What is a Festival Citation?
A festival is a temporary occasion usually celebrated by a group and centered around a theme aspect of the community and/or its religion or cultural values. It can also be marked as a national or local holiday, festive occasion, or a religious festival. The word “fiesta” is Spanish for day of the week. In most Latin American countries, a festival is a gathering of family and friends with some form of entertainment such as dancing, food, parades, and sports organized by local organizers.
Although a festival will differ by country and culture, they generally all have one thing in common: food, drinks, and music. In the United States, these events are typically celebrated during the Christmas season. They are also celebrated during the summer, and at other times of the year. Some of these feasts may be commemorated as annual events, but others are only commemorations of certain events such as the coming of sunshine, harvest, new beginnings, or the beginning of summer.
Historically, many festivals were devoted to religious celebrations and religious figures. These events would mark the beginning of the Christian calendar, and would mark the beginning of Lent. These festivals would then be followed by much more substantial feasts and celebrations. Christianity has had many influences on Mexican festivals over the years, but their roots go back centuries to early Native American tribes.
There are hundreds of different ethnic and religious festivals throughout Mexico. These festivals mark major milestones, such as new seasons, the return of animals, the beginning of growing crops, and many others. A festival may be planned to mark the beginning of the planting season in late spring, to commemorate the first day of the corn harvest, or for other major milestones throughout the year. A festival citation needed to do more than just tell the full date and time for the event: it had to provide specifics about what the occasion was, who was celebrating, what kind of celebration was taking place, and where.
Many festivals in Mexico have names that give some kind of historical meaning. For example, Cinco de Mayo is a Spanish celebration of the fifth Sunday of the month of April. Some religious festivals in Mexico have colorful decorations and costumes; others are austere and somber. The fact is that many festivals mark significant events in the Mexican culture, and these celebrations continue today in Mexico, as they have done for thousands of years.
In order to plan a Mexican festival, you need to gather all the information you can. A festival citation needed to do more than just tell the full name of the festival: it had to provide details. You also needed to find out when the festival was, what day of the week it was, what were the basic cultural foods that were served, how long the festival lasted, and where did the food and celebration take place. A festival citation is essential to planning a Mexican religious festival.