A patronal feast or patronal

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

( es, fiesta patronal; pt, festa patronal; ca, festa patronal; it, festa patronale; french: fête patronale) is a yearly celebration dedicated, in countries influenced by

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, to the "heavenly advocate" or "

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

" of the location holding the festival, who is a saint or

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

. The day of this celebration is called patronal feast day, patronal day or patron day of said location. Patronal festivals may reflect national holidays (e.g. the feast of Saint George, patron saint of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, and various regions of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

), but they usually reflect the celebration of a single city or town. In larger cities, there may even be several festivals, usually about the patron saint of the local

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

Celebration

Depending to the budget, patronal festivals may run from one day to five days. The festivities usually include religious processions honoring its

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

heritage. However, elements of local culture have been incorporated as well. Usually, town members adorn the town streets with colorful decorations and other things. Most patronal festivals feature traditional fairs known as

verbena ''Verbena'' (), also known as vervain or verveine, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 150 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the Americas a ...

s ( it, sagra, plural: ''sagre''), possibly including elements typical of the

travelling carnival A traveling carnival (US English), usually simply called a carnival, or travelling funfair (UK English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, ...

s. They feature parades, artisans, street vendors, regional food stands,

amusement ride Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people especially kids to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This ...

s, games, and live entertainment, among other things. There are usually alcoholic beverages—

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

and

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

—and music and dancing, either organized or spontaneously; in Southern Italy and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, for example, folk dances known as

tarantella () is a group of various southern Italian folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia. It is characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in time (sometimes or ), accompanied by tambourines. It is among the mo ...

s are very common.

In Europe

Austria and Germany

France

Italy

;Examples *

Feast of Our Lady of the Hens , nickname = it, Festa della Madonna delle Galline, lit=Feast of Our Lady of the Hens , observedby = Christians , litcolor = , longtype = Cultural, Historical, Christian , significance = Patronal festival of Our Lady of the He ...

on the

Second Sunday of Easter The Second Sunday of Easter is the day that occurs seven days after the Christian celebration of Easter. Those churches which give special significance to this day recognize it by various names. In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, this day is ...

Pagani, Campania Pagani (, ''('e) Pavane'' in ) is a town and ''comune'' in Campania, Italy, administratively part of the Province of Salerno, in the region known as the Agro Nocerino Sarnese. Pagani has a population of 35,834, as of 2016. History In the period ...

* Feast of Saints Francis and Catherine *

Feast of San Gennaro The Feast of San Gennaro (in Italian: ''Festa di San Gennaro''), also known as San Gennaro Festival, is a Neapolitan and Italian-American patronal festival dedicated to Saint Januarius, patron saint of Naples and Little Italy, New York. His feas ...

Spain

;Examples * Fiestas del Pilar around 31 October in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

* La Mercè around 24 September in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

* Fallas around 19 March in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

* Bonfires of Saint John around 24 June in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

Festival of San Fermín The festival of San Fermín is a weeklong, historically rooted celebration held annually in the city of Pamplona, Navarre, in northern Spain. The celebrations start at noon on July 6 and continue until midnight on July 14. A firework starts o ...

around 7 July in

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

San Isidro Labrador Isidore the Labourer, also known as Isidore the Farmer ( es, San Isidro Labrador) (c. 1070 – May 15, 1130), was a Spanish farmworker known for his piety toward the poor and animals. He is the Catholic patron saint of farmers and of Madrid, ...

around 16 May in rural areas mostly in

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

and

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

Wales

In Latin America

Puerto Rico

Most

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n countries dedicate the first day to the saint or virgin being celebrated, the others to entertainment, but in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

the musical and entertainment festivities begin right away.

Further examples

* Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi on 4 October, in Yucuaquín ( El Salvador), in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area o ...

(US) and in Italy *

Festa de São João do Porto ''Festa de São João do Porto'' ( en, Festival of St John of Porto) is a festival during Midsummer, on the night of 23 June (Saint John's Eve), in the city of Porto, in the north of Portugal, as thousands of people come to the city centre and mo ...

around 23 June in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

(Portugal)

Serbia

Serbian culture Serbian culture is a term that encompasses the artistic, culinary, literary, musical, political and social elements that are representative of Serbs and Serbia. History The Byzantine Empire had a great influence on Serbian culture as it i ...

, instead of local patron saints, people celebrate family's patron saints. These celebrations are known as ' slava' in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control French culture Irish culture Italian culture Spanish culture Festivals in France Festivals in Ireland Festivals in Italy Festivals in Spain Latin American festivals