List of folk festivals explained

A folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music. This list includes folk festivals worldwide, except those with only a partial focus on folk music or arts. Folk festivals may also feature folk dance or ethnic foods.

Handicrafting has long been exhibited at such events and festival-like gatherings, as it has its roots in the rural crafts. Like folk art, handicraft output often has cultural, political, and/or religious significance. Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic, and is often sold at festivals by tradespeople or practicing amateurs.^[1] As at folk festivals, such art and handicraft may also appear at historical reenactments and events such as Renaissance fairs.

Africa

South Africa

Misty Waters Music Festival

Asia

Bangladesh

• Dhaka International Folk Fest

India

• Gavari - Sacred Dance Drama Festival

Israel

• Jacob's Ladder^[2]

Europe

• Europeade (held each year in a different European country)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Ilidža Folk Music Festival
• Ilidža International Children's Folklore Festival

Belgium

• Boombal Festival^[3]

Bulgaria

Stara planina fest Balkan folk^[4]

Denmark

• Tønder Festival

Estonia

• Viljandi Folk Festival

Finland

• Kaustinen Folk Music Festival^[5]

France

• Festival Interceltique de Lorient
• Rencontres Internationales de Luthiers et Maîtres-Sonneurs

Germany

Festival-Mediaval XIV, "Folk of the World"

Greece

Kerasovo Festival, Ioannina

Ireland

• Temple Bar TradFest

Lithuania

• Kaziuko mugė, Vilnius
• Mėnuo Juodaragis, Zarasai
• Parbėg laivelis, Klaipeda

Netherlands

• Castlefest
• Worldfestival Parade Brunssum

Russia

• Empty Hills, Kaluga Oblast
• Grushinsky festival, near Samara

Spain

• Interceltic Festival of Avilés
• Interceltic Festival of Morrazo
• Ortigueira's Festival of Celtic World

United Kingdom

• Between The Trees
• Beverley Folk Festival
• Cambridge Folk Festival
• Celtic Connections
• England's Medieval Festival
• Edinburgh Folk Festival
• Fairport's Cropredy Convention
• FolkEast Festival
• The Green Man Festival
• Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival
• Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival
• Shetland Folk Festival
• Shrewsbury Folk Festival
• Sidmouth Folk Festival
• Soma Festival
• Wickham Festival
• Wimborne Folk Festival

North America

Honduras

• Encuentro Folklórico Nacional El Grande de Grandes^[6]

Canada

• Calgary Folk Music Festival
• Canmore Folk Music Festival
• Edmonton Folk Music Festival
• Vancouver Folk Music Festival
• Winnipeg Folk Festival (Birds Hill)
• Celtic Colours (Cape Breton)
• Stan Rogers Folk Festival (Canso)
• CityFolkFestival (Ottawa)
• Emerald Music Festival
• Hillside Festival (Guelph)
• Home County Folk Festival (London)
• Mariposa Folk Festival (Orillia)
• Mill Race Festival of Traditional Folk Music (Cambridge)
• Northern Lights Festival Boréal (Sudbury)
• Red Rock Folk Festival (Red Rock)
• Regina Folk Festival
• Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival (Owen Sound)
• TD Canada Trust Sunfest (London)

United States

Alaska

• Alaska Folk Festival

California

• Big Sur Folk Festival
• Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

District of Columbia

• Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Florida

• Florida Folk Festival

Illinois

Fox Valley Folk Music And Storytelling Festival

Indiana

• Feast of the Hunters' Moon^[7]

Maine

• American Folk Festival

Massachusetts

• Lowell Folk Festival
• New England Folk Festival

Montana

• Montana Folk Festival

New Jersey

• New Jersey Folk Festival

New York

• Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
• Old Songs Festival

North Carolina

• Folkmoot USA

North Dakota

• Norsk Høstfest

Oklahoma

• Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

Oregon

• Sisters Folk Festival

Pennsylvania

• Flood City Music Festival
• Philadelphia Folk Festival
• Pittsburgh Folk Festival

Rhode Island

• Newport Folk Festival

Tennessee

• The Americana Folk Festival

Texas

• Kerrville Folk Festival

Traveling

• National Folk Festival

Washington

• Northwest Folklife

Wisconsin

• Great River Folk Fest
• Holiday Folk Fair
• Mile of Music

Oceania

Australia

• National Folk Festival
• Woodford Folk Festival

New Zealand

• Whare Flat Folk Festival - held over the New Year period at Whare Flat near Dunedin; run by Dunedin's New Edinburgh Folk Club

Further reading

• Coffin, Tristam P.; Cohen, Hennig, (editors), Folklore in America; tales, songs, superstitions, proverbs, riddles, games, folk drama and folk festivals, Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1966. Selections from the Journal of American folklore. Cf. chapter on "Folk Drama and Folk Festival", pp. 195–225,

Notes and References

1. West, Shearer (general editor), The Bullfinch Guide to Art History, page 440, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, United Kingdom, 1996.
2. Jacobs Ladder, the Friendly 'Festival for Everyone. Danna. Harman. TheMarker . 19 April 2013. Haaretz.
3. Web site: English - Boombalfestival. 19 September 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161005191504/http://www.boombalfestival.be/english/. 5 October 2016. dead.
4. Web site: BALKAN FOLK FESTIVAL. BALKAN FOLK FESTIVAL.
5. Web site: KAUSTINEN FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL. KAUSTINEN FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL.
6. Web site: El Grande de Grandes . Ballet Folklórico de Honduras Oro Lenca . 30 July 2018.
7. Book: Fun with the Family Indiana. 5th . Gisler, Margaret . 177–178. Feast of the Hunters’ Moon . Globe Pequot . 2004 . 978-0-7627-2978-4 .