Festivals are a part of culture and tradition for all the countries across the world. Festivals have had huge prominence since time immemorial. As a traveler, there is always a chance that if you happen to visit a specific country and decide to spend some reasonable time there, chances are quite high that you may witness at least one festival in the given country where you are visiting or have already spent some time there.
No doubt, witnessing festivals in any country provides you more insight about that country’s specific culture and lot many things. This blog shares some of the festivals that are specifically a part of that specific country’s rich heritage and culture.
Diwali, India
Diwali or the festival of lights usually falls between mid-October and mid-November and is celebrated by a number of religions in India and beyond. Signifying the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance, it is interpreted distinctly across Hindu, Sikh, and Jain communities.
Passing through towns and cities, one will get to see houses, shops, and public places all lit with lanterns and small earthenware lamps known as Diyas, while flower displays brighten the streets further. In certain parts five days of festivities, parades and live music are carried out, fireworks are set off, and gifts and sweets are exchanged, be at home, neighborhood or in offices.
Obon Festival, Japan
For around more than 500 years, the Japanese have commemorated their ancestors during Obon, a three-day festival that is generally, held in the month of August. This is celebrated through Bon Odori folk dances, seasonal delicacies, and the lighting of bonfires. Some of the biggest fires are in the hills surrounding Kyoto, having huge bonfires arranged in the shape of kanji, Japanese characters.
It is a time in Japan when people reunite to visit graves of family and make food offerings at temples and shrines. At the end of the festival, communities gather around lakes, and rivers to float paper lanterns that assist guide their relatives back to the spirit world.
Mardi Gras, New Orleans (USA)
Also popularly known as Fat Tuesday, this celebration marks the last day prior to Lent, when traditionally people would consume rich, fatty foods prior to fasting. While this is celebrated by Christians globally, New Orleans has become almost identical to the festival, recording its first parade in the year 1857.
Visit the city on this day and you will witness these lively parades of floats and masked, costumed people dressed in purple, green, and gold (standing for justice, faith, power, respectively). Long beads and other trinkets are thrown among the crowd, and every year a King of the Carnival is selected and revealed the day prior to the parade.
Venice Carnival and the Regata Storica, Italy
Held across the 2 weeks leading up to Lent, Venice Carnival is well-known for its extravagantly decorated masks and bright costumes. Dating back around the 11th century, the carnival consists of parades, live music, and other open-air entertainment aimed around Saint Mark’s Square, as well as a competition for la Maschera più Bella (the most beautiful mask). You can also watch gondola and boat parades along sides the Grand Canal.
For a better focus on boat parades, though, go to Venice on the first Sunday in September to experience the Regata Storica, more than a centuries-old celebration of the city’s long history in rowing. From vantage points along the canal, one can watch boat races, along with the parades featuring brightly decorated gondolas having a costumed crew.
White Nights Festiva, St. Petersburg (Russia)
The wonder known as the “White Nights” is not just unique to simply one place, no northern city on Earth’s “White Nights” celebrations is more well-known than that of St. Petersburg, Russia. Picture a sunny stroll down the streets of one of Europe’s prettiest and most cultured cities. Halting to observe grand canals, parks, architecture, and several other historical landmarks, all in the midst of the night! St. Petersburg during the summer months is vibrating, friendly, romantic, and bustling having people throughout the night as well as the day!
From late May to the early part of July the nights are bright in St. Petersburg, having the brightest period, the White Nights, usually, lasting from June 11th to July 2nd. St. Petersburg is the globe’s most northern city having a population of over 1 million, and its stands at such a high latitude that the sun does not descend below the horizon sufficient for the sky to grow dark. Along with this annual phenomenon comes several tourists from around the world, and a bounty of festivities to partake in, day and night.
La Tomatina – Buñol, Spain
Spain has no dearth of festivals that border on insanity – as anyone who has seen the running of the bulls in Pamplona will vouch- but La Tomatina in the Valencian town of Buñol is quite up there with the strangest! Importantly, a huge food fight, where the weapons are 1, 50,000 fat tomatoes, La Tomatina happens on the last Wednesday of August every year and witnesses tens of thousands of revelers descend on the humble village from all parts of Spain and beyond for an opportunity to take part!
Back in the year of 1945, during a different festival in Buñol, a street fight erupted when a participant began to pelt everyone using vegetables from a market stall nearby. This paved way for a whole bunch of people to do the same, and La Tomatina arrived. Endless, tomatoes give you heartburn? Fear not! The week making way up to the massive slug-fest is adorned having massive parades, fireworks, and even huge Paella cooking contests.
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