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Festivals have emerged as a compelling subject of study within the realm of the social sciences, with disciplines like popular musicology showcasing festivals as a prominent area of investigation. These cultural events have demonstrated a profound and enduring impact on various generations, solidifying their significance in contemporary history. In the ever-evolving landscape of rapid social change, festivals have evolved into both traditions and heritage. Our research centered on the musical landscape in the city of Cáceres has culminated in the creation of a Festival Route rooted in the pertinent facets of its history and unique sociocultural context. The methodology employed in this study revolves around the development of comprehensive databases that encompass various parameters, principles, and elements. These databases are instrumental in crafting adaptable musical itineraries tailored to the individual participant’s characteristics, including age, educational background, place of origin, and explicit or intrinsic interests. Moreover, they factor into the duration of the route. These databases draw upon the findings of historiographic and ethnographic research, shedding light on the music performed and cherished within the city of Cáceres throughout its rich history. This paper primarily delves into the educational aspects derived from the socio-cultural phenomenon of festivals, specifically in the realms of music pedagogy and value-based education. Our Festival Route is designed with a particular focus on youth engagement, weaving together key locales within the city to create an enriching and educational experience.

One of the most spectacular events of the Ottoman experience of modernity was the inauguration of the Ottoman General Exposition in Istanbul in 1863. The ancient Hippodrome, which is one of the most prominent venues of the city and the setting of memorable celebrations and festivals for centuries, hosted the event and provided the visitors with the opportunity to become part of the modern regimes of gaze and spectacle. This article posits three observer roles to reveal the multilayered structure of urban spectacle in mid-century Istanbul, namely the sultanic gaze, spectacle of the ordinary citizens, and the mediated experience of the foreigner. To understand the particularities of each position, I utilize several visual and textual documents about the exhibition event. Though just a single case in Ottoman urban history, the exposition enables us to understand how the new manner of modern urban spectacle emerged during a spectacular public event in Istanbul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic use of cannabis is associated with an increased risk of psychosocial, mental and physical health impairments. Sociohealth institutions reach a very limited proportion of cannabis users in need of treatment. Using data collected from festival attendees, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence of dependent cannabis users and to characterize cannabis dependence. Methods: We used data from the cross-sectional OCTOPUS survey carried out at 13 music events in the French department of Loire-Atlantique between July 2017 and July 2018. 383 participants aged 18 or older underwent a face-to-face interview about their basic sociodemographics, tobacco use, alcohol use and past-year substance use. Using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) criteria, we estimated the prevalence of dependent cannabis users and characterized their dependence. Results: More than two-thirds of participants reported that they had used cannabis in the past 12 months. Among 194 regular cannabis users (at least monthly), 63.4% were dependent. At least 40% of regular users reported health and/or social consequences of cannabis use. Compared to nondependent cannabis users, dependent cannabis users were more likely to be stimulant users and hallucinogen users. Conclusions: Dependent cannabis use is common among festival attendees, especially among stimulant or hallucinogen users. Festival settings may be important arenas for i) implementing efficient harm reduction measures to prevent dependence and ii) providing information on care structures and promoting the use of care to dependent users. In addition, healthcare professionals should be aware of trends in polysubstance use among dependent cannabis users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Festival branding is of great significance to festival tourism marketing and competitive advantage. The research framework deepened the application of the Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model by integrating destination and product familiarity as well as two moderators of perceived value and community involvement, to elucidate the complex mechanism of festival brand co-creation. The Qingdao International Beer Festival was chosen as the research background for this study. Both quantitative and qualitative findings revealed that festival brand co-creation is significantly relevant to product and destination familiarity, association, image and attachment to a festival brand, perceived value and community involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the