The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts lasts five days.
The standard festival programme runs from Wednesday through Sunday, making five days of scheduled performances and activities. Recent editions have used this same five-day pattern, although camping, early arrivals and unofficial events can make the overall experience feel longer for attendees.
The five-day format developed as Glastonbury expanded beyond a single music weekend. Its programme now spans the Pyramid Stage and many other areas, with performances in music, theatre, comedy, circus, dance, cabaret and spoken-word arts. Different stages operate simultaneously, so no visitor can see more than a fraction of the programme.
The festival does not necessarily occur every year. Organisers periodically schedule “fallow years” to allow the land and local area to recover, and exceptional circumstances have also caused cancellations. A fallow year changes whether the festival takes place, but not the usual length of the edition when it is held.