A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are commonly celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar. The science of religious rites and festivals is known as heortology.
Ancient Roman
Festivals
(feriae) were an important part of Roman religious life during both the
Roman Republic and
Roman Empire, and were one of the primary features of the
Roman calendar.
Feriae ("holidays" in the sense of "holy days") were either public
(publicae) or private
(privatus). State holidays were celebrated by the Roman people and received public funding.
Feriae privatae were holidays celebrated in honor of private individuals or by families.
[H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), pp. 38–39.]
The 1st-century BC scholar Varro defined feriae as "days instituted for the sake of the gods."[Varro, De lingua Latina 6.12 (dies deorum causa instituti, as cited by Scullard, p. 39, noting also the phrase dis dedicati, "dedicated to the gods," in Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.16.2.] A deity's festival often marked the anniversary ( dies natalis, "birthday") of the founding of the deity's temple, or a rededication after a major renovation.[Hendrik Wagenvoort, "Initia Cereris," in Studies in Roman Literature, Culture and Religion (Brill, 1956), pp. 163–164.] Public business was suspended for the performance of religious rites on the feriae. Cicero says that people who were free should not engage in lawsuits and quarrels, and slaves should get a break from their labors.[Cicero, De legibus 2.29, as cited by Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 39.] On calendars of the Republic and early Empire, the religious status days were marked by letters such as F (for fastus), and N (for nefastus, when political activities and the administration of justice were prohibited). By the late 2nd century AD, extant calendars no longer show these letters, probably as a result of calendar reforms undertaken by Marcus Aurelius that recognized the changed religious environment of the empire.[Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), pp. 17, 178.]
On surviving Roman calendars, festivals that appear in large capital letters (such as the Lupercalia and Parilia) are thought to have been the most ancient holidays, becoming part of the calendar before 509 BC.[Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 41.] Some of the oldest festivals are not named for deities.[Wagenvoort, "Initia Cereris," pp. 163–164.] During the Roman Empire, several traditional festivals localized at Rome became less important, and the birthdays and anniversaries of the emperor and his family gained prominence as Roman holidays. Games (ludi), such as the Ludi Apollinares, were often dedicated to particular deities, but were not technically feriae, although they might be holidays in the modern sense of days off work (dies festi). After the mid-1st century AD, there were more frequent spectacles and games (ludi circenses) held in the venue called a "circus", in honor of various deities or for imperial anniversaries (dies Augusti). A religious festival held on a single day, such as the Floralia, might be expanded with games over multiple days (Ludi Florae); the festival of Flora is seen as a precursor of May Day festivities.[Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 17, 120ff., 178; entry on "Bacchanalia and Saturnalia," in The Classical Tradition, edited by Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, and Salvatore Settis (Harvard University Press, 2010), p. 116.]
A major source for Roman holidays is Ovid's Fasti, a poem that describes and provides origins for festivals from Ianuarius to June at the time of Augustus. Because it ends with June, less is known about Roman festivals in the second half of the year, with the exception of the Saturnalia, a religious festival in honor of Saturn on December 17 that expanded with celebrations through December 23. Probably the best-known Roman festival, some of its customs, such as gift-giving and the prevalence of candles, are thought to have influenced popular celebrations of Christmas.[Mary Beard, J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price, Religions of Rome: A Sourcebook (Cambridge University Press, 1998), vol. 2, p. 124; Craig A. Williams, Martial: Epigrams Book Two (Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 259 (on the custom of gift-giving); entry on "Bacchanalia and Saturnalia," in The Classical Tradition, p. 116; C. Bennet Pascal, "October Horse," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 85 (1981), p. 289.]
Buddhist
Japanese festivals and
Barua festivals often involve
Buddhist culture, as do
held as
fairs held at Buddhist temples in countries such as Thailand. Features of Buddhist Tibetan festivals may include the traditional
cham dance, which is also a feature of some Buddhist festivals in
India and
Bhutan. Many festivals of Nepal are religious festivals involving Buddhism.
