The strangest holidays in the world. The most unusual holidays of the peoples of the world. Fallas in Spain
wuzzup invites you to familiarize yourself with this selection of the 10 most unusual holidays and festivals in the world.
1 Monkey Banquet
Monkey Buffet in Lopburi province. Every year, about 600 monkeys are invited to the dinner, which consists of a variety of fruits and vegetables. The monkey feast is held in honor of the god Rama, who, according to legend, along with an army of monkeys, defeated many of his opponents.
2. New Delhi Color Festival
The Festival of Colors in New Delhi is an Indian folk festival in honor of the arrival of spring, a celebration of the expulsion of evil and the rebirth of life. It is celebrated for 2 days on the full moon. According to legend, the evil demon Holika died on this day. On this day, each city has its own celebrations, bonfires are lit everywhere, symbolizing the end of winter and the death of evil spirits. They burn Holika on fire, throw the fruits of the seasonal harvest - grains, coconuts, etc. In the morning, people go out into the street, and fun begins - everyone pours each other with tinted water of red, green, yellow, blue and black and throws colored powders.
3. Tomatina
Tomatina (Tomatina) in the village of Bunol - the famous "tomato massacre". This is one of the most popular and visited holidays in Spain. Every year it is visited by about 36 thousand people. On special trucks, "weapons" are brought to the battlefield - about 100 tons of ripe tomatoes. The rules here are quite simple - you can throw tomatoes at anyone, the main thing is to avoid injuries, you need to knead the tomatoes well. Also, you can’t tear clothes on rivals and throw something other than tomatoes, despite all the excitement that undoubtedly embraces rivals. After the end of the battle, the area is washed with hoses, the participants wash themselves in showers specially installed for this purpose, or simply go for a swim in the river.
4. Feast of the naked
The Naked Mens' Festival in Japan is the Hadaka Matsuri or "Naked Festival" which has been celebrated since 767. Saidaji Temple gathers 3,000 men between the ages of 23 and 43, wearing nothing but loincloths. The purpose of this holiday is to attract good luck, as it is believed that a naked person takes away all misfortunes if you touch him. The participants of the holiday, after visiting the Temple, where they undergo purification, arrange a procession through the streets of the city, where hundreds of people in search of good luck try to touch them. On this day, since it is a cool February outside, and you need to have the courage to go out half-naked on the street, the Japanese drink a lot of sake.
5. The Chap & Hendrick's Olympics in England
The Chap & Hendrick's Olympics in England. Representatives of the Chap and Hendrick's communities hold an annual outdoor gentlemen's Olympics in London's Bedford Square, the purpose of which is to support and preserve the traditions of English gentlemanship.
6. The Summer Redneck Games in Georgia
The annual festival The Summer Redneck Games in the state of Georgia, USA, the apotheosis of which is the Mud Pit Belly Flop competition to the joyful cries of the fans. The spectators are especially delighted with the clay rain pouring down on everyone after a particularly loud immersion of the competitors in the red sticky mass.
7. March of the Zombie
Zombie March in Boston. The center of the city on this day is filled with creatures that supposedly went in search of their victims. Some "zombies" prefer to dress up in bloody wedding suits and rubber masks, others act like the living dead, moving like Michael Jackson in the 1983 Thriller video clip.
8. Tapati
An ancient festival of ancestor worship called Tapati Festival is celebrated by the people of Chile's Easter Island. The islanders dress each other in special clothes and dance. Both men and women compete in the race with bunches of bananas. A specially elected queen leads the festivities: she must be not only beautiful, but also hardworking. A strict jury of elders calculates how many fish each applicant has caught and woven fabrics.
9. Aphelio
Scottish holiday Uphelio (Up-Helly-Aa). Residents of the city (Lerwick) where the festival is held make a 30-foot model of a Viking ship (with a dragon on the prow), dress up as Vikings, light torches, parade through the streets blowing traditional war bugles, and carry the ship through the city to the sea. More than 900 spectacularly dressed participants follow a squad of 40 Vikings and their giant ship to the place where the fire will be lit. In the evening, a torchlight procession according to the ancient rite of burial of dead warriors burns a Viking wooden boat. On the coast, the ship is burned - 900 burning torches are thrown onto the "ancient" ship.
10. Ivan Kupala
Ivan Kupala is a folk holiday celebrated in Slavic countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) on the day of the summer solstice. The holiday is celebrated on the shortest night of the year - with bonfires, jumping over them - for good luck, songs, traditional games, walking with a birch, fortune-telling. This holiday is a cult of light, the sun, all living things, at this time "dew is healing, grass is healing, water is cleansing." According to popular beliefs, one should not sleep on the night of Kupala, since this night was considered the time of rampant dark forces of nature, from which various amulets were made.
