Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
a reaction against the decline in the trade in a world depression. Finally, the more
successful festivals often spin-off related activities to different parts of the city, as
seen in the many local events that take place during the time of the Mardi Gras in
New Orleans. Many Fringe events of the Edinburgh Festival are held in a myriad of
locations in the city; events originally informal, are now organized, and in total are
far larger than the basically highbrow cultural Arts festival that was initiated in the
late 1940s (Jarman
2007
).
14.5.2
Festival Functions
The outward forms of contemporary festivals may be viewed empirically, simply
as a set of events, performances, or spectacles. Many are just designed to provide
new cultural events for the town and to attract tourists. But historically, most festi-
vals had a deeper symbolic meaning, since they were designed as representations
of the particular
functions
that the festive event was created for, relating to one
or more of the six major types already described: celebrating temporal or cyclical
(often seasonal) events, religious beliefs, political control, traditions, cultural attri-
butes, and life-styles. The complexity of some festive events means that there can
be overlap between these functions, with some festive events having more than one
of these features, or having morphed from one function to another through time.
However, a modern empirical interpretation of a festival based on contemporary
beliefs misses the point that its rituals and forms were carefully designed to provide
some symbolic representation that celebrated or reinforced the particular reason
for the event, frequently to create social, political or religious solidarity within the
groups involved, to celebrate some tradition, culture or life-style. For example, pa-
rades involving dignities have usually been rigidly organized with firm hierarchi-
cal principles in the placement of various groups. The spiritual or political leaders
occupied positions close to the main symbols of the event, with each lower status
group located further away, with the rank and file of the population, both rural and
urban as observers. In colonial countries these festivals had a two-fold hegemonic
function. The political leaders or their representatives were paraded before the pop-
ulace as visible objects of the regime, frequently accompanied by lavish displays
and military prowess to show their wealth and strength. By providing a spectacle,
often based on a formal holiday, they were also one of the many ways of socializing
subject peoples to celebrate the regime—an approach that was less coercive than
other measures of subjection, such as restrictive laws, but essentially provided the
same normalizing function.
14.5.3
Festival Forms
The third dimension relates to the various
forms
of the events, which can be thought
of as a series of artistic empirical attributes that involve one or more features,
