Festivals

The many types of festivals

What is festivals?

Typically, festivals involve people coming together in the act of celebration. In ancient times, people would gather together to bring harvests in, often working cooperatively to ensure there was enough food to see them through the winter. In many cultures, harvest festivals hark back to such a time before harvesting was largely mechanised. As more people were gathered than was usual and more time was available for people to mix, so such festivals started to take on a greater cultural significance, perhaps with the addition of music and dance. This is the ancestor of the modern arts festival. In addition, modern festival events include ones devoted to food and drink, perhaps to promote a certain food-producing region or product. The other major form of festivals is devoted to religion. Often, religious festivals coincide with public holidays.

What is the festival season?

In much of the western world, the summer period is associated with a long festival season that starts in May and continues through into September. These days, there are some huge festivals, like Glastonbury, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, that people attend in great numbers. Given that camping is usual at many festival events, the summer is the best time to hold them. Film festivals and venue-based ones tend to take place at other times of the year because they can be run indoors.

What are the major religious festivals in the world?

Some religious festivals, like Christmas, are fixed to a single point in the calendar. Others move, usually according to the lunar calendar. Passover is one of the most important religious celebrations in the Jewish tradition. It coincides with the Christian festival of Easter. For the Sikh community, the Vaisakhi festival is one of the most important. For Hindus, Diwali is among the most keenly anticipated. Eid al-Fitr is a significant festival for Muslims while Esala Perahera is celebrated within certain Buddhist communities, notably in Thailand.

Are there dangers in attending large festivals?

Some people worry about going to a large, outdoor festival. Usual precautions should be taken to safeguard your belongings. Only consume drinks you know cannot have been interfered with and stick with your friends, so you are not isolated. Many people enjoy large gatherings, and the experiences festivals offer without ever suffering from anything negative.

Discussions and topics about Festivals

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    Happy onam for all Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala(south India). This festival comemmorates the visiting of the righteous demon king mahabali who went to patalaloga by vamana(reincarnatio ...
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