We always look forward to some holidays, because it can be fun to celebrate, you can not go to work or school (not everyone, of course), etc. We have long been accustomed to the usual holidays - New Year, March 8, February 23, Victory Day, etc. But there are so many different holidays in the world that will seem strange, funny and unusual to an ordinary person in our country. So, the most unusual holidays in the world.
1. Hadaka Matsuri. In Japan, every third Saturday of February, it is customary to hold this holiday, or rather, even the Festival. Thousands of naked men go out into the cold. They are dressed only in loincloths and sandals. According to custom, this is how the rite of ritual purification takes place. It is believed that on this day, if a man takes off his clothes, then he automatically takes off all the bad luck and attracts good luck.
2. March of the zombies. This holiday is celebrated annually in Canada (Boston). Something like Halloween, but here thousands of people dress up as zombies and walk down the street pretending to be dead walking brain-eaters. What is noteworthy is that many of them are trying to copy the walk of the zombie from the Michael Jackson video - Thriller (1983).
3. World championship in erysipelas. The holiday is held annually in the city of Egremont, in the UK. Its essence is who will make a more terrible and funny face. One man made huge sacrifices to win this championship for several years in a row. He just pulled out all his teeth. This gave him a huge advantage in making faces.
4. Burning man. The holiday was invented in the USA and is celebrated annually in the Nevada desert. The holiday is celebrated a week before the first Monday in September and lasts a whole week. The meaning of the holiday is not clear, but the essence is that thousands of people build a whole city in the desert for a week, and then simply destroy it with their own hands. After that, a straw effigy is compressed. It is not clear why, but everyone has their own traditions.
5. Monkey banquet. This strange and unusual holiday is celebrated annually in Thailand. Its essence lies in the fact that a huge table with various vegetables and fruits is laid, after which about 600 monkeys are allowed to this table, which “sweep away” all these dishes. The feast is held in honor of the god Rama, who, according to legend, won numerous victories along with the army of monkeys.
6. Tomato massacre. This holiday is held in Spain. Trucks arrive in the city, filled to overflowing with tomatoes. About 100 tons of tomatoes are consumed on this holiday. Well, the rules are that anyone can take these tomatoes and just throw them at other people. Funny and fun. But it is forbidden to use anything other than tomatoes, and it is also forbidden to use your hands and tear other people's clothes. After the holiday, the streets are cleaned with the help of numerous hoses, and people go to wash themselves or go to the river. or in showers specially equipped for the holiday.
7. Festival of Colors (Holi). This holiday is celebrated every new moon in India (New Delhi) and is dedicated to the coming of spring and the expulsion of evil. During the celebration, people pour various paints, colored powders or simply colored water on each other.
8. Orange fight. This holiday is similar to the Spanish Tomato Massacre, but it is held in Italy and instead of tomatoes, oranges are used as weapons. People are divided into 9 teams and throw these citrus fruits at each other. If someone does not want to play, but just wants to look, then he must put on a red cap, then no one will touch him. The holiday is funny, but you need to consider that getting an orange in the face is much more painful than a tomato.
9. This celebration takes place on the last Monday of May in the small English town of Coopers Hill. A huge head of cheese is launched from the mountain, which rolls down. Then a lot of people rush after him. Whoever catches up and catches the cheese first wins. Not without injuries on this holiday, so there is always an ambulance on duty below.
10. Feast of the Bird People. This holiday is held annually in the UK. Many people want to feel like birds, which is why they participate in this holiday. The idea is that people put on homemade wings, stand on a special platform above the sea, and then jump off it and flap their wings like crazy. Whoever flies the longest distance until they reach the sea wins.
For people accustomed to their own culture, the holidays of other nations seem surprising, and often strange. To understand the traditions of other people, you just need to try not to limit yourself only to your own culture.
However, in the series of holidays and competitions characteristic of certain peoples, there are truly amazing and unusual ones, which will be discussed below.
It is worth considering that many competitions are so unusual and fun that they are more like folk festivals, because victories in them are not so important, the participants are much more interested in having a good rest and just talking.
Ivan Kupala is a folk holiday celebrated in the Slavic states. If for us this is a normal phenomenon, then for most foreigners it is an exotic curiosity. The festival is held on the summer solstice, when the night is the shortest of the year. Celebrations are accompanied by jumping over the fire, songs, games and indispensable fortune-telling. The holiday is a cult of light, the sun and all living things, it is believed that on Ivan Kupala "the dew is healing, the grass is healing, the water is cleansing." Popular beliefs believe that you can’t even sleep on this night, since dark natural forces are especially active on it, so you should stock up on special amulets.
Pig Festival. It is held annually in the Philippine city of Malolos. Every year, locals dress up their pigs - girls get ball gowns and lips painted, crowns are set up, and boys wear sea suits, overalls or clown outfits. The festival is due to the fact that this province is the main supplier of pork in the country.
