Celebrations are pervasive. At a personal level they include birthdays, funerals, weddings, get-togethers, award ceremonies, and parties organised for any number of reasons. At a community level they include faith-based services, public holidays, commemorations and community festivals. These are just a selection. I argue that there is a need to better understand what role celebrations can play to improve health and wellbeing and not just for individuals but for communities. In this thesis I examine the experiences, context, processes and politics of celebrations and how they contribute to both personal and collective health and wellbeing. Of course, some celebrations make a more meaningful contribution than others. And it is the nature of that difference I seek to understand. The two leading research questions I address are: • How do celebrations contribute to personal and collective health and wellbeing? • What is ‘healthy’ celebration practice? There are three sections in this thesis. In the first I describe and discuss the Australian context of celebration activities. I also explore definitions of celebrations. I consider celebrations to be an active process made up of both play and ritual. Celebrations seek to focus people’s attention, and intention, in a positive way. The resulting celebratory act(s) are a cultural expression of what a particular individual or community values. There are a diversity of celebration forms and practices - open, spontaneous, planned and formal. Each celebration is influenced by, and influences, the context in which it occurs. I will be focusing on celebrations occurring within a community context. A community may be a family, an organization, local community, shared interest group or a whole of society grouping. In the second section of the thesis I analyse the relationship of celebrations to various dimensions of health and wellbeing. These dimensions include: social connectedness, identity, transitions and lifespan development, and community capacity. A major part of my fieldwork was undertaken in Victoria where I studied 20 community celebrations. The community celebrations I examined in varying degrees, did positively contribute to personal and collective wellbeing. They did so because they included positive and personally meaningful activities. They explored identity. Celebrations played a role in supporting transitions leading to ongoing healthy development. They provided opportunities for learning; not just knowledge but allowed values to be explored and skills and resources to be gained. They brought people together to interact and fostered a sense of belonging. Celebrations that were health enhancing valued diversity but also explored what unites people. My research confirmed that celebrations can foster our connections; to ourselves, others, the earth, time and the spiritual. They can build relationships between individuals, groups and organizations. They can be spaces that allow for personal and collective healing. But the degree to which these positive dimensions can be achieved depends on the nature or quality of the celebration practice. And it is the practice of planning and facilitating celebrations that is the focus of the third section of the thesis. Some celebration practices are health enhancing while others are not. Celebrations can be an opportunity to explore not just ourselves but our communities and how they oppress particular individuals and groups. Many contemporary celebrations do not feel authentic or resonate with people. They often remain at the surface and focus on passive forms of entertainment and the consumption of goods. Deeper engagement can be facilitated through more participatory and creative activities such as dance, playing music, story -making and -telling and ritual; particularly when engaged in with conscious intention. Celebrations at the individual level can be a positive, affirming experience that is personally meaningful and enables people to move towards their potential. At a collective level they build relationships between the individual, groups and places. They highlight the interconnectedness between all things. And as such they are an integral part of community life. I conclude by presenting an analytical framework to help understand the nature of celebration practice that is less or more likely to facilitate health and wellbeing. I try to adopt the viewpoint of a practitioner interested in the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. I anticipate this knowledge will stimulate discussion particularly within the health and community sector about how celebration practice can be integrated into the work of health professionals and community workers.

