trivia

Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

History
Munich's Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, and known locally as "Wiesn", became an annual event after the success of the festivities marking the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghhausen on October 12, 1810. Citizens of Munich were invited to the wedding celebrations that were held on the fields in front of the city gates. In honor of the Crown Princess these fields then became named "Theresienwiese" (Theresa's fields) which is commonly abbreviated to "Wiesn". The event was brought to a grand finale celebrated by the whole of Bavaria by horse races in the presence of the Royal Family. It was the repetition of these horse races the following year that brought about the tradition of the Oktoberfest.
Source: Guinness World Records

Film
Festival (2005): directed and written by Annie Griffin and starring Richard Ayoade and Amelia Bullmore. Plot Summary: 'Festival' is a black comedy set during the annual Edinburgh Fringe festival. The film is based around both the judging of a major comedy award and the performers at one of the smaller venues.
Source: IMDb

Numbers
At the 1994 Camel Wrestling Festival in Selcuk, Turkey, 20,000 people gathered to watch 120 dromedaries wrestle in a 2,000-year-old stadium in the city of Ephesus.
The five-color Universe I Part II – the world's largest firework – exploded at the annual Lake Toya Firework Festival in Hokkaido, Japan on July 15, 1988. The 700-kg (1,543-lb) shell of the fantastic fire cracker burst to produce light display with a massive 1.2-km (0.75-mile) diameter!
An estimated 20 million people gathered at the Hindu festival of Ardh Kumbha Mela, held at the confluence of the Yamuna, the Ganges, and the invisible "Saraswati" rivers at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, on January 30, 1995.
Source: Guinness World Records

Song
Harvest Festival by XTC
See lyrics

Recipe
Festival Shrimp and Saffron Rice
see recipe

Wordplay
The Great British Beer Festival is an anagram of If I have thirst, better be lagers!
The Glastonbury music festival, Pilton, Somerset is an anagram of Top-artist ensembles...still such a fun groovy time!
Cannes International Film Festival is an anagram of Movies, fans, talent in it: all in France
Religious festival is an anagram of It glorifies values
Source: Anagram Genius

Literature
Under the Volcano (1947) is a semi-autobiographical novel by English writer Malcolm Lowry. It tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British consul in the small Mexican town of Quauhnahuac (recognizably Cuernavaca), on the Day of the Dead in 1938. The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos, Día de los Difuntos or, simply, Día de Muertos in Spanish) is a Catholic celebration of the memory of deceased ancestors that is celebrated on November 1 (All Saints) and November 2 (All Souls).
Source: Wikipedia

Date
The date of Mardi Gras (a celebration prior to fasting season of Lent , held the day before Ash Wednesday) can vary from February 3 to March 9 in non-leap years or February 4 to March 9 in leap years. Like Lent, the date is dependent on that of Easter.
Source: Wikipedia

Quote
Life is a festival only to the wise. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Source: Creative Quotations

Records
Largest Street Carnival: The Carnival of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, attracts 2 million people, including 800,000 tourists, every year and generates $254 million (£162.9 million) in business. The six-day carnival takes place on 26 km (16 miles) of road through the town centre, with 100 carnival groups called blocos entertaining the crowd. The 1999 Mardi Gras celebrations in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, also drew an estimated 2 million people.
Largest International Music Festival: The largest international music festival is WOMAD (World of Music, Arts, and Dance) which has presented more than 90 events in 20 different countries since 1982.
Source: Guinness World Records

Proverbs
If there is only one earring among seven daughters, there will always be a quarrel on festival days. (Tibetan)
The long awaited Easter feast is over in one day. (French)
The feast passes and the fool remains. (Italian)
More festive than the feast itself is the day before. (Japanese)
A day of fasting is the eve of a feast. (Spanish)
Source: Creative Proverbs