The Sanskrit word for festivals is ‘Utsava’.  Derived from the root ‘su’.  Meaning ‘to produce,’ to generate’, and with the prefix ‘ut’ meaning ‘to excite’, ‘to rise’, the word signifies an event  that generates happiness or excitement.  According to the Aniruddha samhita and padmasamhita ‘utsava’ or festival enables, us to cross over all sorrow.