Festival Events and Cultural Capital

Josef Pieper has pointed out in In Tune with the World that festivity requires at least two things: it must be public, and it must be an interruption of mundane, ordinary time. Research in cultural tourism indicates that such "time out of time" occasions act to build social capital. Presumably, this is because these opportunities quickly and easily reconfigure the local area community, nurturing the rapid accumulation of good will. This presentation focuses on three festival events-the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland, Camel Wrestling in Turkey, and Bull Pushing in Japan-in order to discuss them as expressions of cultural tourism and to explain how conserving and planning for sustainability of this cultural matter acts to generate valuable social capital. Our understanding of these settings is informed by what the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) describes as "the natural and cultural heritage, diversities and living cultures [as] major tourism attractions." While the Charter points out that "excessive or poorly-managed tourism and tourism related development can threaten their physical nature, integrity and significant characteristics," and that "the ecological setting, culture and lifestyles of host communities may also be degraded, along with the visitor's experience of the place," festivals, we intend to show, can celebrate and preserve local culture and cultural artifacts if managed properly.