Christian
The central festival of
Christianity is
Easter, on which Christians celebrate their belief that
Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day after his
crucifixion. Even for Easter, however, there is no agreement among the various Christian traditions regarding the date or manner of the observance, less for
Christmas,
Pentecost, or various other holidays. Both
Protestantism and
Catholic Church observe certain festivals commemorating events in the life of Christ, and as well as Eastern Orthodox they often celebrate patronal festivals. Of these, the two most important are Christmas, which commemorates the Birth of Jesus, and Easter, which marks his resurrection.
Festival of Faiths
A celebration of interfaith dialogue, the first Festival of Faiths was held in Louisville, Kentucky,
and in 1998, Senator
Wendell Ford passed a resolution in the United States Congress "to express the sense of the Senate that the Louisville Festival of Faiths should be commended and should serve as model for similar festivals in other communities throughout the United States."
Several cities throughout the United States now host interfaith festivals including Kansas City, Kansas,
St Louis, Missouri,
Indianapolis, Indiana
and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hindu
'Utsava' is the
Sanskrit word for Hindu festivals, meaning 'to cause to grow 'upward'. Hindus observe sacred occasions by festive observances. All festivals in Hinduism are predominantly religious in character and significance. Many festival are seasonal. Some celebrate harvest and the birth of gods or heroes. Some are dedicated to important events in
Hindu mythology. Many are dedicated to
Shiva and
Parvati,
Vishnu and
Lakshmi and
Brahma and
Saraswati.
A festival may be observed with acts of worship, offerings to deities, fasting, feasting, vigil, rituals, fairs, charity, celebrations, Puja, Homa,
aarti etc. They celebrate individual and community life of Hindus without distinction of caste, gender or class. In the
Hindu calendar dates are usually prescribed according to the
lunar calendar. In vedic timekeeping, a
tithi is a
lunar day. Among major festivals are
Diwali,
Gudi Padwa, Pongal,
Holi,
Ganesh Chaturthi,
Raksha Bhandan, Krishna Janmashtami, Dasara or Dussehra, which may refer to the ten days of Sharada
Navratri or the tenth day,
Vijayadashami. Others include
Onam,
Shivaratri,
Ugadi, Rathayatra of
Jagannath at Puri in Ilam, Nepal and many other places in Nepal and many other countries
Islamic
Among major
religious festivals are
Eid ul-Adha,
Eid ul-Fitr and
Ramadan.
Jain
Important festivals include
Paryushan, Mahavir Janma Kalyanak and Diwali.
Jewish
A Jewish holiday (
Yom Tov or
chag in
Hebrew language) is a day that is holy to the
Jewish people according to
Judaism and is usually derived from the
Hebrew Bible, specifically the
Torah, and in some cases established by the
in later eras. There are a number of festival days, fast days (
ta'anit) and days of remembrance.
Mandaean
Parwanaya is the largest Mandaean festival.
[ Collection: Parwanaya (Banja) Festival: Unedited Clips , The Worlds of Mandaean Priests , University of Exeter]
Dehwa Honina or Dehwa Ṭurma (the Little Feast) is a Mandaean religious festival which takes place on the 18th of Taura (Ayar), celebrating the return of the divine messenger Hibil Ziwa from the World of Darkness to the World of Light.
Mandaeans also celebrate Dehwa Rabba (New Year's Day) and Dehwa Daymaneh (Birthday of John the Baptist).
Neo-Pagan
Natale di Roma, historically known as
Dies Romana and also referred to as Romaia, the festival linked to the foundation of Rome, celebrated on April 21.
[Plutarch, Parallel Lives - Life of Romulus, 12.2 (from LacusCurtius)] According to
legend,
Romulus is said to have founded the city of
Rome on April 21, 753 BC. From this date, the Roman chronology derived its system, known by the
Latin phrase
Ab Urbe condita, meaning
"from the founding of the City", which counted the years from this presumed foundation.
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith has eleven holy days, which are important anniversaries in the history of the religion.
Sikh
Major
Sikh festivals include
Guru Nanak Gurpurab,
Guru Gobind Gurpurab, Maghi, Poonai, Sangrand, and
Vaisakhi.
Shinto
Sindhi
See also
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Outline of festivals
-
Lists of festivals
-
List of foods with religious symbolism
External links
