festival

Everyday

1. A special day or time when people celebrate something, often with traditions, food, music or religious ceremonies, like Diwali, Eid or Hanukkah. tree →
2. An organised event with lots of performances or activities, like a music festival, a book festival or a film festival. tree →

In the lessons

In religious education and culture lessons, children learn about festivals from many faiths and cultures: Christmas and Easter (Christian), Diwali (Hindu, Sikh, Jain), Eid al-Fitr (Muslim), Hanukkah and Passover (Jewish), Vesak (Buddhist), Lunar New Year, Matariki (Māori New Year), and harvest festivals. Respect for other people's festivals is important. In everyday life, summer festivals have music, rides and food stalls; stay with your group and agree a meeting point in case you get lost. Phrases: "a festival of lights", "music festival", "harvest festival", "celebrate a festival", "festival season".

Examples

• Diwali is a festival of lights. tree →
• Our town has a music festival every summer. tree →
• At the harvest festival we brought food for the food bank. tree →
• Eid is a happy festival at the end of Ramadan. tree →
• Lunar New Year is celebrated with dragons and red envelopes. tree →
• We went to a book festival and met an author. tree →
• If you get lost at the festival, go to the meeting point. tree →
• Matariki is a festival in New Zealand that marks the Māori New Year. tree →
• This festival was celebrated in honour of Ceres. tree →

Note

Countable: a festival, festivals. Adjective: festive (cheerful and celebrating). Spelling: fes-ti-val. In maths, festivals may appear in calendar problems; some (like Easter, Eid or Diwali) move to different dates each year because they follow the Moon.

In Jewish tradition

In the Bible a festival is often a holy feast day, such as Passover or Sukkot, when people gathered to worship God. In Judges it is a pagan harvest celebration.

Interpretation. Tradition counts three pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. Psalm 118 is part of the Hallel prayer sung on festivals.

Examples

• The LORD is God, and hath given us light; order the festival procession with boughs, even unto the horns of the altar. (Writings PSA.118.27, JPS 1917) tree →
• And they went out into the field, and gathered their vineyards, and trod the grapes, and held festival, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech. (Prophets JDG.9.27, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable: a festival, festivals. Adjective: festive (cheerful and celebrating). Spelling: fes-ti-val. In maths, festivals may appear in calendar problems; some (like Easter, Eid or Diwali) move to different dates each year because they follow the Moon.