Celebrations are pervasive. At a personal level they include birthdays, funerals, weddings, get-togethers, award ceremonies, and parties organised for any number of reasons. At a community level they include faith-based services, public holidays, commemorations and community festivals. These are just a selection. I argue that there is a need to better understand what role celebrations can play to improve health and wellbeing and not just for individuals but for communities. In this thesis I examine the experiences, context, processes and politics of celebrations and how they contribute to both personal and collective health and wellbeing. Of course, some celebrations make a more meaningful contribution than others. And it is the nature of that difference I seek to understand. The two leading research questions I address are: • How do celebrations contribute to personal and collective health and wellbeing? • What is ‘healthy’ celebration practice? There are three sections in this thesis. In the first I describe and discuss the Australian context of celebration activities. I also explore definitions of celebrations. I consider celebrations to be an active process made up of both play and ritual. Celebrations seek to focus people’s attention, and intention, in a positive way. The resulting celebratory act(s) are a cultural expression of what a particular individual or community values. There are a diversity of celebration forms and practices - open, spontaneous, planned and formal. Each celebration is influenced by, and influences, the context in which it occurs. I will be focusing on celebrations occurring within a community context. A community may be a family, an organization, local community, shared interest group or a whole of society grouping. In the second section of the thesis I analyse the relationship of celebrations to various dimensions of health and wellbeing. These dimensions include: social connectedness, identity, transitions and lifespan development, and community capacity. A major part of my fieldwork was undertaken in Victoria where I studied 20 community celebrations. The community celebrations I examined in varying degrees, did positively contribute to personal and collective wellbeing. They did so because they included positive and personally meaningful activities. They explored identity. Celebrations played a role in supporting transitions leading to ongoing healthy development. They provided opportunities for learning; not just knowledge but allowed values to be explored and skills and resources to be gained. They brought people together to interact and fostered a sense of belonging. Celebrations that were health enhancing valued diversity but also explored what unites people. My research confirmed that celebrations can foster our connections; to ourselves, others, the earth, time and the spiritual. They can build relationships between individuals, groups and organizations. They can be spaces that allow for personal and collective healing. But the degree to which these positive dimensions can be achieved depends on the nature or quality of the celebration practice. And it is the practice of planning and facilitating celebrations that is the focus of the third section of the thesis. Some celebration practices are health enhancing while others are not. Celebrations can be an opportunity to explore not just ourselves but our communities and how they oppress particular individuals and groups. Many contemporary celebrations do not feel authentic or resonate with people. They often remain at the surface and focus on passive forms of entertainment and the consumption of goods. Deeper engagement can be facilitated through more participatory and creative activities such as dance, playing music, story -making and -telling and ritual; particularly when engaged in with conscious intention. Celebrations at the individual level can be a positive, affirming experience that is personally meaningful and enables people to move towards their potential. At a collective level they build relationships between the individual, groups and places. They highlight the interconnectedness between all things. And as such they are an integral part of community life. I conclude by presenting an analytical framework to help understand the nature of celebration practice that is less or more likely to facilitate health and wellbeing. I try to adopt the viewpoint of a practitioner interested in the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. I anticipate this knowledge will stimulate discussion particularly within the health and community sector about how celebration practice can be integrated into the work of health professionals and community workers.

This thesis presents a thorough investigation of the 2500th Anniversary Celebrations of the Founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great, held in Persepolis by the Shah of Iran in 1971. Since the time of the Celebrations they have been routinely demonised by historians and critics of the Pahlavi regime, who present them as evidence of the delusion and megalomania of an Oriental despot. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a more sober, balanced account of the events of 1971 and the preparations leading up to them, in order to understand more fully the aims and motivations of the Shah and his entourage in organising such a nationalist spectacle. It will argue that Iran benefitted greatly from the international exposure the event generated, politically, economically and culturally. Most accounts of the Celebrations have focussed primarily on the sumptuous Pahlavi hospitality, enjoyed by the world’s elite over the course of a few days in purpose-built accommodation at Persepolis, the former ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid dynasty. In contrast, the premise of this thesis is that the ceremonies at Persepolis and Pasargadae were just a small, albeit highly visible, part of the programme for the Celebrations. From the time the Celebrations were conceived in the late 1950s, exhibitions were organised, publications commissioned and buildings constructed. All were intended to contribute to the development and modernisation of Iran, and all were conceived with the Anniversary Celebrations in mind. Internationally too, the Celebrations aroused great interest. Hundreds of books and articles were published in conjunction with the event, and museum exhibitions, academic conferences and other special cultural events were organised around the world, giving an important boost to the field of Persian studies worldwide. Meanwhile, the Shah’s Iran was presented as a significant regional and global power. This thesis will contribute, therefore, to our understanding of the Celebrations, and more broadly the material effects of the politicisation of culture in the late Pahlavi period.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2007. / B.27.3.2007.

