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Glite Dictionary
feast day

feast day

6 3.7
A day for special celebration and big meals, often for religious or cultural reasons
  • noun
translation icon : día de fiesta
  • I'm looking forward to St. Padre Pio's feast day and his intercession.
  • feast days of saints
  • feast day celebrations

Not marking feast days, not assembling roadside shrines.

Examples

  • On the feast day of Saint Gerasimos... ... we still bring our sick to the holy place... ... and pray that their suffering may cease.

    Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)

  • England will celebrate the feast day of its patron saint, George.

  • I make flowers, or I give them to someone who will observe a feast day.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Oh Sister, this is St Anthony's feast day too.

    Anthony Adverse (1936)

  • Most cultures that celebrate feast days with dancing have done this for centuries.

    Blog text (4)

  • Today we celebrate the feast day of one of the most beloved saints in the Christian tradition.

    Blog text (4)

  • Widely celebrated in Europe, St. Nicholas' feast day, December 6th, kept alive the stories of his goodness and generosity.

    Blog text (12)

  • On feast days of the Virgin, the interior of S. Maria Maggiore must have made a splendid sight.

    Academic text (2000)

  • For Catholics around the world, March 17 is the feast day of St. Patrick, Ireland's patron saint.

  • Haitian devotees in New York City join the feast day procession honoring Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Synonyms

holiday
vsfeast day
458 1.0

A day when most people do not have to work because of a law or custom

is more specifically focused on feasting and cultural or religious meaning
festival
vsfeast day
268 1.0

A time when people gather to celebrate with food and fun

is specifically a single day set aside for feasting and celebration
holy day
vsfeast day
11 3.4

A day when many people do not work to celebrate or show respect for a religion

often adds communal eating and cultural celebration to worship
religious holiday
vsfeast day
4 2.2

A day when people of a faith have ceremonies and celebrate

includes cultural feasting as well as worship in some cases
fete day
vsfeast day
6.7

A day to celebrate with music, food and games

is more often tied to religious or cultural traditions

How Important

public holiday
  • UK
3 1.4
observance
  • Formal
6 4.7
feast day
6 3.7
fete day
6.7
commemoration
15 6.0
festival
268 1.0

Surface Forms

feast day singular
feast days plural

Morphology

feast + day

The meaning ‘a day for celebration and feasting’ is directly and transparently derived from combining 'feast' (a large celebratory meal) with 'day' (a calendar day). This compositional pattern is common across languages and in English collocation, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE’s meaning.

Etymology

Feast day comes from old church and village practice where people set aside a feast, a large special meal, on a chosen day to honour a saint or an important event, so feast day now means 'a day for celebration and feasting'.