Parish festival

A procession in Poland

People praying in Lithuania

A parish festival[1] or parish fair[2] or indulgence feast[3] (Lithuanian: atlaidai; Polish: odpust parafialny) is a local annual festival held by Roman Catholic churches in Poland and Lithuania on a feast day of the patron saint of a given parish. Many of the festivals have long historic traditions that date back to the Counter-Reformation in the 16–17th centuries. Almost every parish has such festival with some churches having several.[4] Participants in these festivals can receive indulgences for themselves and their dead relatives.[5] The festivals include masses, religious processions, performances by church choirs, other music performances[6] and are often accompanied by traditional craft markets.[4] The feasts reinforce local identity and foster a sense of community.[4] Some of the larger festivals, like the Great Žemaičių Kalvarija Festival, last for a week, attract thousands of people, and are major pilgrimage events.[3][4]

Major parish festivals in Lithuania:[5]

• Of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Žemaičių Kalvarija in July (see the Great Žemaičių Kalvarija Festival)
• Of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pivašiūnai and Krekenava in August
• Of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Šiluva in September
• Of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius in November
• Of Saints Peter and Paul in Vilnius in June
• Of Our Lady of Trakai in Trakai in September

See also

Media related to odpust parafialny at Wikimedia Commons

References

1. Thomas, William Isaac; Znaniecki (1918). The Polish Peasant in Europe and America: Monograph of an Immigrant Group. G. Badger. pp. 354, 431.
2. Ostling, Michael (2011). Between the Devil and the Host: Imagining Witchcraft in Early Modern Poland. Oxford University Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-19-958790-2.
3. Liutikas, Darius; Motuzas, Alfonsas (2014). "The Pilgrimage to the Hill of Crosses: Devotional Practices and Identities". In Pazos, Antón M. (ed.). Redefining Pilgrimage: New Perspectives on Historical and Contemporary Pilgrimages. Compostela International Studies in Pilgrimage History and Culture. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 115–116. ISBN 9781409468257.
4. Liutikas, D (2016). "Indulgence Feasts: Manifestation of Religious and Communal Identity". In Jepson, Allan; Clarke, Alan (eds.). Managing and Developing Communities, Festivals and Events. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 148–164. doi:10.1057/9781137508553_11. ISBN 978-1-137-50855-3.
5. Zdanys, Romualdas (2018-08-31) [2002]. "Atlaidai". Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras.
6. Motūzas, Alfonsas (2011). "Atlaidai". In Savoniakaitė, Vida (ed.). Lietuvos etnologijos ir antropologijos enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Lietuvos istorijos instituto leidykla leidykla. ISBN 978-9955-847-41-0. Retrieved 27 March 2020.