Darbe nagrinėjamos svarbiausios abiturientų šventės: šimtadienis, paskutinis skambutis bei išleistuvės XX a. - XXI a. pr. Darbo objektas – abiturientų švenčių tradicijos 1924 – 2012 m. Darbo tikslas: atskleisti šioms šventėms būdingus bruožus ir nustatyti abiturientų švenčių pokyčius per beveik 90 metų laikotarpį. Uždaviniai: . Palyginti Lietuvoje ir kaimyninėse šalyse (Latvijoje, Lenkijoje, Rusijoje) vykstančias abiturientų šventes bei jų ypatumus; panagrinėti abiturientų švenčių kilmę ir jų atsiradimo istoriją Lietuvoje; aptarti abiturientų švenčių oficialiųjų ir neoficialiųjų dalių esminius bruožus; palyginti skirtingų laikotarpių (tarpukario, sovietmečio ir atkurtos nepriklausomybės laikotarpio) Lietuvos mokyklų šimtadienių, paskutinio skambučio, išleistuvių tradicijas bei papročius; išsiaiškinti abiturientų švenčių svarbą ir reikšmę moksleivių gyvenime. Darbe naudojami šie tyrimo metodai: aprašomasis, lyginamasis, interpretacinis, analizė. Naudoti medžiagos rinkimo metodai: dalyvaujamasis stebėjimas, interviu ir anketavimas. Per 3 metus (2010 – 2012 m.) anketomis apklausti 239 pateikėjai, atlikti 24 interviu, stebėta 11 abiturientų švenčių, vykusių Kaune, Šakiuose, Vilniuje. Darbą sudaro įvadas, 3 dalys ir išvados. Pirmojoje darbo dalyje „Abiturientų šimtadienio folkloras“ aptariamos abiturientų šventės įvairiais laikotarpiais: tarpukariu, sovietmečiu bei po Lietuvos nepriklausomybės atkūrimo. Antrojoje dalyje „Abiturientų paskutinio skambučio šventė“ aprašomi XX a... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The paper analyses the most important school-leavers’ celebrations such as 100-days party, the last bell, seeing-off party in the 20th and 21st centuries. The paper object is traditions of school-leavers‘ celebrations from 1924 to 2012. The aim of the paper is to reveal characteristic features of the celebrations mentioned and identify changes of school-leavers‘ celebrations in a period of 90 years. The objectives are as follows: to compare school-leavers‘ celebrations that take place in Lithuania and neighbouring countries, namely Latvia, Poland, Russia, and their peculiarities, to analyse the origins and development history of these celebrations in Lithuania, to discuss the main features of formal and informal parts of school-leavers‘ celebrations, to compare traditions and customs of Lithuanian school 100-days party, the last bell and sending-off parties; to find out the significance of school-leavers‘ celebrations in pupils‘ life. The following methods are employed in the paper: descriptive, comparative, interpretational, analytical. The data was collected by using active observation, interviews, and the questionnaire. In a period of 3 years (from 2010 to 2011) 239 respondents were questioned, 24 interviews were taken,11 school-leavers‘ celebrations in Kaunas, Šakiai and Vilnius were observed. The paper consists of introduction, three body parts and conclusion. The first part „Folklore of school-leavers‘100-days party“ describes school-leavers‘ celebrations in different... [to full text]

Inca rule in the Southern Andes was based on the simultaneous management of military control, ideology and ceremonial hospitality. Food and public celebrations were essential both to the emergence of social hierarchies and to the negotiation of power by building alliances and reciprocity relationships. In Northwest Argentina, Inca administration was exercised through the direct government of key locations. In order to approach micropolitical processes developed in some temperate valleys of NOA under Inca rule we intend to know the importance that feasts or ceremonies held for state elites by creating social limits through the consumption of special food and distinct ceramic shapes. To that end, the Inca state invested energy in widening agricultural fields as an strategy of production and administration of goods and services through the domination of the productive space, which was appropriated by the Inca through the previous relationship between pukara-ancestors-chacras-small farms-fertility. / El dominio inca en los Andes del sur se basó en el manejo simultáneo del control militar, la ideología y la hospitalidad ceremonial. La comida y las celebraciones públicas fueron fundamentales para el surgimiento de jerarquías sociales y en la negociación del poder mediante la creación de alianzas y relaciones de reciprocidad. En el Noroeste Argentino, la administración inca ejerció un gobierno directo en ubicaciones clave. Para poder obtener una visión más clara de los procesos micropolíticos que se desarrollaron en algunos valles mesotermales del Noroeste Argentino bajo el dominio inca se intentará conocer la importancia que las fiestas o ceremonias tuvieron para las elites estatales al crear límites sociales por medio del consumo de alimentos especiales y del uso de formas cerámicas distintivas. Para ello, el Estado invirtió energía en ampliar las áreas agrícolas como una estrategia de producción y administración de bienes y servicios mediante el dominio del espacio productivo, el cual fue apropiado por el Inca a partir del ya existente vínculo pukara-ancestros-fertilidad de las chacras.

No description available.

