A multi-day gathering of works
Within the Santo Daime calendar, a Festival brings together a sequence of hinário works over consecutive days, typically built around one of the tradition's major dates. Communities describe the festival period as a concentrated time of shared singing, dancing, and reflection, closing with a final ceremony that marks the end of the gathering.
A message on the meaning of the Festival
Santo Daime communities also hold a message attributed to Padrinho Sebastião, received by Maria Cristina Moraes on June 19, 2006, that speaks to the spiritual purpose of the festival period. In the tradition's understanding, the message describes the festival as an occasion for participants to recognize their own imperfections with honesty and humility, rather than to present themselves well to others, and frames this self-recognition as the starting point of spiritual progress.
The message also speaks of conserving one's energy during the festival's works so that it can be used, in its words, "like a sword," to cut through old patterns of pain, and it frames the festival's purpose as a renewal centered on reconciliation — with oneself, with others, and, in the tradition's terms, with the divine. This is presented within Santo Daime teaching as a received spiritual message, not as historical record.