Festival

at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan is an haute couture festival celebrating the global fashion industry. festival by Frederick Arthur Bridgman The word "festival" was originally used as an adjective from the late fourteenth century, obtained from Latin via Old French. In Middle English, a "festival dai" was a religious holiday. The first recorded used of the word "festival" as a noun was in 1589 (as "Festifall"). and its first recorded use as a verb was circa 1300. The word gala comes from Arabic word ''khil'a'', meaning robe of honor. The word gala was formally used to describe "festive dress", but came to be a synonym of "festival" starting in the 18th century. ==History==

, Belgium, in the 17th century Festivals have long been important in human culture and history and are found in virtually all cultures. The importance of festivals, to the present, is found in private and public; non religious and religious life. Saturnalia was likely influential to Christmas and Carnival. Festivals prospered following the Second World War. Art festivals became more prominent by the turn of the 21st century. In modern times, festivals are offered to public as a global tourist prospect although they are commonly public or not-for-profit. ==Traditions==

Many festivals have religious origins and entwine cultural and religious significance in traditional activities. The most important religious festivals such as Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Holi, Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha serve to mark out the year. Others, such as harvest festivals, celebrate seasonal change. Events of historical significance, such as important military victories or other nation-building events also provide the stimulus for a festival. An early example is the festival established by Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses III celebrating his victory over the Libyans. In many countries, royal holidays commemorate dynastic events just as agricultural holidays are about harvests. Festivals are often commemorated annually. There are numerous types of festivals in the world and most countries celebrate important events or traditions with traditional cultural events and activities. Most culminate in the consumption of specially prepared food (showing the connection to "feasting") and they bring people together. Festivals are also strongly associated with national holidays. Lists of national festivals are published to make participation easier. ==Types of festivals==

The scale of festivals varies; in location and attendance, they may vary from a local to national level. The "vast majority" of festivals are, however, local, modest and populist. Religious festivals Among many religions, a feast is a set of celebrations in honour of God or various deities. A feast and a festival are historically interchangeable. Most religions have festivals that occurs 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. Vodoun days is also one of the religious festivals of Benin which invites surrounding countries like Togo and Ghana because of the almost identical culture and tradition. Vodoun days is a festival of Vodoun. Even in Togo Godogbe za of Gblinkomegan is a traditional celebration based on ancestor worship. 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, Evangelical Lutheran and Anglican liturgical calendars there are a great number of lesser feasts throughout the year commemorating saints, sacred events or doctrines. Within Evangelical Lutheranism, "festival" is part of the ranking of feast days. In the Philippines, each day of the year has at least one specific religious festival, either from Catholic, Islamic, or indigenous origins. Hindus celebrate many festivals, such as Navaratri, Holi, Rama Navami, Karva Chauth, Diwali, Pongal, Kartika Purnima; among others. Most Hindu festivals are not celebrated by all Hindus. During the festival, idols of the god Ganesha, traditionally made of clay, are worshipped, and on the same day or after 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 or 11 days, are immersed in water. The public celebration of the festival, which includes a public procession, was promoted by Bal Gangadhar Tilak as a means of asserting and celebrating a Hindu nationalist identity and to provide a sense of Hindu solidarity during the British Raj in India. Buddhist religious festivals, such as Esala Perahera are held in Sri Lanka and Thailand. 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 exhibit 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. 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. Both Beaujolais nouveau and the Japanese rice wine sake are associated with harvest time. In the Philippines, there are at least two hundred festivals dedicated to food and drinks. Seasonal and harvest festivals Seasonal festivals, such as Beltane, are determined by the solar and the lunar calendars and by the cycle of the seasons, especially because of its effect on food supply, as a result of which there is a wide range of ancient and modern harvest festivals. Ancient Egyptians relied upon the seasonal inundation caused by the Nile River, a form of irrigation, which provided fertile land for crops. In the Alps, in autumn the return of the cattle from the mountain pastures to the stables in the valley is celebrated as Almabtrieb. A recognized winter festival, the Chinese New Year, is set by the lunar calendar, and celebrated from the day of the second new moon after the winter solstice. Dree Festival of the Apatanis living in Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh is celebrated every year from July 4 to 7 by praying for a bumper crop harvest. Midsummer or St John's Day, is an example of a seasonal festival, related to the feast day of a Christian saint as well as a celebration of the time of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, where it is particularly important in Sweden. Winter carnivals also provide the opportunity to utilise to celebrate creative or sporting activities requiring snow and ice. In the Philippines, each day of the year has at least one festival dedicated to harvesting of crops, fishes, crustaceans, milk, and other local goods. == Politics ==

Scholarly literature notes that festivals functionally disseminate political values and meaning, such as ownership of place, which undergoes transformation in accordance with the festival. Festivals may be used to rehabilitate or elevate the image of a city; the ephemerality of festivals means that their impact is often incorporeal, of name, memory and perception. In deviating from routine, festivals may reinforce the convention, be it social, cultural or economic. ==Study of festivals==

• Festive ecology – explores the relationships between the symbolism and the ecology of the plants, fungi and animals associated with cultural events such as festivals, processions and special occasions. • Heortology – the study of religious festivals. It was originally only used in respect of Christian festivals, but it now covers all religions, in particular those of Ancient Greece. See list of foods with religious symbolism for some topical overlap. [chirag] ==See also==