significance of the "dirt circuit," the cyclical tour of Renaissance Festivals in the eastern US state of Maryland that craft vendors and performers take each year, as a network through which craft community is formed. Through participant research and onsite interviews at the 2021 Maryland Renaissance Festival, I examine how the closed-world structure of the festival offers a sense of continuity and community, as well as an effective means for craftspeople to make a living. The experiences of craftspeople on the dirt circuit reveal the limitations of common perceptions of craft fairs as precarious and amateur spaces. This research reveals a gap in scholarship around the craft fair as a critical site of craft history and outlines how Renaissance Festivals and other craft fairs can be included in wider conversations around craft and knowledge exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an abundance of data, a lunar solution to Eighteenth Dynasty chronology remains elusive. Previous efforts have employed Richard Parker's model for the start of the lunar month, which assumes psDntyw coincided with first dawn crescent invisibility. It is possible that this criterion has vexed the search for an authoritative timeline for the Eighteenth Dynasty. With psDntyw redefined as the first evening crescent, lunar visibility tables show high correspondence between this phenomenon and a large number of important lunar dates, suggesting that the first crescent was the metaphor par excellence for pharaonic accessions, sed festivals, temple foundations, and monuments. Paradoxically, the resulting timeline supports Parker's middle chronology and accounts for Manetho's regnal length data. This study provides a fresh perspective on old conundrums such as Thutmoside succession, Muršili II's solar omen, the Era of Menophres, and the supposed one-day offset between the phyle service period and the cultic lunar month. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural events and collections, as curated assemblies of artists and artwork attended by live audiences, are recognised as a large and growing source of added value in contemporary accounts of 'creative', 'enrichment' and 'experience' economies. We analyse these, and empirical festival studies, to assess the impact on cultural production when the COVID-19 pandemic forces events to cancel or move online. Contrasting the relative optimism of 'enrichment' (Boltanski & Esquerre 2020) with pre-pandemic developments, we argue 'festivalisation' is best understood as a defensive reaction to mediated alternatives. These increasingly offer experientially comparable, lower-cost substitutes for the premium-priced immersive performance on which cultural workers have come to rely, for creative ideas, skills and career openings as well as income. Online channels weaken the eventisation defence and curatorial quests for 'singularity', while remote participation limits audiences' size and mode of engagement, risking permanent damage to vital components of cultural production and valorisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article endeavours to advance scholarship on the relationship among festivals, cultural heritage, sustainable development, and the connection between cultural heritage and creativity. The article positions festivals as sites to negotiate creativity and traditions and recognises that festivals are constantly evolving and transforming. Through studying three smaller-scale community-initiated festivals in the Taiwanese historic neighbourhood of Twatutia (Dadaocheng), the article demonstrates: (1) how 'traditions' can be remade and revitalised to adapt to a changing society through creative intervention and active collaboration with the cultural and creative industries; and (2) how local communities can create festivals as creative means to showcase, revitalise, and remake local traditions. Provided that (1) there is mutual trust and long-term collaboration between cultural and creative practitioners and preservers of cultural heritage and traditional traders and practitioners; and (2) the autonomy of creative practitioners is respected, the article argues that creative interventions, such as festivals, can contribute to revitalising, rejuvenating, and remaking local traditions and support organic and sustainable development of local cultures without rejecting external influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The joint mission from Mansoura University and the Daqahlia inspectorate (Supreme Council of Antiquities) began its work at the Tell Tebilla site near Mendes in the Delta in November 2018. During the excavation, several mastaba tombs were discovered. One of these, the so -called “Burnt Tomb” (Mastaba no. 4/M4), dates to the early Ptolemaic Period, and revealed a corpus of various objects made of pottery, stone, bronze, faience, and clay. Among the objects found are also eight New Year’s flasks, which are the focus of the current paper. It is our intention to present the flasks, and discuss their function, inscriptions, contents, and ownership.

Progress Medal The Progress Medal recognizes a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the progress of photography or an allied subject. The recipient does not have to be [...]

