The final rite of passage, death, has brought about numerous festival customs, all the way from the ritual sacrifice of the widow in Hinduism (until the 19th century) to the commercialization of death rites in Western societies.
There is something so comforting about these longstanding festival customs which go back centuries: the John Lewis ad, the Coca-Cola "holidays are coming" truck, someone getting beaten up and/or caught in a house fire in EastEnders.
It was a festival custom not to applaud in church at the end of works, so Vaughan Williams would have left the podium to solemn silence.
A somewhat clearer link to festival custom was struck by singer-songwriters with acoustic guitars, like the Tallest Man on Earth; or an excellent Patty Griffin; or Tom Morello, in his grumbly guise as the Nightwatchman; or Jackson Browne, the festival closer.
As is the festival's custom, the film recommendations will remain a secret until the exhibition begins on Sept. 2 in Colorado.
The final Saturday of the annual 10-day event is, by the festival's custom, a day of defeat for King Boreas, the King of Winds — and winter.
The curator, Hui-shu Lee, an assistant professor of art history at the University of California at Los Angeles, has selected paintings that either depict specific aspects of its urban terrain or illustrate local festivals and customs described in poems and gazetteers.
West also directed a film of the same name that premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in custom pyramid-shaped screening pavilion featuring seven screens.
But it is somewhat novel to send an actress -- in this case, Charlotte Gainsbourg, the daughter of Jane Birken and the late Serge Gainsbourg -- to the glamour-soaked film festival with 21 custom-made ensembles, plus a few extra looks.
The festival, which celebrates custom and history yet does not take itself too seriously, runs from morning until night, with craft events and bands building up to a late-night torchlit procession through the streets of Penzance.
The Dragon Boat Festival is a custom seemingly kept going by willpower, surrounded by the remains of a great tradition of endeavour.