Groundhog Day. It is celebrated annually on February 2 in the United States and Canada. On this day, thousands of people follow the behavior of a groundhog crawling out of its hole, as it is believed that it will be possible to judge the proximity of spring from it. If the day is cloudy and the groundhog cannot see his shadow, then this indicates that winter will end soon, otherwise, if the sun is shining with might and main, you should wait for late spring. The history of the holiday is rooted in Christian history, in which the Meeting of the Lord was celebrated on February 2. Then it was already believed that the weather on this day determines the future. In ancient Rome, on February 2, Hedgehog Day was celebrated. The tradition of determining the weather on this day was transferred by immigrants from Europe. Today in America, there are 7 of the most famous meteorological marmots. The holiday became famous all over the world thanks to the release of the film "Groundhog Day". The accuracy of forecasts does not exceed 40%, however, this does not prevent the holiday from remaining cheerful and popular.
International pancake day. Celebrated in Kansas on February 16th. The first holiday of this kind took place back in 1950, although it has been held in the English Albee for 500 years. The townspeople arrange races with pancakes in a frying pan, in the course of overcoming the distance, the hostesses in indispensable aprons and dresses must also throw it in the frying pan. Those pancakes that have successfully reached the finish line are then eaten by the participants and spectators.
Fire Festival. Celebrated on March 13 in Luxembourg. It is believed that the 13th day of the 3rd month is the most successful day for sorcerers, witches and other evil spirits, especially if it is also Friday. On this day, during the festival, many lights are lit, with which Spring and the birth of the new Sun are greeted.
Parrot day. It is celebrated on the first Sunday of May in the Haute-Garonne. During the celebrations, a procession is arranged, at the head of which was the winner of last year's competition. To become the king of the holiday, one of the 40 shooters dressed in medieval clothes needs to hit a parrot, hoisted on top of a 45-meter mast, from a bow. The winner was entitled to the title, as well as a silver double of the hit target and a plentiful treat. The holiday is rooted in the medieval competitions of shooters, which were called parrot drinkers, the fact is that this bird is a favorite of the Germans. Today, the parrot is artificial, but this does not prevent people from celebrating and relaxing.
Cat Festival. It takes place in the Belgian Ypres every year on May 9th. During the festivities, a large number of artificial cats are thrown from the central bell tower of the city into the crowd of people. And again, traditions are rooted in the Middle Ages, when cats were considered a symbol of evil, and by killing them, one could atone for sins. Now the true reasons for the celebration have been forgotten, but dropping cats remains a fun way to have extra fun.
Rose Festival. It is celebrated in Bulgaria on May 21st. The fact is that this plant is especially revered, being one of the symbols of the country. This prompted the citizens of Karlovo and Kazynlak to organize a festival that lasts until the beginning of July. The first such holiday took place in 1903. The festival begins in an open field where the ritual of collecting petals takes place, which is then used to make wreaths. On the days of the celebration, performances by many ensembles, artists and photographers take place. The main event of the festival is the selection of the Rose Queen, which took place for the first time in 1975. On this day, a carnival takes place, in which guests and residents, dressed in costumes of Roman and Greek times, carry last year's queen in their arms, showering those present with petals.
Herring Day is held in the Netherlands on the first Saturday of July, immediately after a new catch of this fish enters the port. A feature of the May herring is that by the beginning of summer, the fish is fattening up the maximum size and fat content. Flags also appear in the festivities, which is why the holiday has another name - "Flag Day". Guests of the holiday can taste the local delicacy - herring of the new season, and the first ship with such a catch receives a cash prize. The "herring" fleet returns at the beginning of the week, then the fish is gutted and cooked in a special way. The first barrel of selected herring is presented to the monarch. The remaining fish is served at herring banquets. On the day of the festival, orchestras play in the city of Schefiningen, horse races are held on the piers, and old sailboats appear in the harbor, inviting those who wish to go on excursions. Surprisingly, until the 15th century, herring was not considered food for ordinary people at all. And only the fisherman Bakels came up with the idea of \u200b\u200bcooking fish in such a way that it does not taste bitter. Soon the new product became popular throughout Holland, and then in Europe. A whole herring fleet was built, but the secret of production was carefully hidden.
Feast of the Five Petal Rose again began to be celebrated in Czech Krumlov since 1986. This colorful and vibrant medieval carnival attracts many tourists. The city itself has a medieval look, it is here on June 17, in the atmosphere of romance of that time, that the festival is held annually. It is dedicated to the reign of the last owners of the local castle, the Rosemberg family. It is the rose that is part of their coat of arms. On the day of celebrations, the townspeople and visitors change into costumes of the Middle Ages. In Krumlov you can meet knights, monks, merchants who live their unhurried medieval life. There is also a colorful procession with flags, torches and drums in the city. A medieval fair is also organized, where you can buy bread baked according to recipes of that time, as well as a set of weapons for a knight of any height and age. It hosts live chess matches, musket shooting, and lessons on ancient weapons.