In this paper we discuss the musical work of classical composer Benjamin Britten as a lasting legacy for public music education. Our starting point is the contemporary urgency to rethink both public music education in general, and the public-educational significance of Western classical music in particular, in the face of the dual threats posed by anti-educational tendencies of 'functionalization and 'hobbyfication.' Relating this situation to concerns already voiced by Britten in his time, we consider in what ways aspects of Britten's musical work can be shown to reveal a highly original, post-critical answer to these threats. While his pedagogical musings remain riddled with ambiguities, which readily invite critical deconstruction, our paper argues for the more affirmative option of reconceptualizing these ambiguities as constitutive tensions of a public-educational love for (classical) music. To gauge the practical implications of such a post-critical music-educational love, we analyze the concrete case of the Aldeburgh Festival, perhaps Britten's most full-fledged effort to reclaim music as a public affair. Thinking about this case, we reflect on how Britten's legacy could lastingly impinge on the publicness of Western classical music, as well as on ongoing and future practices of public music education in general. Keywords: music education, public pedagogy, post-critical pedagogy, classical music, Benjamin Britten, Benjamin Britten is primarily known as one of the most prominent classical composers of the second half of the twentieth century, and for the idiosyncratic and eclectic style of most [...]

AbstractThis study takes a process-oriented approach to answer the research question: how may long-standing religious festivals promote sustainable development by modifying various ritual elements? The contribution of one-time events to overarching long-term sustainability goals may be hindered predominantly by their transitory nature. Based on a case study, this research examines a 400-year-old annual Hindu festival, Durga Puja, as a potential contributor to sustainable development. The data comprises online news articles on the Durga Puja published between 2002 and 2022 in the Indian daily, The Times of India. Based on a thematic data analysis, the research findings highlight three processual themes related to altering various ritual elements: artefacts, scripts, performance roles and audience. These themes include subverting the patriarchal, adopting a proactive approach to invitation and facilitation, and incorporating visual storytelling. The study’s findings have theoretical implications regarding the broader discussions on sustainability, such as sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the potential of festivals to contribute to them through ritual modifications. As such, festival organisers, policymakers and practitioners may find the study helpful in promoting sustainable development through ritual changes in festivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Katigbawan Festival in Catigbian, Bohol, is a celebration deeply rooted in the town's cultural heritage. Among its vibrant components is a dance that encapsulates the spirit and identity of the community. Over the years, cultural practices have undergone transformations, and without careful documentation, the essence of these dances may be lost. In an age of globalization, sustaining local cultural practices is critical to retaining a distinct identity. This study aimed to identify and analyze the distinguishing characteristics of Katigbawan Festival Dance; the symbolism it conveys in the costumes and dance equipment/props used; the purpose of creating the dance; the values demonstrated in the Katigbawan Dance Steps; and the preservation initiatives implemented by the LGU. This study utilized qualitative descriptive research method with interview guide questions serving as data-gathering methods. The analysis finds that the Katigbawan Festival's basic dance steps are classified as festival dance, with motions arranged within time signatures of 2/2, 3/4, and 4/4. The research also sheds light on the symbiotic link that exists between the dance steps (Katigbi, Tigbaw, and Kabaw) and the matching costumes and props. These elements contain basic qualities such as thankfulness, ingenuity, power, and hard work. The costume represents the Carabao, also capturing the sense of nature which is the cave and the growth of the plant Katigbi. Dance equipment and props are artfully intertwined throughout the performance to represent the richness of natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is much discussion of what makes travel experiences memorable there is less on how remembering those experiences together then makes us feel and act. This empirical paper builds upon recent conceptual work in shared emotional memory, and explores the processes through which memories are negotiated and how these then affect our attitudes and behavioral intentions. Using an innovative qualitative methodology, we analyze individual and shared memories from six pairs of festival tourists. The findings highlight how wellbeing increases, through a shared reality and sense of belonging, as we negotiate an agreed memory of a past experience. The agreed memory is formed through negotiation, attunement, and emotional synchrony. This desire to agree and the wellbeing benefits that accrue strongly influence attitudes, behavioral intentions, and word-of-mouth. There are important implications for tourism practitioners in the design of experiences and in post-trip marketing activities informed by