet reflection. A signature drink called "Steamglass"—hot water infused with aromatic ingredients like orange peel, ginger, or rosemary—adds a sensory element. The day concludes with a simple "Check‑Out Clap," three claps followed by a long exhale and a playful noise.
Children’s activities include a "Token Hunt" during the walk, encouraging them to find striking winter items, and "Warmth Mapping," where they color the areas of the house that feel warmest. These traditions aim to foster observation, modest productivity, and shared comfort.
The Clatter: A Loud Defiance
Gemini’s holiday, called The Clatter, takes a more vigorous approach, scheduled for the "second Friday of February." It begins with the "Furniture Migration," moving a heavy piece of furniture into an ill‑fitting room to create visual disruption. At noon, participants perform the "Vessel Echo," scooping cold outdoor air into large pots and delivering a sharp metallic ping to shake the silence.
Throughout the day, people "scuff" around the house in thick socks, generating a constant low‑shush sound. The centerpiece dish, "Snap‑Block," is a frozen slab of savory broth, root vegetables, and intense pepper and ginger, broken into shards and consumed for a sharp, icy bite. Children are encouraged to treat the altered home as a fort, climbing over misplaced furniture and enjoying unrestricted play.
The Clatter’s rituals emphasize breaking routine, sensory intensity, and collective exuberance, offering a stark contrast to Thawmark’s subdued tone.
What the Holiday Concepts Reveal
Both AI‑generated holidays demonstrate the models’ ability to synthesize cultural patterns from their training data. Thawmark reflects a desire for gentle community connection and mindful observation, while The Clatter captures a craving for energetic disruption and physical expression. The exercise illustrates how AI can imagine new traditions that resonate with human emotional needs during winter, even though the models themselves do not experience these feelings.