Inscrit à la liste des « Chefs-d’oeuvre du Patrimoine Oral et Immatériel de l’Humanité » de l’UNESCO en 2001, leCarnaval d’Oruro fait depuis plusieurs décennies l’objet d’une valorisation croissante. L’une des spécificités de la fêteréside dans son surprenant développement au cours du XXe siècle, ainsi que dans la théâtralisation des enjeux etconflits nationaux qu’elle propose. Cette thèse se propose d’appréhender la métamorphose du Carnaval d’Oruro aucours des XXe et XXIe siècles (1920-2015), en prenant pour points de départ l’analyse des différentes interactionsd’ordre économique, politique, social et culturel qu’engendra son évolution historique, ainsi que certains de ses enjeuxet conflits qui en découlèrent. La réflexion s’oriente dans un premier temps sur les modalités temporelles du Carnaval,organisé autour d’un réseau dense et complexe de manifestations qui façonnent son calendrier. Chacun des temps de lalongue période jalonnant la préparation et le déroulement du Carnaval apporte en effet une dimension spécifique à cedernier, permettant la mise en relation de groupes, pratiques ou personnes réunis autour d’une même festivité,polymorphe et parfois déroutante. La seconde partie s’attache à présenter et analyser la multiplication des événementset mesures politiques et économiques qui firent du Carnaval une fête mobilisant un nombre croissant d’acteurs, au fild’un vingtième siècle marqué par d’importants bouleversements historiques nationaux. L’étude de la « constructionphysique » du Carnaval, autour d’un certain nombre de marqueurs spatiaux et matériels, de ses retombéeséconomiques et touristiques, ou de son impact sur les politiques régionales et nationales, façonne cette partie articuléeautour du déroulement « concret » du Carnaval et de ses variations historiques. Enfin, la troisième partie propose uneréflexion sur les modalités de représentation et de mise en scène de la société orureña et/ou bolivienne à travers leCarnaval, reflet ou illustration des nombreuses transformations du pays au cours du XXe siècle. Le Carnaval entraeffectivement dans une nouvelle étape de son histoire à partir des années quatre-vingt, devenant progressivement lethéâtre voire le creuset de processus politiques et de modalités de représentation toujours plus complexes. Cettedernière partie explore également des conflits ou interactions liés aux processus d’affirmation identitaire, culturelle oupolitique que généra et continue de générer le Carnaval, particulièrement depuis sa consécration par l’UNESCO en mai2001. L’ensemble de ce travail repose sur trois types de sources, mises en relation ou en contraste dans chacune desparties présentées. Les observations de terrain (2012, 2014, 2015) sont complétées par un important travail derépertoriage des archives de presse produites par le quotidien orureño La Patria, depuis sa fondation en 1919 jusqu’ànos jours, justifiant les bornes temporelles de l’étude. Près de 3.500 articles de presse ont ainsi été recensés et étudiés,permettant de mieux appréhender l’histoire du Carnaval et ses répercussions sur la société orureña. Les donnéesrésultant de la mise en place de deux questionnaires diffusés sur place et en ligne (2014, 2016) auprès de plusieurscentaines de danseurs et participants du Carnaval viennent enrichir ce corpus journalistique et donner à la réflexion unedimension sociologique. À travers ces différents supports, la présente thèse propose une étude des principaux enjeux,interactions et conflits suscités par le Carnaval sur la période 1920-2015, dans une approche à la fois synchronique etdiachronique, afin de cerner l’ampleur et la complexité d’un Carnaval étudié non seulement dans sa dimension festivepremière, mais aussi depuis ses coulisses ou enjeux souterrains, parfois moins manifestes ou explicites. / From its proclamation as “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO in 2001, theOruro Carnival is being deeply highlighted. One of its specificities consists in its impressive evolution throughout theHistory, and in its dramatization of the Bolivian society conflicts. This work pretends to study the Carnival’stransformation during the 20 and 21st centuries (1920-2015), considering and understanding the metamorphosis of theOruro Carnival by taking initial postulates in the analysis of some of its most significant challenges and conflicts, aswell as the different interactions with economic, political, social or cultural produced by its historical evolution.The reflection focuses initially on temporary terms of Carnival, organized around a complex grid of events that shapeits schedule. Each moment of the period between the Carnival’s