and influencing consumer memory sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, leading music artists have been performing significantly fewer shows, in part due to growing concerns for their wellbeing, but also because of rising energy cost, environmental issues, and industry consolidation. As a result, many cities now host much fewer top ‘headliners’ artists and bands than before. This study investigates what being effectively ‘left off’ tours means for cities. Proceeding from industry data, it first quantifies the decline in the number of stops for large tours between 2010 and 2019, and shows that many North American cities increasingly find themselves on the outside looking in. It then provides insights drawn from interviews with city officials on both the negative and positive impacts of this trend. Namely, this study suggests that hosting fewer shows results in economic, cultural and reputational losses, yet also enable cities to grow a stronger local scene, design better policies, and develop distinctive new offerings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fifth volume of the Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde (1723–1737) by Bernard Picart and Jean Frederic Bernard played a significant role in shaping the perception of Islam in the early 18th-century Dutch Republic and Europe. Kishwar Rizvi has argued that it challenged stereotypes by introducing novel comparative perspectives between Western traditions and Islamic rituals. However, previous research has overlooked a remarkable illustration in the volume depicting the Bairam festival. By examining the editors' and engravers' use of collage technique, we can appreciate how their portrayal of the Bairam festivities deviated from earlier depictions of the same feast. They employed a proto-ethnographic approach alongside other interpretational and imaginative strategies. The multitude of images within the Cérémonies not only constructed a collective perception of Islam but also facilitated a more affective engagement with Islamic culture for early modern viewers, influencing their connection to the depicted culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Tourism through Folklore: Challenges and Opportunities" salons were organized by the Fellows of the American Folklore Society. Participants were clear-eyed about the damage to the integrity of cultural practices and community life that is often engendered by tourism, but they also considered concrete solutions involving greater community agency and the sustainable tourism initiatives of folklorists. They noted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on spurring regenerative tourism. These salons considered the opportunities and pitfalls of immersive tourism experiences, how host/guest relationships can be reconfigured, and approaches for controlling access to over-touristed areas. Folklorists were viewed as being well-equipped to educate about culturally appropriate behavior and to generate substantive interpretative materials, both of which may require collaboration with the tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic relationship that exists between a religious rite and its territory is interpreted and analysed by religious anthropology as a form of protection, offered by the sacred to the place in which it resides. According to this interpretation, passage through the territory of what is reputed to be sacred or even its very presence as a sanctuary, drives evil away and is believed to perform a generally stable protective function. Within such a dynamic, the rite that actually creates this sacred passage, i.e., the procession of relics, lays the foundations for an analysis of the two specific variables that are, in actual fact, intwined: on the one side is the rite, and on the other, the territory. Such a relationship appears all the more problematic due to the progressive rationalisation of the religious dimension, extensively dealt with by Max Weber (Weber 1920) and accepted by contemporary sociology on religion, as it is now a supernatural phenomenon that is only considered to have a representational dimension. The internal secularization at the festival of Saint Rosalia happened in 2023, with the landing of the triumphal cart in New York. The rite moves to another new territory and transforms it. The cart of Saint Rosalia, preserved in the Columbus Citizens Foundation in New York, represents the identity of Sicilian immigrants but also a new form of ritualization on a new territory through an "ancient" ritual. When the sacred is located within the institutional dimension of a salvation religion presided over by an institution, it appears separate from any purely mechanical (and therefore magical) dimension, while the territory becomes a variable in which a multiplicity of factors are contained. These factors not only give importance to the very aspects of the ritual itself, boosting its civil and secular parts, but also to the religious programme, which undergoes unexpected transformations introduced by the presiding institution. The main object of this analysis is, therefore, to establish an interactive path whereby, on the one hand, the territory, through its various cultural components (both secular and religious), shapes the religious rite and how it places restrictions on those protective functions, while on the other, how the rite places its own constraints on the cultural transformations that take place in the fabric of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the interweaving of successes and failures at trans-inclusive women's festivals. I analyze conflicts