Festivals and Feasts

Festivals and Feasts, in secular society, communal celebrations involving carefully planned programs, outpourings of respect, rejoicing, or high revelry, established by custom or sponsored by various cultural groups or organizations. Such secular celebrations differ from religious festivals and feasts in that the focus is not on the significance of the rituals of holy days of a particular faith but on the public honoring of outstanding persons, the commemoration of important historical or cultural events, or the re-creation of cherished folkways. In some parts of the world, however, particularly in Latin America and southern Europe, traditional secular festivities follow attendance at religious services.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, national memorial authorized in 1980. Located in Washington, D.C., the site commemorates United States military personnel who died or were declared missing in action during the Vietnam War (1959-1975). The memorial is a V-shaped, black granite wall of polished stone etched with more than 58,000 names. The wall, built in 1982, is 150 m (493 ft) long. It was designed by a 21-year-old architecture student, Maya Lin. A bronze statue by Frederick Hart entitled Three Servicemen was added in 1984 and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, a bronze sculpture by Glenna Goodacre, was added in 1993. This statue of three nurses and a wounded soldier honors the more than 11,000 women who served in the war. Administered by the National Park Service. Area, 0.8 hectares (2 acres)....................

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