Festivals

Project by: Stan Alexandru Ionuț

Class: X-B
What is a festival?

A festival is an extraordinary event celebrated by a community and

centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its
religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid.
A festival constitutes typical cases of glocalization, as well as the high culture-
low culture interrelationship. Next to religion and folklore, a significant origin is
agricultural. Food is such a vital resource that many festivals are associated with
harvest time. Religious commemoration and thanksgiving for good harvests are
blended in events that take place in autumn, such as Halloween in the northern
hemisphere and Easter in the southern.
History of festivals
Festivals have long been significant in human culture and are found in
virtually all cultures. The importance of festivals, to the present, is found in private
and public; secular and religious life. Ancient Greek and Roman societies relied
heavily upon festivals, both communal and administrative. Saturnalia was likely
influential to Christmas and Carnival. Celebration of social occasions, religion and
nature were common. Specific festivals have century-long histories and festivals in
general have developed over the last few centuries – some traditional festivals in
Ghana, for example, predate European colonisation of the 15th century. Festivals
prospered following the Second World War. Both established in 1947, Avignon
Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe have been notable in shaping the
modern model of festivals.[17] Art festivals became more prominent by the turn of
the 21st century. In modern times, festivals are commodified as a global tourist
prospect although they are commonly public or not-for-profit.
Types of festivals

 Religious festivals

 Arts festivals

 Seasonal and harvest festivals

 Religious festivals

Among many religions, a feast is a set of celebrations in honour of God or gods. A feast and
a festival are historically interchangeable. Most religions have festivals that recur annually and some,
such as Passover, Easter and Eid al-Adha are moveable feasts – that is, those that are determined
either by lunar or agricultural cycles or the calendar in use at the time. The Sed festival, for example,
celebrated the thirtieth year of an Egyptian pharaoh's rule and then every three (or four in one case)
years after that. Among the Ashantis, most of their traditional festivals are linked to gazette sites
which are believed to be sacred with several rich biological resources in their pristine forms. Thus,
the annual commemoration of the festivals helps in maintaining the buoyancy of the conserved
natural site, assisting in biodiversity conservation.
 In the Christian liturgical calendar, there are two principal feasts, properly known as the
Feast of the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas) and the Feast of the Resurrection (Easter), but minor
festivals in honour of local patron saints are celebrated in almost all countries influenced by
Christianity. In the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican liturgical calendars there are a great
number of lesser feasts throughout the year commemorating saints, sacred events or doctrines. In the
Philippines, each day of the year has at least one specific religious festival, either from Catholic,
Islamic, or indigenous origins.

Buddhist religious festivals, such as Esala Perahera are held in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Hindu
festivals, such as Holi are very ancient. The Sikh community celebrates the Vaisakhi festival marking
the new year and birth of the Khalsa.
 Arts festivals

 Among the many offspring of general arts festivals are also more specific types of festivals,
including ones that showcase intellectual or creative achievement such as science festivals,
literary festivals and music festivals. Sub-categories include comedy festivals, rock festivals,
jazz festivals and buskers festivals; poetry festivals, theatre festivals, and storytelling
festivals; and re-enactment festivals such as Renaissance fairs. In the Philippines, aside from
numerous art festivals scattered throughout the year, February is known as national arts
month, the culmination of all art festivals in the entire archipelago. The modern model of
music festivals began in the 1960s-70s and have become a lucrative global industry.
Predecessors extend back to the 11th century and some, such as the Three Choirs Festival,
remain to this day.

 Film festivals involve the screenings of several different films, and are usually held annually.
Some of the most significant film festivals include the Berlin International Film Festival, the
Venice Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival.
Exemple of art festival in our country
 Untold Festival: Is the largest electronic music festival held in Romania, taking place in Cluj-Napoca at
the Cluj Arena. It is held annually and has been designated Best Major Festival in the European Festival
Awards 2015. Guests come from a vast range of European countries, as well as Asia and North America.
 General information’s about Untold Festival:
 Genre: EDM (main), trance, techno, house, electro house, progressive house, pop, indie pop, hip
hop, drum and bass, dubstep, reggae, jazz, R&B, soul
 Dates: 4–7 August 2022
 Location(s): Cluj-Napoca, Romania
 Years active: 2015-Present
 Attendence: 372.000 (present)
 Organised by: SHARE Cluj-Napoca Federation
 Website: www.untold.com
Seasonal and harvest festivals
 A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the
main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the
world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. Harvest
festivals typically feature feasting, both family and public, with foods that are drawn from
crops.
 In Britain, thanks have been given for successful harvests since pagan times. Harvest
festivals are held in September or October depending on local tradition. The modern
Harvest Festival celebrations include singing hymns, praying, and
decorating churches with baskets of fruit and food in the festival known as Harvest
Festival, Harvest Home, Harvest Thanksgiving or Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving.
 In British and English-Caribbean churches, chapels and schools, and some Canadian
churches, people bring in produce from the garden, the allotment or farm. The food is
often distributed among the poor and senior citizens of the local community or used to
raise funds for the church, or charity.
Bibliography
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival#Arts_festivals
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_festival
 https://untold.com

Thank you for your attention!