preparation and its development brings a specificdimension to it, allowing the development of relationship between groups, practices or people gathered around a samepolymorphic festivity. The second part aims to present and analyze the multiplication of events and political oreconomic measures that made the Carnival celebration mobilizing a growing number of players, over a century markedby major national historical upheavals. The study of the Carnival’s “physical construction”, around a great number ofspatial markers and equipment, its economic and tourism benefits, or its impact on the regional and national policy,shape this second part around the “concrete” course of Carnival and its historical changes. The third part proposes areflection on the modalities of representation and staging of the orureña and / or Bolivian society through a Carnivalthat reflects or illustrates some of the many transformations of the country during the twentieth century. The Carnivalthen entered a new stage in its history, becoming the theater of national political processes, and crystallizing newissues of representation. This last part also examines conflicts or interactions related to identity, cultural or politicalaffirmation processes, generated by the Carnival, especially since its consecration by UNESCO in May 2001. Thiswork is based on three types of sources. Field observations (in 2012, 2014 and 2015) are supplemented by importantwork of indexing newspaper archives produced by the orureño daily “La Patria”, since its foundation in 1919 untilnow, justifying the temporary terms of the study. Nearly 3.500 articles have been identified and studied to get to abetter understanding of the Carnival history and its impact on the orureña society. The data resulting from theimplementation of two questionnaires dissimilated locally and online (2014 and 2016) with hundreds of Carnivaldancers and participants, completes the journalistic corpus and gives an additional sociological dimension to thereflection. Through these media, this thesis proposes a study of the major issues, interactions and conflicts over theCarnival in the period 1920-2015, in both a synchronic and diachronic approach in order to better understand the scopeand complexity of the Carnival, not only in its festive dimension, but also for its underground scenes or issues,sometimes less obvious or explicit.

Submitted by Cássia Santos (cassia.bcufg@gmail.com) on 2014-09-15T11:43:03Z No. of bitstreams: 2 DissertaaoVitor G Miziara.pdf: 1069814 bytes, checksum: 3e761a42d76270f46c7705851459217a (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2014-09-15T13:41:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 DissertaaoVitor G Miziara.pdf: 1069814 bytes, checksum: 3e761a42d76270f46c7705851459217a (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-09-15T13:41:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 DissertaaoVitor G Miziara.pdf: 1069814 bytes, checksum: 3e761a42d76270f46c7705851459217a (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This study aims to analyze the Mexican celebrations, particularly the Bicentenary of Independence and Centenary of Mexican Revolution’s celebrations, occurred in the year of 2010, specially those related to the government’s oficial’s visions for civic and patriotic events, that have composed the mexican’s ephemeris, searching for the understanding and to analyze the data collected in the first moment – the period that preceded the celebrations – and those collected during and after the realization of those, in order to contextualize the oficial’s visions, and confront them with another perspectives. In order to, we performed a comparison with the celebrations of the First Centenary of Independence, in 1910, from a theoretical analysis about concepts like Identity, Celebration, Memory and Uses of the Past. / O presente estudo tem por objetivo analisar as celebrações mexicanas, em especial as do Bicentenário de Independência e do Centenário da Revolução Mexicana, ocorridas no ano de 2010, sobretudo com relação às visões oficiais do governo federal para com os eventos cívicos e pátrios, que compuseram as efemérides mexicanas, buscando compreender e analisar os dados levantados no primeiro momento da pesquisa – o período que antecedeu as festas – e aqueles levantados durante e após a realização destas, de forma a contextualizar as visões oficiais, e confrontá-las com outras perspectivas. Para tanto, realizamos uma comparação com as festas do Primeiro Centenário da Independência, em 1910, a partir de uma análise teórica sobre conceitos como Identidade, Comemoração, Memória e Uso do Passado.

