The Mandalorian Season 3: What Is the Boonta's Eve Holiday Star Wars?
It's the holiday season, at least on Tatooine, if the latest episode of Disney+'s Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian is to be believed. The Mandalorian Season 3's second episode, "Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore," kicks off on Boonta's Eve, with racing taking place in the streets of the desert planet's streets while fireworks explode overhead. When a Rodian brings Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) a rush job, she laments having to work on Boonta's Eve. She then advises the Jawas she subcontracts the job to that they should go out scavenging since vehicles are likely to be unguarded during the festivities.
But this isn't the first time Boonta's Eve has been mentioned or observed in the Star Wars universe. Its existence goes all the way back to the pre-Disney Star Wars era.
What is Boonta's Eve in Star Wars?
"Boonta" first appears in the Star Wars universe in an episode of the now largely forgotten Star Wars: Droids animated series. It's there that Boonta and racing are first linked through the Boonta Speeder Race, and that connection leads to Boonta's Eve's highest profile mention years later. Boonta, in the series, is a planet, but the Star Wars Legends canon later established that the planet had been renamed Boonta after a Hutt, Boonta Hestilic Shad'ruu, who supposedly ascended to godhood after defeating the forces of enemies who would have taken control of the planet. The Boonta's Eve holiday came to celebrate the speech that Boonta gave his forces on the eve of their victorious battle.
Boonta's Eve is celebrated on Hutt-controlled planets and, according to certain legends sources, is very much a Hutt holiday. Part of the ritual is slaves renewing their promise of obedience to their masters and being rewarded with gifts and feasts.
The Boonta's Eve Classic pod-racing classic in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
The best-known appearance of Boonta's Eve in the Star Wars universe is the Boonta's Eve Classic. That's the pod-racing event held during Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
It's an annual event on Tatooine, taking place in and around Mos Espa. In The Phantom Menace, Jabba the Hutt presides over the event, and Anakin Skywalker emerges victorious, winning his freedom (unbeknownst to him at the time), which sets the major arc of the Skywalker saga in motion.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian is streaming now on Disney+. The series debuts new episodes on Wednesdays.