The concept, origins and types of festivals

Abstract

This is first of conceptual chapters of the book, presenting the basic ideas connected with the festivals their genesis, development and their diversity. The chapter presents definitions of the festival taken from various sciences, including anthropology, sociology and geography. The perception of festivals in contemporary science and the key characteristics distinguishing them from other events, such as business or sports events, are presented. The chapter also includes the description of the advent of festivals. In antiquity, festivals were an emanation of the culture and religion of primitive tribes. Later, they developed and became more diversified as a result of cultural advancements, among other things. This chapter covers the issues of the historical development of festivals due to an increase in the amount of free time and average income, as well as the emergence of so-called experience societies in the twentieth century. This part of the book includes the description of the main factors of festival development. Strong focus is given to the issues shaping the popularity of festivals in the twentieth century and creating so-called festival boom. Presentation of the basic types of festivals is also one of the main aims of this chapter. This chapter also characterises their typologies based among others on attitude to religion, seasonality, form of organising and financing the event, structure of festival visitors, theme, etc.