I wonder if the event visible in one of the photos is etymological source of the word festival?<p>The word can be deconstructed in Swedish as fest i val which translates to "party in whale"
It's definitively not the source of the word, but it might very well be the reason the decided to have a "fest i val". Gothenburg is famous for their puns, and even today they open up the mouth of the whale for visitors on two occasions - valdagen (election day) and Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis eve).
Wiktionary says<p>> From Middle English festival (adjective), from Old French festival (“festive”), from Late Latin fēstīvālis, from Latin fēstīvus (“festive”). By surface analysis, festive + -al. Displaced native Old English frēols. The noun is shortened from festival day, from Middle English festival dai, festiuall day (“feast day, festival”).<p><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/festival" rel="nofollow">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/festival</a>
It surely is; '<i>fest</i>' is the Swedish word for <i>'party'</i>. I actually think Swedish or Norwegian (which are practically the same language) are closer to English than even Dutch. Many of the most common, short English words are the same.