that occurred at the Mystical Womxn's Magic Festival and the Ohio Lesbian Festival. In the process, I demonstrate that working across racial and gender divides in these spaces is possible but only if we understand that solidarity is processual and relational but also, quite simply, hard work. This labor requires acknowledging that failures are an integral part of the praxis of forging alliances. By failures, I am primarily referring to moments of insensitivity, casual macroaggressions, lack of deep listening, and other common occurrences of harm. Ultimately, I argue that solidarity is a journey not an end point and that a crucial aspect of the journey is grappling with collective and personal failures along the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how Ménestrier's theorizing on emblems developed from his practice as devisor of decorative schemes and festivals, as indeed did that of fellow Jesuits. It explains his concern for developing a theoretical framework (whereas fellow Jesuits usually published collections of emblems with little theory) in terms of the influence exerted by his Jesuit training in Aristotelian philosophy and Thomist theology and the example set by the (ex-)Jesuit theorist Emanuele Tesauro. It puts Ménestrier's theory and practice of emblems within the context of his more general concern for "erudite," or symbolic, images and how he conceived such images, in general, operate on humans. In conclusion, I suggest how this understanding of such images' potential within the context of Catholic renewal affects how Ménestrier understands the purpose and creation of emblems. This article is part of the special issue of the Journal of Jesuit Studies on Jesuit emblems and emblematic edited by Walter S. Melion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of the debates on the preservation of culture has progressed in parallel with the history of folklore research, and a two-century-old literature has been formed on this subject. Although there are many conservation models proposed in the debates on the preservation of traditional culture, they contain two basic understandings in essence. The first and older conservation approach proposes to preserve folklore by freezing it, while the second and more modern approach proposes to preserve folklore by keeping it alive. In this article, İbrahim Aslanoğlu's (d. 1995) conservation approaches are questioned. As a result of the evaluations, it was seen that İbrahim Aslanoğlu understood folklore as a dull type of knowledge and had thoughts that this dull knowledge should be represented without deteriorating its formal qualities. However, the findings obtained regarding the 1964 Sivas Folk Poets' Festival, which was organized under the leadership of Aslanoğlu, show that Aslanoğlu was also aware of the dynamic aspect of folklore and that he had ideas that one of the ways to keep traditional culture alive was transmission. From the findings obtained, it is understood that Aslanoğlu, who passionately pursued folk knowledge in the provinces of Anatolia at a time when technical possibilities were not as widespread and accessible as they are today, was a visionary folklore lover in every respect. There are lessons to be learned from Aslanoğlu's passion for folklore in understanding the importance of the XXI century folklorists, materials and source persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research brings an original anthropological approach to the understanding of how the tourism industry negotiates the construction of elusive, magical geographies. Fairy tourism or 'fairy hunting' has been acknowledged since the nineteenth century, but is largely overlooked in tourism literature, despite increasing exposure to fairy motifs through multi-media platforms, including films, gaming, and literature. This study examines fairy festivals using a theoretical framework based on the novel concept of 'liminal affective technologies,' (LATS), that are designed to enhance transformative potentiality. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis method is used to analyse how fairy festival producers generate approximations of Fairyland. To create fairyscapes, their organisers devise LATs, such as situating the events in places that are bucolic, mystical and connected to local folklore, and staging workshops, music, and activities, such as wish-making, using fairy-themed motifs, to reinforce the magical narrative. Yet several festival producers 'toned down' the troublesome or Pagan elements of the fairyscape, explaining the surreality of their events to visitors as dreamscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was prompted by a lack of empirical research addressing the overlap between sense of community and eudemonic well-being components, the limited attention paid to immigrant perspectives in well-being studies, and the presence of under-researched type of festival and population. To address these gaps, this study aimed to identify the dimensions of sense of community and the well-being outcomes of diaspora festivals. The study targeted an understudied group and its festivals: those of the Ethiopian diaspora community in the United States. Guided by the constructivist grounded theory method, the study obtained data through guided interviews, and simultaneously analyzed them to construct six domains of a sense of community applicable to diaspora festivals. The six elements of a sense of community were a sense of belonging, a sense of togetherness, serving the com-munity, recognition, social support, and connection with diaspora, and comprised at least one eudemonic