It surely is; 'fest' is the Swedish word for 'party'. I actually think Swedish or Norwegian (which are practically the same language) are closer to English than even Dutch. Many of the most common, short English words are the same.
Edit: Though I realise now I misunderstood the original comment re: 'i val'. I took it to mean 'fest' only. No, I don't think 'party in whale' is the root of 'festival'