Festivals constitute one of the pillars of identity in the Ibero-American world. Notably, they are cultural manifestations by virtue of their plural, complex natures steeped in contradictions. With this in mind, it is possible to say that they are important expressions capable of enabling an understanding of society. For a long time, research on festivals prioritized their regulatory dimension in society, as an instrument for controlling and maintaining order. In this way, festivals became the focus of attention of researchers who attempted to interpret models oscillating between understanding them as an instrument for regulating society or as a revealing expression of the true nature of society. This is without forgetting the folklorists, pioneers in the observation of festivals, recorded as precious objects that were read as a survival of the past. However, in recent decades a great deal of research on festivals has been produced, turning them into a privileged object of study for various disciplinary fields, such as Anthropology, Religious Studies, History, Heritage Studies and Tourism.
Festive manifestations came to be understood as complex phenomena, imbued with a plurality of subjects and voices that demand a sophisticated interpretation and different documentary sources. Research therefore reveals festivals that present national, regional or local dimensions, and civic, popular, ethnic or religious connotations. Specifically, festivals came to be seen as social expressions where conflicts, negotiations and forms of resistance occur. Festivals are stages for the actions of history, for the struggle of the oppressed; for this reason, in accounts about them it is very common to find an association with crisis. The purpose of this thematic symposium is therefore to bring together work from different disciplinary fields that take festivals, pilgrimages and processions of the contemporary Ibero-American world as their subject of research.
