The Spirits of Festivities Past, Present, and Future
Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on End-of-the-Year Celebrations
Conference
Rationale and premises
Conventionally set during the month of December in most countries around the world, the turning of the calendar or the seasonal threshold during this period holds profound symbolic significance across cultures and belief systems (Aveni 2004; Gell 2021). While it is often connected with Western or Christian winter traditions, end-of-the-year and transitional festivities manifest in countless vibrant forms around the globe. These celebrations encompass traditions that are deeply rooted in historical and cultural practices (Laing and Frost 2014). They can include ancient winter solstice rituals (such as Germanic Yule, Scottish Hogmanay, and Chinese Dongzhi), religious and spiritual observances such as Christian Christmas, Buddhist Bodhi Day, Jewish Hanukkah, or Hindu Pancha Ganapati (Heinberg 1993; Laing and Frost 2014). Alongside these more ancient practices, we could also mention more recent celebrations such as mid-20th-century Kwanzaa, affirming African-American heritage (Laing and Frost 2014).
Central to these celebrations across times and places are food traditions and culinary heritage, often characterized by ritual feasting and sacred recipes to symbolic ingredients, as well as multimodal representations spanning visual culture, music, digital media, bodily performances, and sensory experiences (ibid.).
The online International Conference «The Spirits of Festivities Past, Present, and Future» is founded on the core premise that late-year celebrations represent a shared human phenomenon. The conference aims to serve as an inclusive platform designed to bridge and unite rather than divide cultures. It seeks to explore how human communities use narrative, ritual, language, and memory to mark transitions, honor the past, celebrate the present, and express hope for the future.
Disciplinary focus and thematic areas
We warmly invite prospective speakers from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. Submissions are welcomed regardless of cultural backgrounds, religious affiliations, non-religious perspectives, and indigenous heritage.
Submissions should develop the conference main topic from a cross- and multi-cultural perspective, exploring it from Linguistics, Literature, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Folklore, Sociology, and adjacent interdisciplinary fields. We explicitly encourage contributions examining food traditions and multimodal representations across the conference’s thematic areas (A to D).
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Semantics, etymologies, and metaphors associated with end-of-year festive rituals, recipes, and festive foods/meals.
- Multimodal discourse analysis of festive media (combining text, image, audio, video, and digital interfaces).
- Greeting rituals, seasonal formulas, folk songs, culinary terminology, and oral tradition preservation.
- Translation, multilingual adaptation, and discourse dynamics of food and festive culture in multicultural societies.
- Literary depictions of festive feasting, culinary rituals, food scarcity, and seasonal banquets across historical periods.
- Multimodal and graphic narratives (illustrated texts, graphic novels, film adaptations, audio drama) portraying festive threshold periods.
- Ghost stories, memory, nostalgia, sensory imagery, and temporal reflections in late-year literature.
- Speculative fiction and dystopian/utopian visions of future festive practices, foodscapes, and digital celebrations.
- Culinary anthropology, foodways, gastronomy, and the symbolic value of ritual food and drink in end-of-year events.
- Multimodal performances, material culture, costumes, music, dance, and multisensory enactments of holiday traditions.
- Comparative analysis of light, feasting, gift-giving, ancestral veneration rituals, and table settings.
- Secular, humanistic, and non-religious celebrations and food gatherings in modern globalized contexts.
- Globalized foodways, culinary diaspora, migration, and the fusion or adaptation of hybrid festive dishes.
- Digital, social media, and virtual multimodal spaces shaping contemporary festive expression and food sharing.
- Commercialization, culinary tourism, and media representation of regional and global seasonal traditions.
- Interreligious dialogue, community bonding, and multicultural harmony through shared culinary spaces and festive practices.
References
- Aveni, A. F. (2004). “The book of the year: A brief history of our seasonal holidays”. Oxford University Press.
- Gell, A. (2021). “The anthropology of time: Cultural constructions of temporal maps and images”. Routledge.
- Heinberg, R. (1993). “Celebrate the Solstice: Honoring the Earth's Seasonal Rhythms through Festival and Ceremony”. Quest Books.
- Laing, J., & Frost, W. (Eds.). (2014). “Rituals and traditional events in the modern world”. Routledge.
Submission
Guidelines and instructions
Prospective speakers should submit their application materials as a single Word document containing:
- abstract: around 300 words (references excluded), clearly stating the research question, theoretical framework, methodology, and preliminary findings.
- keywords: 3-5 relevant keywords.
- biographical note: 100-150 words indicating institutional affiliation (if any), research interests, and contact details.
- presentation format: 15-20 minute presentation followed by a 10-minute Q&A discussion.
- working language: English (presentations examining other languages should deliver their presentation in English).
Please submit your abstract via e-mail to daniela.cesiri@unive.it (e-mail subject line: “Abstract Submission - Spirits of Festivities Conference”).
Programme
- Final programme publication: December 14th, 2026
- Conference dates (Zoom): December 21st-22nd, 2026
The Zoom link will be shared after abstracts are selected. More information about the conference full programme will be published soon.