What does "kermes" mean / refer to?
A local hispanic group is hosting "Back to School Kermes." What does "kermes" mean / refer to?
6 Answers
A Kermes is a what a Catholic religious bazaar is called in Spanish. It's usually a fund raiser held at the church where rides, games, music, dancing and food are available.
I knew someone would come to straighten this out!Thanks Carlos and Benz.
kermés (In Argentina: feria)
Palabra procedente del francés kermesse y ésta, del neerlandés medio kercmisse, formada por kerk iglesia y miss misa para denominar una fiesta popular al aire libre que se celebraba en Flandes en los días de Carnaval. En neerlandés actual, es kermis.
Festividad originariamente religiosa, adquirió con posterioridad un carácter laico, y el nombre se aplicó en esa región a cualquier fiesta popular. En el siglo xx, el vocablo fue retomado para designar fiestas parroquiales celebradas con el objeto de recaudar fondos para el sustento de la parroquia.
Probably it refers to kermés or kermesse
It wasn't in our dictionary so I googled it. There is an Arabic word al-qirmiz that refers to a red dye derived from the bodies of female scale insects that live on a certain kind of oak. Similar to the cochineal insect.
How this relates to your social group I am afraid to ask
Then there is the festival mentioned at the end of the Wikipedia entry