Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law Volume 23 Issue 3 Article 3 2021 The Right to Feast and Festivals Juan C. RioFrio Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/jetlaw Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Juan C. RioFrio, The Right to Feast and Festivals, 23 Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law 567 (2021) Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/jetlaw/vol23/iss3/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Right to Feast and Festivals Juan Carlos Riofrio* ABSTRACT Festive behavior is a basic characteristic of human life, as evidenced from ancient times. Humans need to use ceremony and ritual in specific places and times to mark their triumphs, joys, and sorrows. However, some categories of individuals are harmed because they cannot celebrate the most important highlights of their lives through such festive feasts: prisoners, mariners at sea, soldiers on the frontlines, workers subject to the pressures of ungenerous employers, towns occupied by oppressive invaders, and impoverished individuals who cannot afford customary celebrations, among others. When feasts and festivals are restricted, societies lose well-being, communities lose identity, and individuals lose freedom of expression. This normative Article helps fill a gap in the legal literature, which overlooks feasts as a right based on reason, some constitutions, laws, and international human rights. This Article calls for formal recognition and robust and coherent protection of a general right to feast, in constitutional law and in the international framework of human rights.