Festival of the Ancestors

Poe: "What is this?"

C-3PO: "The Aki-Aki Festival of the Ancestors! Oh! This celebration occurs only once every forty-two years."

Finn: "Well, that's lucky."

C-3PO: "Lucky indeed! This festival is known for both its colorful kites and its delectable sweets."

―C-3PO to Poe Dameron, Finn, Rey, and Chewbacca^[2]

The Festival of the Ancestors was a celebration that took place on the desert planet Pasaana. The native Aki-Aki held the celebration every forty-two years,^[2] honoring the past and looking forward to the future. While most attendees of the festival were Aki-Aki, a number of off-worlders visited the planet to partake in the celebrations.^[1] It was known for its colored kites and delectable sweets, according to the protocol droid C-3PO.^[2] Other events held at the festival included massive crowd-dances and various places where Aki-Aki could burn their ancestors in effigy to celebrate and honor them. Attendance was around 500,000, including 5,000 off-world visitors.^[1] Off-world visitors are welcomed and are often given necklaces of flowers to welcome them.

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Behind the scenes[]

The Festival of the Ancestors was created for the 2019 movie Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, the third and final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. While the movie gave the number of years between each festival as forty-two,^[2] the reference book Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary states that it is held every two years,^[1] as does the Databank page for the Aki-Aki on StarWars.com.^[3] Conversely, the article "Star Wars Inside Intel: Holidays of the Galaxy" retains the forty-two year gap.^[4]

The festival is held once every 42 years, which is the exact same number of years between the release of The Rise of Skywalker and the first Star Wars film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which was released in 1977.