Wikipedia source excerpts
nment. Festivals that focus on cultural or ethnic topics also seek to inform community members of their traditions; the involvement of elders sharing stories and experience provides a means for unity among families.
Types of festivals
The scale of festivals varies; in location and attendance, they may vary from a local to national level. Music festivals, for example, often bring together disparate groups of people, making them both localised and global. The "vast majority" of festivals are, however, local, modest and populist. The abundance of festivals significantly hinders quantifying their total number. There is significant variation among festivals, beyond the binary dichotomies of sacred and secular, rural and urban, and people and establishment.
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. One example of a Hindu festival is Ganesh Chaturthi, which is dedicated to the god Ganesha and is celebrated throughout India, but especially in Maharashtra. 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.
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. One example of a Hindu festival is Ganesh Chaturthi, which is dedicated to the god Ganesha and is celebrated throughout India, but especially in Maharashtra. 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.