Festivals around the world
This year, make it your goal to witness some of the most unique and fabulous celebrations from all around the world to have the ultimate holiday experience. Presenting a list of festivals that you must experience at least once in your lifetime.
Songkran Water Festival
Thailand
Songkran marks the beginning of the new solar year and the start of the summer season as well. This year the festival is set to officially begin on April 13 and will continue for three to five days depending on the location. Since the Thai New Year festival falls on some of the hottest days in Thailand people celebrate by throwing water on one another, using water guns, buckets, and hoses – basically whatever they can get their hands on. Sometimes chalk or menthol (the latter causes a cooling sensation) is mixed into the water to create a paste that people smear on each other’s faces for good fortune. Elephants can also be seen walking around and splashing off water jets at people.
The Rio de Janeiro Carnival
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a world famous festival held before Lent every year and considered the biggest carnival in the world with two million people per day on the streets. The first festivals of Rio date back to 1823.
Running of the Bulls
Pamplona, Spain
The Running of the Bulls is a part of the famous San Fermin festival – a practice that involves running in front of a small group of bulls (typically a dozen) that have been let loose on a course of a sectioned-off subset of a town’s streets.
Carnival of Venice
Venice, Italy
The tradition of carnival dates back over 900 years. It was the one time during the year when there were no rules. Everybody was free to do what s/he wanted without any guilt, thanks to the masks. During the carnival, Venice comes alive with masked Venetians and tourists.
Pingxi Lantern Festival
Taiwan
At first sky lanterns were used to transmit military information, different from beacon towers yet ingeniously serving the same function. It is now generally recognized as the earliest ancestor to the hot air balloon. Now, there is a festival that witness thousands of sky lanterns light over Pingxi District in Taiwan.
La Tomatina
Spain
La Tomatina tomato fight in Buñol near Valencia happens every year on the last Wednesday in August though the partying starts earlier in the week. The highlight of the festival is the tomato fight that takes place between 11am and 1pm on that day. The event has become one of the highlights on Spain’s summer festivals calendar with thousands of people flocking to this little Valencian town for this chaotic event.
Oktoberfest
Munich, Germany
Oktoberfest is the world’s largest beer festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16-day festival running from late September to the first weekend in October with more than six million people from around the world attending the event every year.
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
New Mexico, USA
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a yearly festival of hot air balloons that takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA during early October. The Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day event, and has around 750 balloons.
Gay Pride Parade
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Amsterdam Pride is a citywide gay-festival held annually at the center of Amsterdam during the first weekend of August. The festival attracts several hundred thousand visitors each year and is one of the largest publicly held annual events in the Netherlands.
Battle of the Oranges
Ivrea, Italy
Each year in the days preceding Fat Tuesday (February 28, 2017), townspeople of Ivrea divide up into nine different squads. Dressed in their battle attire, they make their way to certain streets of Ivrea that are designated for war. Over the course of the next three days leading up to the holiday, men, women and children hurl oranges at each other, attempting to “kill” the other teams.
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