Festivals
Hundreds of international festivals, national, regional or local punctuate the calendar year. Music and theatrical festivals dominate the national cultural scene.
During the summer, annually in the July, the Carthage International Festival takes place, the International Festival of Arts of Mahr (late July-early August) and the International Festival of Hammamet.
It is during the months of October–November that the Carthage Film Festival is held, every alternate year to the Carthage Theatre Festival. The Carthage Film Festival was created in 1966 by the Tunisian Minister of Culture, to showcase films from the Maghreb, Africa and the Middle East. In order to be eligible for competition, a film must have a director of African or Middle Eastern nationality, and have been produced at least two years before entry. Its grand prize is the Tanit d'or, or "Golden Tanit," named for the lunar goddess of ancient Carthage; the award is in the shape of her symbol, a trapezium surmounted by a horizontal line and a circle.
Finally, the year is completed by the Sahara International Festival, which honors the cultural traditions associated with the Tunisian desert. This attracts many tourists and musicians from all around the world such as horsemen who flaunt their saddles and local fabrics and skills.
Other festivals honor traditional Tunisian music and notably jazz, including the Tabarka Jazz Festival.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Tunisia
Famous quotes containing the word festivals:
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“Why wont they let a year die without bringing in a new one on the instant, cant they use birth control on time? I want an interregnum. The stupid years patter on with unrelenting feet, never stopping—rising to little monotonous peaks in our imaginations at festivals like New Year’s and Easter and Christmas—But, goodness, why need they do it?”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)