well-being component. Engagement, positive relationships, finding meaning in life, and a sense of achievement, were inherent in more than three of the six domains of a sense of community. Other well-being elements such as physical health and spirituality were evident in one domain. In conclusion, this study offers theoretical contributions to festival tourism, community psychology, human/tourism geography, and positive psychology research in multiple ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some studies of self and landscape in festival events emphasise presence, closeness, and connectedness and focus on embodiment, inhabitation, and dwelling. But in the COVID-19 pandemic, absence and distance appear as increasingly common terms to describe festival events and landscapes that have changed in unanticipated ways. The risk that festivals would become hotspots of virus transmission requiring physical distancing and limits on movement resulted in significant alteration of festivals or their cancellation and absence from people's lifeworlds. In this study, we explore how absence and distance have unfolded in lived experiences of altered festival landscapes during the pandemic and reflect on how care has been mobilised and emplaced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancing recent literature that critically examines multicultural efforts to generate socio-economic inclusion, this article studies how, in a small yet affluent Pennsylvania town, multicultural festivals are part of a social milieu in which Latinx immigrants face continuing erasure and exploitation – manifested in precarious health and housing conditions. Utilizing ethnographic and qualitative methods, I show that, although the town's multicultural festivals aim to give a voice and recognize minority communities, they have in some cases contributed to an environment in which Latinx peoples have for decades been silenced and overlooked, resulting in heightened rates of health issues related to dangerous housing. From a semiotic theoretical approach, the disconnect between increasing performative-visibility and ongoing marginalization of Latinx immigrants can be explained by multicultural festivals relying upon floating signifiers, as well as issues of structural power. My findings shed light on the nuanced cultural ways that the structural social and material suffering of minoritized, immigrant populations is overlooked through the invocation of purportedly emancipatory acts, as well as the lingering effects of the structural force of White Supremacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Music festivals have become an increasingly popular form of mass-gathering event, drawing an increasing number of attendees across the world each year. While festivals exist to provide guests with an enjoyable experience, there have been instances of serious illness, injury, and in some cases death. Large crowds, prolonged exposure to loud music, and high rates of drug and alcohol consumption can pose a dangerous environment for guests as well as those looking after them. Methods: A retrospective review of electronic patient records (EPRs) at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival was undertaken. All patients who attended medical services on-site during the festival and immediately after were included. Patient demographics, diagnosis, treatment received, and discharge destination were obtained and analyzed. Results: A total of 2,828 patients received on-site medical care. The patient presentation rate (PPR) was 13.47 and the transport-to-hospital rate (TTHR) was 0.30 per 1,000 guests. The most common diagnoses were joint injuries, gastrointestinal conditions, and blisters. Only 164 patients (5.48%) were diagnosed as being intoxicated. Overall, 552 patients (19.52%) were prescribed a medication to take away and 268 (9.48%) had a dressing for a minor wound. One patient (0.04%) underwent a general anesthetic and no patients required cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Most patients were discharged back to the festival site (2,563; 90.66%). Discussion: Minor conditions were responsible for many presentations and most patients only required mild or non-invasive interventions, after which they could be safely discharged back to the festival. Older adults were diagnosed with a different frequency of conditions compared to the overall study population, something not reported previously. Intoxicated patients only accounted for a very small amount of the medical workload. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of this study was to examine the relationships among festival personality, satisfaction and loyalty. Also, the study further analyzed the moderation effect of involvement on the relationships between festival personality, satisfaction and loyalty. