Festival: Did you mean...?

The Festival of the Federation (Fête de la Fédération) was a celebration that occurred on the Champ de Mars outside Paris on 14 July 1790, the first anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille. With over 300,000 people in attendance, the...

The gods of the ancient Egyptians were always apparent to the people through natural events. The sunrise was Ra emerging from the underworld in his great ship, for example, and the moon was the god Khonsu traveling across the night sky. When...

The greatest party ever thrown in antiquity is the inaugral event thrown by Ashurnasirpal II (r. 884-859 BCE) in 879 BCE at the completion of his new city of Kalhu which was attended by almost 70,000 people who were served, among other treats...

Depiction of the Festival of the Supreme Being, 20 Prairial Year II (8 June 1794), unknown artist, c. 1794. Musée Carnavalet.

Festival of the Federation (14 July 1790) on the Champ de Mars, from a perspective close to the king's pavilion, engraving by Isidore Stanislas Helman, after a painting by Charles Monnet, 1790. Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Overhead view of the Champ de Mars during the Fête de la Fédération (Festival of the Federation), 14 July 1790. Musée de la Révolution française, Vizille.

The Festival of the Supreme Being on 8 June 1794, held on the Champ de Mars, marked the height of Maximilien Robespierre's power. Painting by Pierre-Antoine Demachy, c. 1794. Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

The Cult of the Supreme Being was a deistic cult established by Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) during the French Revolution (1789-1799). Its purpose was to replace Roman Catholicism as the state religion of France and to undermine the...

The Qingming Festival is held one hundred and four days after the winter solstice, and is known as the ‘pure bright festival’, ‘tomb-sweeping day’ and ‘ancestors day’. For over 2,500 years, this festival has been a day for Chinese people...

In ancient China, the Lantern Festival was held on the 15th day of the first lunar month to conclude the New Year's celebration. This was a festival of light honoring the full moon when people would float lighted lanterns on ponds, lakes...