This thesis examines four regional community cultural festivals in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. It reveals the complex interplay of a sense of place and community, a destination’s identity and representation, host guest relationships and the underlying nature and role of celebration expressed in each festival. It examines the regional context in which the Jacaranda Festival in Grafton, the Beef Week celebrations in Casino, the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Byron Bay and the Mardi Grass Law reform rally in Nimbin are conducted. An extensive literature review provides a global perspective on theories, issues and trends in the sectors reflected in the case study festivals. The phenomenological approach to the case study methodology is explained before each festival is closely scrutinized, addressing the study’s aim.The thesis aims at a better understanding of the elements of resilience fostered by festivals when communities take intentional action. This resilience dimension emerged as a major outcome of the initial investigation of the nature and role of festivals in regional communities.The thesis argues that festivals allow people to reflect and determine a sense of community and place, represent their image and identity and contribute to cultural tourism. Community festivals involve the local population in a shared experience to their mutual benefit by providing both social functions and symbolic meanings. This study contends that community-based festivals celebrate the community’s social identity, its historical continuity and its cultural resilience. They are socially constructed and negotiated phenomena and can be staged in everyday places that also become tourist places. Festivals provide a forum for creativity, custom, heritage and cultural practices for both resident and guest.Investigating community cultural festivals from multiple perspectives allows for greater understanding of the nuances of the relationships between stakeholders. By identifying the patterns, structures and meanings of the contexts that festivals represent we are better informed of the distinctive values, interests and aspirations held by residents when they host festivals. Perspectives on community festivals and resilience were canvassed from diverse perspectives as demonstrated by the following typical responses:Nourishing resilience through Festivals and CommunitiesThere are many intangible reasons why a community chooses to host a festival such as socio-cultural, economic, political and environmental and each reason is not mutually exclusive (Backman et al, 1995).The Northern Rivers region stands apart from the rest of rural Australia as living as if the future matters. This is a very powerful attractor in these times of urban decay and environmental despair (Dunstan, 1994:2).Sense of place, can be described as, the common ground where interpretation and community development meets in a concern to create or enhance a sense of place, to establish what is significant and valued in the environment or heritage of a particular community, and to provide action for its wider appreciation and conservation (Binks, 1989:191 cited Trotter, 1998).Democratic communities take responsibility for their future. It is undeniable that cohesive community events based on ideals create a sense of community. The excitement and joy that people feel when they work together for their community and future means that they will attempt to recreate that experience. It becomes their preferred way (Emery, 1995:70).…the notion of community is always something of a myth. A community implies a coherent entity with a clear identity and a commonality of purpose. The reality is that communities, more often than not, are made up of an agglomeration of factions and interest groups often locked in competitive relationships (Smit, 1995 cited in Joppe, 1996:475).Community, the custodians of the content of Australian tourism, must be enabled to participate in tourism by forming its content. Only if Australians are involved in tourism will it survive, (Wood, 1993:7).Through direct contact and interaction with each festival, the qualitative exploratory study reveals how in formal and informal ways participants at the four case study sites demonstrate the diverse and fragmented nature of festivals. Although none of these festivals is identical, some consistent patterns do emerge to demonstrate that comparisons can be developed. These patterns have their own advantages and disadvantages and it is evident that success or failure is not linked to a particular model for such festivals. Each community has an ongoing challenge of determining how their festival can best meet its needs presently and into the future. Each is trying to keep pace with the changes that are taking place within their communities, within the region and from external forces. This is where the study also generates new knowledge: tracking the changes occurring in community festivals in contemporary regional Australia.Through a systematic analysis of data the study significantly contributes to our understanding of the character of community festivals. Through surveys, interviews, media analysis, photographic images and critical observation, it clearly observes that social, economic and environmental issues currently presented in the literature require greater deconstruction and critical engagement. Rich and quilted description of the festivals informs this research providing grounded scholarly investigation. This approach leads to a greater understanding of significant social and cultural agendas in regional communities. Festivals add value to communities. They creatively produce and embed culture. They can be viewed as celebrations of resilience.Through a systematic analysis of data the study significantly contributes to our understanding of the character of community festivals. Through surveys, interviews, media analysis, photographic images and critical observation, it clearly observes that social, economic and environmental issues currently presented in the literature require greater deconstruction and critical engagement. Rich and quilted description of the festivals informs this research providing grounded scholarly investigation. This approach leads to a greater understanding of significant social and cultural agendas in regional communities. Festivals add value to communities. They creatively produce and embed culture. They can be viewed as celebrations of resilience.At the core of the investigation is an analysis of how the process of nourishing resilience by making inclusive celebrations, unleashes relationships between many stakeholders. Each participant contributes to the program, traditions, cultural practices, impact and reach of events with differing voices and emphases.In principle, festivals and their host communities offer individual members a framework for attending to general aspects of life. This study reaffirms that community festivals particularly hold a significant position in three areas of the human condition. They celebrate a sense of place through organising inclusive activities in specific safe environments. They provide a vehicle for communities to host visitors and share such activities as representations of communally agreed values, interests and aspirations. Finally, they are the outward manifestation of the identity of the community and provide a distinctive identifier of place and people.