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopt a two-stage mixed-method approach. Through a list of brand personality traits from previous research and in-depth interviews with participants of a film festival, festival personality constructs were identified: exceptional, competent, reliable and cozy. The authors then analyzed an integrative model of festival personality, satisfaction, involvement and loyalty from the qualitative findings. A survey with a convenience sample of 279 film festival participants was conducted. Findings: The findings suggest that festival personality influence satisfaction and loyalty. Furthermore, this study confirms the significant impact of involvement on the relationships between festival personality, satisfaction and loyalty. Originality/value: This study enables authors to understand the festival personality from the perspective of the visitors and expands the theoretical understanding of how the personality of the festival affects the visitors. The findings of this study suggest that the festival personality can be predictors and determinants of participants' satisfaction and loyalty. Also, this is one of the first attempts to identify the effects of involvement on festival personality and its outcomes. Current research findings demonstrated involvement as a moderator variable in the relationships between festival personality and festival satisfaction and loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The qualitative approach was applied the discover the optimum answers to the research objectives, which are (1) to understand the cultural and hedonistic characteristics of the (Lanna) Songkran festival; and (2) to examine the dilemma between cultural rituals and hedonistic activity for tourism. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a case study of the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai to examine the dilemma between cultural rituals and hedonism for tourism, which brings lost or misperceived cultural values and identities. The semi-structured interview (SSI) with senior locals and participant observation during the festival was conducted in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to obtain the in-depth phenomena of the existing celebration pattern at the festival. Findings: The study findings show three crucial phenomena that explain characteristics of unsynchronized cultural rituals and hedonistic activities for tourism: (1) the parallel phenomenon between cultural values and celebration practice, (2) the movement of local culture and(3) the hedonistic characteristics of the festival. Practical implications: The study extends the knowledge on the interplay phenomena between cultural festivals and tourism; also, the involved stakeholders, such as local communities, public sectors and private sectors, can use the study findings in creating policies for using cultural festivals to promote a destination and urban economic development that will minimise cultural values distort while increase tourism economic values. Originality/value: This study was conducted qualitatively, including SSIs and participant observation at the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai. The study findings were analysed, based on the empirical data, into significant themes representing the characteristics of dilemma phenomena within the festival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the process of festivalization of the contemporary city, which leads not only to a reconstruction of the lifestyle, but also to a change of basic characteristics of the festivals themselves - both their own nature and the understanding of them. In the postmodern city, due to significant structural changes in its economy, services are becoming a leading industry. This directs the efforts of local authorities and businesses towards the development of tourism and the stimulation of leisure industries. The phenomenon of „new urban festivals“, understood as part of the creative economy, is emerging. „Urban marketing“ turns the city into an event center where festivals are a daily occurrence. Gradually, not only leisure, which has been transformed into a kind of „festival consumption“, but also the lifestyle, which is captive to consumer culture, commercialization and endless events, are becoming festivalized. The understanding of a festival is also being rethought, as the latter loses the „exclusivity“ and festivity attributed to it as essential characteristics: it becomes an everyday and mass event, an „endless series of events“. Local festivals, as expressions of the activity of the local community, of its identity and solidarity between local people, become an arena of business initiatives and interests. Thus, they lose their socially significant role both in the lifestyle of individuals and for the community. Often, in order to justify or disguise the business orientation of local festivals, emphasis is placed on their role in the development of local culture, on their supposed educational functions or charitable activities. The text examines the festivalization of Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria. The city has all the features to become a center of festival industries: a rich history since ancient times, preserved archaeological monuments, important cultural sites from the Renaissance, museums, galleries, traditions in fine arts, music, theater, etc. In 2019, the city was the European Capital of Culture and since then it has become a center of festivalization and a typical example of the development of this process in Bulgarian society. In the article are analyzed some of the results of an empirical sociological survey carried out with qualitative methods within the project „Local festivals: a resource of local communities to deal with crises“ financed by the Scientific Research Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science (KP-06-H45/5 of 30.11.2020). It is about indepth interviews with festival organizers, representatives of local government, local business and NGOs conducted in the period June-October 2021 and during the summer of 2023, as well as participated observations of festivals. A number of documents were also studied, such as cultural programs of the municipality, programs of local festivals, interviews of festival organizers and local administrators in the media, and other sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]