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annual festival

annual festival

3 2.4
A celebration held once a year with special activities and traditions
  • noun
translation icon : festival anual
  • The annual festival includes music, food, and art exhibitions from local artists.
  • annual festival to honor

Examples

  • People in Osogbo venerate Osun as their guardian deity and conduct an annual festival to honor and revive the relationship with her.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Enough to warrant an annual festival in its honor in Shelby, NC.

    Blog text (14)
  • So is this going to be an annual festival, do you think?

  • The money had been spent on the annual festival.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • However, the annual festival focuses on the worship of the major deities.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Many were freshly painted in early November for Diwali, the annual festival of lights.

    Academic text (2001)
  • The annual festival was the outgrowth of an old pagan religious ceremony.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Thus, a typical annual festival reenacts communal history while at the same time celebrating the chief gods.

    Academic text (1991)
  • One of the most intensely celebrated seasonal functions is the annual festival, when the gods are collectively worshiped.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Since offerings to Yemanj must be prefaced by a gift to Oxum, the annual festival for Yemanj, which takes place on the beach in the neighborhood of Rio Vermelho, traditionally begins at the Dique as well.

    Academic text (2009)

Synonyms

festival
vsannual festival
178 1.0

An event with many shows like music or theatre

is held once each year with special activities and traditions
fest
vsannual festival
  • Informal
108 3.1

A public party with music, food, and events

is held annually and involves traditions and special activities
festa
vsannual festival
7.6

A public celebration with music, dancing, and special food

is held once every year and follows community traditions

How Often

daily
1.0
weekly
323 1.0
monthly
246 1.0
seasonal
85 2.7
annual festival
3 2.4
occasional
285 2.8
one-off
8 5.6

Surface Forms

Morphology

annual + festival

The meaning 'a celebration held once every year' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'annual' (once per year) with 'festival' (a celebration). This adjective + noun composition follows a regular semantic pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

Annual festival comes from the simple image of people circling a date on the calendar for a yearly celebration: the word annual means once each year and festival means a big local party with music, food and parades. That's why it means 'a celebration held once every year'.