Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/616

* FESSLER. 500 FESTIVALS. of hermeneutics at Lemberg, a Protestant and Freemason at Berlin, a lecturer on philosophy at Saint Petersburg, a Government official at Sara- tov, and, lastly, general superintendent of the Lutheran Community of Saint Petersburg. He wrote several historical novels ( Mare Aurel, Mat- thias Corvinus, Attila) now well-nigh forgotten, a History of the Hungarians, possessing great merit, and an autobiography charming in manner and style, Riickblicke auf meine Siebzigjahrige Pilgerfahrt (Breslau, 1820). He died at Saint Petersburg, December 15, 1839. FESSLER, Joseph (1813-72). An Austrian Roman Catholic theologian, born at Lochau. in the Crownland of Vorarlberg. He studied at Inns- bruck and the Seminary of Brixen ; was ordained priest in 1837; in 1841 was appointed instructor in Church history at Brixen, and in 1843 in canon law also. He was elected to the Frank- fort Parliament in 1848; received appointment to the chair of Church history at Vienna in 1852, and was transferred to that of canon law in 1856. In 1861-62 he was a member of the Con- gregation for the Oriental Rites at Rome, and in 1864 became Bishop of Saint Polten. From 1869 he was general secretary of the Vatican Council. His most important work is his Institu- tiones Patrologiw ( 1S50-51 ; new edition by .Jung- mann, 1890-96). He also wrote a Geschichte der Kirche Christi (4th ed. 1S77). and on the infal- libility of the Pope, of which dogma he was a zealous exponent. Die wahre und die falsche Un- fehlbarkeit der Papste ( 1871 ). Consult the biog- raphy by Erdinger (Brixen, 1874). FES'TA, Costantio (c.1490-1545). An Ital- ian singer and composer, celebrated as the fore- runner of Palestrina. He was born probably in Rome, where in 1517 he entered the Pontifical Chapel as a singer and contrapuntist. He was very soon appointed maestro in the Vatican, and retained his position until his death. Only a few of his numerous masses, motets, madrigals, and litanies have been printed. His Te Deum, pub- lished in Rome in 1590, is a composition of re- markable beauty, and is still sung at the Vatican at Corpus Christi and on other solemn occasions. Several of the works of Festa are preserved in the archives of the Vatican and in the collections published by Giardane and Scotto (sixteenth cen- tury). Festa is generally regarded as the first great composer of the Roman school. His mad- rigal Quando ritrovo la mia pastorella ("Down in a Flowery Vale") is still popular in England. FES'TE. Olivia's clown in Shakespeare's Twelfth Wight. He joins in the plot against Mal- volio. and some of the author's best lyrics are sung by him. FESTIN DE PIERRE, fes'taw' de pyar'. See Don .It w. FESTIN'IOG. A town and railway junction in Merionethshire, Wales, kl_. miles east-north- east of Portmadoc (Map: Wales, C I). It is situated amid picturesque mountain scenery, and is noted for its Blate-quarries, which give em- ployment to must of its inhabitants, Population in 1891, I L.050; in 1001, 11,400. FESTIVAL PLAYS. Sec Mysteries. FESTIVALS (OF., IV. festival, from ML. festivalis, from Cat. festivus, festive, from festum, Fi vms. Day, oi seasons set apart for public rejoicing and rest from ordinary labor, at stated intervals, or occasionally for religious pur- poses solely, or for the celebration of some per- son or event. Originally, all festivals were of a religious character, since eating, drinking, and other pleasures connected with them could not be indulged without sharing these enjoyments with the divinities. The earliest of all festivals seem to have been connected with the cult of the dead. At great banquets communion was held with the'departed spirits and offerings were n to them. As clans grew and became scattered, such common meals coul'd only be arranged oi sionally. When the great luminaries began to at- tract worship and the ancestral spirits were in some way connected with them, these banquets were held annually or monthly. While purely animistic festivals are still observed in different parts of the world, when food and drink are offered to the dead at their burial-places, in the vast majority of instances the primitive signifi- cance has been obscured or wholly obliterated by a superinduced reference to natural phe- nomena or historic events. Wandering tribes are greatly attracted by the changing phases of the moon, and the festivals characteristic of the nomadic state are chielly lunar. When men set- tle down to agricultural life, they become depend- ent on sunshine and rain; winter and summer, seed-time and harvest, equinoxes and solstices be- come the occasions for festivities. With the de- velopment of a more complex social organization and the rise of great empires, the interest in national self-preservation becomes acute, and the feasts assume a political character as cele- brations of deliverance and victory. Veneration of the great religious leaders who have deeply impressed a people's life leads to the setting apart of certain days in their honor. But what- ever new significance is added to an earlier festi- val, something of its old character is likely to adhere to it. The god who sleeps during the win- ter and is awakened from his slumber at the vernal equinox has much in common with the ancestral spirit to whom new vitality is given by a libation of blood, and it is natural that the cele- bration of those mighty beings whose changing fortunes and all too human experiences were seen portrayed in the ceaseless play of nature's for. should borrow a feature from the banquets in honor of the departed dead. Fellowship with and likeness to the spirit- associated with the ele- ments of nature are sought in more exacting cultic performances. In solemn mimicry and self-inflicted pains the acts and sufferings of the deity are imitated. Sympathy with the solar divinity as well as with his' mother and hia spouse in the loss of generative power and the recovery of reproductive strength is expressed by the worshiper in self-imposed impotence and sterility, or unrestrained sexual abandonment. Snug-, slnmis. dances and processions, simple scenic representations, and ultimately the drama are the results of such symbolic actions. When historic personalities and events begin to be cele- brated, the character of the gods is apt to be transferred to the heroes, and the divine experi- ences blend with the human. This is especially the ease with the great religious leaders, whose apotheosis is most natural. The festivals celebrated by the ancient Toltecs and Aztecs of Mexico, and the tncas of Peru, while retaining features of ancestor-worship, were for the most pari of a solar and lunar char