tated by the cycle of the seasons, and even in warmer climates,
cycles of fl ooding and dry seasons dictated many activities.
Th us, many festivals were held to celebrate such events as the
solstice in spring and fall and the equinox in summer and
winter. Because many early calendars were structured ac-
cording to the moon and its phases, many festivals were held
in conjunction with a new moon. Major life events, such as
the initiation of children into the adult community, were also
a cause for celebration and festivals. Some early harvest festi-
vals in the fall evolved into Halloween, and the roots of many
modern-day Christmastime celebrations extend back to an-
cient winter festivals. Th e beginning of May, when warmer
weather signaled the opportunity to start planting, was also a
common time for festivals.
Many ancient festivals had religious motivations. Just as
people were dependent on the cycles of nature, so, too, they
believed that their fates depended on the will of the gods. It is
no surprise, then, that many ancient festivals were organized
and run by priests and religious leaders to give honor to a
particular god or group of gods or to celebrate events in the
community’s shared mythological history. Some festivals, for
example, were motivated by the desire for fertility as a way
of ensuring the continuity of the community, so people set
aside time to pay homage to a fertility goddess. In some cul-
tures, such as that of ancient Mesopotamia, the purpose was
to demonstrate the divine right to rule of kings by structuring
the festival to show the role of kings as intermediaries with
the gods. Th roughout much of the world these gods and god-
desses were local; that is, a particular deity might have been
worshiped only in a local community rather than throughout
the larger region.
Festivals served other purposes as well. Much as they do
in the 21st century, they gave workers time off from labor,
and they brought people together to help them forge a sense
of community. By allowing behavior that would otherwise
be frowned on (such as drunkenness), they served as a social
safety valve, giving people a chance to “blow off steam.” Just
as in modern life festivals are oft en held in connection with
sports and the arts, so, too, were festivals held in connection
with sporting events in ancient Rome, and Greece was the
source of the Olympic Games. Th eater was also a time for fes-
tivities, with theatrical festivals held in ancient Greece and
the Americas.
AFRICA
BY ROBERT SHANAFELT
In the ancient world festivals were generally special occasions
for celebration and public commemoration of particular dei-
ties or religious ideals based on the calendar and the season of
the year. Ancient Egypt had numerous festivals; less is known
about ancient festivals in other African traditions, though the
celebration of Jewish and Christian festivals in Africa goes
back to antiquity. In all cases, it can be diffi cult to tell the pre-
cise origins of religious festivals because they involve sacred
myths and oral traditions where other sources of objective
evidence may be lacking.
In many instances, historians have to extrapolate back-
ward from modern African festivals to their ancient roots. A
good example is Kwanzaa, a modern African celebration that
takes place during the Christmas season in the West. Kwan-
zaa is thought by some to be a replacement for the Christian
traditions of Christmas, but this belief is incorrect. Kwanzaa
is, in fact, a harvest festival, as refl ected in the Swahili ori-
gin of the name, matunda ya kwanza, meaning “fi rst fruits of
the harvest.” Th us, Kwanzaa is a seasonal celebration that has
been practiced by Africans for thousands of years.
Ethiopia’s Timkat festival, which has deep roots in tradi-
tion, is one festival about which much is known. Although it
is a celebration of the Christian holiday of Epiphany (January
6), at which time the three kings brought presents to the new-
born Jesus, it is also connected to the belief that the Ethio-
pian Orthodox Church is the guardian of Judaism’s Ark of
the Covenant, the chest that holds the Ten Commandments.
Th e belief is that the ark is hidden at the site of the Church
of Our Lady Mary of Zion, built over the ruins of a temple
constructed by the ancient Axumite kingdom. While a great
deal of uncertainty surrounds the fate of the ark, many peo-
ple believe that it was stolen from the temple in Jerusalem by
Menelik, the son of Axum’s most famous historical fi gure, the
Queen of Sheba, and deposited at the remote Christian out-
post. During this festival thousands of white-clad worship-
pers parade through the streets carrying crosses as well as
replicas of the holy object.
History, tradition, and sacred myth also come together
in t he a nnua l Olójó festiva l held in t he Nigerian cit y of Ilé-If è.
Although historians date the origin of the city to later times,
in Yoruba traditional accounts the world actually began at
Ilé-Ifè, and the city continues to be at its center. As it is prac-
ticed in contemporary times, the Olójó festival is a festival of
renewal, in which the king renews the power of the god of war
and the goddess of wealth and fertility. Th e ceremony is high-
lighted by a ritual procession led by the Ooni, or king, of Ilé-
Ifè and his entourage. Th e two end points of the procession
are the shrines to the divinities, where off erings are made to
ensure the political and economic well-being of the people.
A number of contemporary black African peoples
claim Jewish decent. Th ey practice Jewish customs, includ-
ing Jewish rituals such as circumcision, which are tradition-
ally celebrated during community festivals. Until recently,
these claims were oft en not taken literally and certainly not
thought to represent genetic realities that go back to antiq-
uity. However, genetic evidence is starting to validate at least
some of these claims. For example, a certain lineage of the
Lemba of South Africa has been shown to descend from the
Cohen ancestral line, the Kohanim, a line of descent tradi-
tionally ascribed to Jewish priests. In Ethiopia a group called
Beta Israel also trace their roots to Judaism. Th ey lived with
their traditions for hundreds of years, but thousands immi-
grated to Israel in the 1980s. Th e Jewish feast days and festi-462 festivals: Africa