{"id":2916,"date":"2022-04-09T17:39:59","date_gmt":"2022-04-09T17:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=2916"},"modified":"2022-04-09T17:39:59","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T17:39:59","slug":"moveable-feast-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/moveable-feast-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Moveable Feast - Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you looking for a way to describe changing life circumstances? Maybe you\u2019re looking for the right way to word a moving holiday like Easter? If so, you could call it a \u201cmovable feast<\/em>.\u201d This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n

Meaning<\/h2>\n

The expression \u201cmovable feast<\/em>\u201d describes an event that changes the date or day each year. For example, The Christian holidays of Easter and Christmas are \u201cmovable feasts<\/em>.\u201d Easter occurs on a different date each year in a specific cycle. Christmas happens on the same date but on other days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the last 50-years or so, the phrase has also described the changes we experience during our lifetime and the difference they make to our life experience.<\/p>\n

Example Usage<\/h2>\n

\u201cI love Easter; it\u2019s the one time of year where life is unpredictable. It changes dates every year, making it my favorite movable feast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had our anniversary on a Saturday last year, but it\u2019s a movable feast, and it\u2019s on a Sunday this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy birthday is my favorite movable feast of the year. It\u2019s always on a different day of the week, and it keeps me on my toes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChristmas day is always on a different day of the week each year, but it\u2019s always on the 25th of December. Does that make it a movable feast?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe annual political rally is a movable feast. We never know when they will schedule it or where.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to name our catering company \u2018Movable Feast\u2019 since we\u2019re catering to all types of functions on any day of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Origin<\/h2>\n

The origin of the expression \u201cmovable feast\u201d comes from the late 1800s. The first appearance of the phrase in print doesn\u2019t have any religious reference. Instead, it refers to how things tend to change over time as we progress with our life experience.<\/p>\n

The first use of the expression appears in the Bismarck Tribune in 1882, in an article titled, \u201cThe Ideal Woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The most sublime creation of modern times is the ideal woman of the average man. She is a migratory bird, a sort of movable feast as it were.\"<\/p>\n

However, the most notable use of the expression, and the reason for the say8ings inclusion into modern language comes from author, Ernest Hemmingway. His memoirs, titled, \u201cA Movable Feast,\u201d capture his life in Paris during the 1920s.<\/p>\n

\"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.\"<\/p>\n