Anthropologists have shown that festivals tend to constantly evolve, acquiring different characteristics and roles depending on changing political contexts and circumstances. In 1992, one of the leading scholars in the field, Jeremy Boissevain, commented that since the 1970s, the number of festivals in Europe had been steadily increasing (1992, 2) and this trend has continued in the subsequent years, albeit on a global scale. There has been a long history of anthropological interest in festive behaviour, and studies have been undertaken that cover a wide spectrum of topics including the links between festivals and tourism, ritual, commemoration, identity and political formations. Conclusions from these studies have revealed that the term ‘festival’ can be used to refer to a broad range of forms of cultural events with a wide variety of purposes and audiences. Festivals can have ancient roots, they may be established by a regime to serve its own political purposes, or created as a commercial event. Festivals have often changed their meanings over time, adapting to modern circumstances in attempts to protect their future existence.

When defining festivals I draw from Stoeltje, who observes that festivals are ‘collective phenomena’ which take place ‘at calendrically regulated intervals and are public in nature, participatory in ethos, complex in structure and multiple in voice, scene and purpose’ (2002, 271).