Psychology Behind Festival Celebration

In every religion and community, people celebrate some festivals. Celebration of such festivals brings a change in our regular routine. Festivals add good memories to our lives. It’s a way to unite people and revive a sense of joy and harmony in society. Let’s talk about festival celebrations in detail.

Why people celebrate festivals:

1. A Festival Celebration is an expressive way to enjoy our culture, religion, and history.
2. All festivals hold some value, reason, and meaning to them. Celebrating festivals works as a reminder of those values and meaning to the community from time to time.
3. It brings the community together. It’s a way to unite them and develop harmony among them by exchanging emotions and practicing rituals.
4. Festival celebrations create opportunities for fun, enjoyment, amusement, and recreation.
5. It brings a Sense of joy, happiness, spiritual enlightenment, and quality time with loved ones.
6. People who stay alone also get the time to rest and be with family.
7. Festival celebrations give job opportunities to many people and give a boost to the economy of the nation as well.
8. Festival celebrations give faith in goodness or winning positivity over evil forces. It helps to re-correct once thought process and nature of thoughts.
9. People are conditioned with festivals since childhood so as the festival comes they experience a shift or change in their emotional state.

Psychology Behind Festival Celebration

Our part experience, storytelling, upbringing (exposure), environment (family), and community (social group) shape once psyche. Repeated exposure to this can create conditions for the human mind. Conditioning in simple words is the association between two or more than two behaviors which is based on learning because of getting certain types of reinforcement. As the child grows, he gets exposure to an event (festival), and people whom he trusts or is dependent upon provide some meaning to it based on their previous exposure and experience. Repeat exposure to this creates a psychological background for the child regarding that event. It is also found that the earlier the exposure, the larger impact it will have on the person’s psyche.

Hence, as the child gets exposed to certain beliefs, rituals, and values in the early stages of life, he gets conditioned to it as he gets reinforced by his surroundings. For example, one child says Namaste and another says Sat Sri Akal both behavior has occurred because of the conditioning.

As Children witness certain behaviors on a certain day, they learn behaviors. With age, they can change their beliefs and behavior because of any new exposure or thoughts as they grow. This is how a person develops his opinion, behavior, and emotions regarding festivals.

Festival celebration as a stressor

Yes, for some people festival can be a stressor because:

1. Sometimes they have to behave or participate in activities which they don’t like to do.
2. Most of the time festival celebration increases the family’s financial expenses. People who are struggling to meet their daily needs difficulty can find it difficult to spend some extra amount on new clothes, whitewashing, or decorations to keep the family’s expectations.
3. Festival celebrations come with holidays. Working people have to complete their work before the holidays. Also, people, whose work is related to celebration-related materials (decorative items, clothes, eatables like cake, cookies, and chocolate) have to work very hard till the day of the festival.

People who are working for online shopping companies have to do tons of delivery before festivals which leads to an excessive workload on them in comparison to regular days.

Research study

A study by the American Psychological Association (APA) found that “Stress around the holidays is disproportionately felt by women”. Women are more likely to feel that stress increases around the holidays. 44 percent of women report an increase in Stress during holidays in comparison to men, who reported 31 percent. Women reported they get less time for relaxation during holidays as they have an extra household workload of cleaning, cooking, and shopping.

Festival Celebration and Social Media

During festival seasons and holiday’s people social media accounts are full of good vibes and beautiful pics. People who are at home for cannot afford such a lavish celebration can feel the FOMO effect. The FOMO effect refers to feelings of missing out. In this state, people can feel left out as they can’t be part of exciting events and celebrations.

Also, people with poor self-image can feel less confident during or after the celebration as what they can see is too much of beautiful pics everywhere on social media. Holiday and festival celebrations are about switching off your social media and meeting people in person. Meeting your loved one in person makes you feel even better.

Festivals Celebration and individual difference

People are different and that’s the beauty of this universe. In General Personality of the people can be divided by the types of activities they enjoy and the way they behave. Introverts, extroverts,s, and ambiverts are one such type of personality. During celebrations and holidays, Introverted people can find it difficult to be part of social gatherings. Whereas extrovert people can find house cleaning or household work too tired. What can be done in this situation?

For introverted people

Introverted people can plan their holidays and celebrations as per their own comfort zone. Such as:

1. They can plan to stay with their family or plan a very close friends gathering.
2. They can read, watch, and listen to the things that they like because of their daily routine.
3. Engage yourself in something you find worth creating or doing.

For extrovert people:

1. They can plan an outdoor visitor travel if they can afford it. If not, they can meet the people who are nearby and have lunch or dinner together.
2. They can play group games and interesting activities when they are free in the holidays.
3. They can through parties for their family and friends.
4. Ambivert can make the balance between both to enjoy in their comfort.

Psychological benefits of celebrating festival

1) Opportunity to reduce stress:

At festivals, people are supposed to meet and spend quality time. Also, they get the holiday of half a day on that day or days. This leads to a change in their regular routine. These change in a person’s life enhances the release of Happy Hormone (Dopamine).

2) Enhances positive values and vibes in personality:

In festival celebrations, people are supposed to pray, fast, read spiritual stories, and do Pooja. All these processes, enhance a person’s resistance to negativity and sense of relief. Focusing on the higher being brings positivity to them and peace of mind.

3) An opportunity to experience Good Social support:

At festivals, people get a chance to meet each other and this brings a sense of belongingns in them. As they sit together they get an opportunity to rejoice in good old memories, share their feelings, and enjoy by practicing in festival rituals.

4) Change in environment:

Before festivals, people clean their homes or places which are important parts of their life. Cleanliness brings good vibes and energy, which affect a person’s positivity.

5) Boost to values and belief system:

Festivals have a reason why it is celebrated. So celebrating a festival brings a boost to the value it holds. Also, this affects a person’s social perception of his surroundings.

Festival Celebration and Mental Health

Festivals are more about emotional belief. Positive exposure, happy memory good food, rest, family, and practicing rituals make the person feel better. This break uplifts a person’s mental and emotional health.

Role of Control in Festival Celebration

Too much is too bad. Some people take advantage of this festival’s mood, such as eating or drinking too much, increasing pollution (noise pollution and air pollution), or injuring each other while celebrating. Whenever people are going to celebrate they must remember when to stop. Create healthy boundaries and remember that celebration is for the betterment of humans and society. Too much excitement can lead to trouble.

Things to keep in mind while Celebrating:

1. Remember personal boundaries such as if your enjoyment is creating a troll on someone’s mental health they must stop.
2. Whatever people do they must keep health and society in mind.
3. Don’t try to show anyone’s community superior or inferior.
4. Calculate the level of risk in the activity people are getting engaged in.
5. Keep safety measures ready such as water and first add box.
6. Consider the environment and neighborhood while celebrating. It should not create problems for them.
7. Give emphasis on emotions and creating memories instead of spending too much money on unnecessary materialistic stuff.
8. Work in collaboration so nobody feels overly burdened.
9. Emphasis on the significance and values of the festival to the kids. For example- Why on Diwali do people burst crackles?

Festivals and Holidays are for reviving your spirit. Celebrate it as you like it. Don’t get into too much pressure created by the people around you. Be who you are and do what makes you feel better.

You can read these books on festivals:

• Discover India: Festivals of India
• Festival Stories: Through the Year
• Glastonbury 50: The Official Story of Glastonbury Festival