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holiday [holiday 词源字典]: holiday: [OE] A holiday was originally a ‘holy day’, a day set aside as a religious festival. The first signs of the word being used for a ‘day on which no work is done’ (originally because of its religious significance) appear in the 14th century.
=> holy[holiday etymology, holiday origin, 英语词源]
fair (n.): "a stated market in a town or city; a regular meeting to buy, sell, or trade," early 14c., from Anglo-French feyre (late 13c.), from Old French feire, faire "fair, market; feast day," from Vulgar Latin *feria "holiday, market fair," from Latin feriae "religious festivals, holidays," related to festus "solemn, festive, joyous" (see feast (n.)).
feast (v.): c. 1300, "partake of a feast," from Old French fester "to feast, make merry; observe (a holiday)" (Modern French fêter), from feste "religious festival" (see feast (n.)). Related: Feasted; feasting.
feast (n.): c. 1200, "secular celebration with feasting and entertainment" (often held on a church holiday); c. 1300, "religious anniversary characterized by rejoicing" (rather than fasting), from Old French feste "religious festival, holy day; holiday; market, fair; noise, racket; jest, fun" (12c., Modern French fête), from Vulgar Latin *festa (fem. singular; also source of Italian festa, Spanish fiesta), from Latin festa "holidays, feasts, festal banquets," noun use of neuter plural of festus "festive, joyful, merry," related to feriae "holiday" and fanum "temple," from Proto-Italic *fasno- "temple," from PIE *dhis-no- "divine, holy; consecrated place," from *dhes- "root of words in religious concepts" [Watkins].

The spelling -ea- was used in Middle English to represent the sound we mis-call "long e." Meaning "abundant meal" (whether public or private) is by late 14c. Meaning "any enjoyable occasion or event" is from late 14c.
fiesta (n.): 1844 as a Spanish word in English, "Spanish-American religious festival," Spanish, literally "feast" (see feast (n.)).
holiday (n.): 1500s, earlier haliday (c. 1200), from Old English haligdæg "holy day; Sabbath," from halig "holy" (see holy) + dæg "day" (see day); in 14c. meaning both "religious festival" and "day of recreation," but pronunciation and sense diverged 16c. As a verb meaning "to pass the holidays" by 1869. Happy holidays is from mid-19c., in British English, with reference to summer vacation from school. As a Christmastime greeting, by 1937, American English, in Camel cigarette ads.
vigil (n.): c. 1200, "eve of a religious festival" (an occasion for devotional watching or observance), from Anglo-French and Old French vigile "watch, guard; eve of a holy day" (12c.), from Latin vigilia "a watch, watchfulness," from vigil "watchful, awake, on the watch, alert," from PIE root *weg- (2) "be lively or active, be strong" (cognates: Old English wacan "to wake up, arise," wacian "to be awake;" Old High German wahta "watch, vigil;" see wake (v.)). Meaning "watch kept on a festival eve" in English is from late 14c.; general sense of "occasion of keeping awake for some purpose" is recorded from 1711.