Parts of our world go crazy each year as they celebrate their own unique festivals with great excitement, splendor and distinct cultural flavors. Here is a list of some such festivals which you should definitely attend so start booking your tickets!
The Carnival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Brazil’s most celebrated event, combining music, color and dance happens in a four day festival in April before the coming of lent , the 40 day fasting period before Easter. The festival’s highlight is the samba carnival where more than 200 dance schools compete with outfits, beautifully decorated floats and semi clad dancers. The festival is celebrated on the streets, which attracts millions of people and many celebrities, all celebrating the spirit of the carnival.
The Tomatina festival, Spain
Celebrated on the last Wednesday of August every year in Buñol, the Tomatina festival involves more than ten thousand people engaging in a massive dramatic tomato fight, sitting in trucks filled with tomato or on the streets. The festival began in 1945 by accident that has now been converted into a traditional fest and brings more and more people here each year. Only one thing changed this year; the otherwise free entry to this festival is now being charged due to financial recession.
Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival
Have you ever lit a sky lantern and watched it soar into the sky like a blazing dot? If you haven’t, then you should definitely do it. And if you want to do it with thousands of other people after writing your wishes onto a traditional sky lantern in order to welcome the New Year, you have to visit Pingxi, a small hilly area in Taipei, where the residents and thousands of tourists gather each year to welcome the New Year by letting sky lantern into the heavens. The event coincides with the Chinese New Year and the tradition of the sky lantern festival comes from a time when the residents of Pingxi let sky lanterns into the air as the only form of communication.
The Burning Man
Radical self expression is what gave birth to this particularly brilliant festival held each year in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, US. Decades ago, Larry Harvey and his friends set fire to a crudely created wooden man-made by them on a beach an idea that now sets fire to the spirits of almost 70000 people who drive to the desert in the hottest time of august-September to exhibit their own radical selves and find people just like themselves. The Burning Man is a festival that takes only participants, not spectators. In order to be there, a part of that desert city you need to create something. It’s the idea that brings so many people to one place and culminates in the Burning of a large human effigy, even as the world watches.
The Ultra Music festival Miami
The biggest open space music event of the year is celebrated over one wild weekend in Miami- The Ultra Music Festival brings in more than 50000 fans each day of the event. With its intensive music and culmination of diverse talent throughout the countryside, the Ultra Music Festival has become very popular over the years, though also quite expensive. In its last year the festival was extended to over two weekends, but no sign of extension has been brought forward for the coming year- March 2014.
Thank you Nikita, it was indeed a good read. Looking forward for more such stories from you!