Top Ten Travel Destinations - Festivals
Festivals and celebrations are the backbone to many culturaltraditions around the globe. Timing your travels to coincide with afestival entices a unique insight into a community that not alltravellers have the privilege of knowing. Many travellers only scratchthe surface of truly understanding what day-to-day life is like forlocals when they travel; but by getting involved and joining in alocal festival, a cultural exchange occurs which incites you to valuesand priorities unique to each community. Dancing, laughing, running,jumping and eating alongside locals on a day of celebration allows youa fellowship of communion to enjoy the happiness of the day as if itwere your own custom. Travellers who have the privilege to partake ina unique festival celebration become wiser to a basic form of humanexpression based on happiness, joy and cheer! From the weird andwonderful, to the quirky and questionable, this collection exploressome of the world's best festivals from across the globe.
You'd have to be a pretty avid meat-eater to associate vegetarianism with acts of self-mutilation. Either that or you'd have to be at the Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, known as Kin Jay to the locals. During the first nine days of the ninth lunar month, the local Chinese community congregate to eat vegetarian dishes and preform astonishing displays of ritual purification to their gods. Entranced in worship, devotees of the Vegetarian Festival known as Ma Song, will invite the gods into their bodies. By channeling supernatural powers and performing acts of self torture, the participants try to shift evil from individuals to themselves, and usher in good fortune for the community. The Ma Song show off their powers by climbing ladders with bladed rungs, puncturing ...
Diwali is a joyous Hindu holiday that celebrates the triumph of good over evil and illuminates the homes and hearts of all who take part with hope for the new year. Diwali, also known as The Festival of Lights is a five-day festival centered on family and community fellowship marked with lights, delicious feasts, fireworks, street fairs, prayer and music. As the name suggests much of the celebration involves light or small candles called Diyas, which are lit to signify personal victory of good over evil and the return of faith. This luminescent festival starts each day before sunrise with entire cities lit up by thousands of candles, lights and lamps. Flowers are strung into garlands and draped over homes and businesses as people flock ...
Despite a rather ominous name, the 8 day long Burning Man festival is an extremely peaceful gathering of artistically open individuals. The Burning Man festivities take place in Black Rock City, a temporary community on an ancient lake bed also known as the playa of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Regardless of Burning Man Festival's temporary status it boasts a remarkable population, with over 47,366 dwellers in 2007, making it the third largest city in Nevada. Burning Man Festival is described by organizers as an experiment in community, radical self expression, and radical self reliance. Each year founder Larry Harvey creates a theme as a way of joining individual contributions together on a higher scale, which in 2009 is “Evolution”. The motto "No Spectators” ...
Children brought up in any proper home were taught not to throw their food, but when you visit the La Tomatina Festival, this is the one destination that will deliver the sweetest of pleasures to those suppressed childhood dreams of rebellion. No need to feel guilty about tossin’ out the rules that your mom so sweetly instilled in you here, in Bunol Spain the La Tomatina Festival showcases one of the least publicized talents for many, that of throwing your food, tomatoes to be specific! During the celebration this small town of normally 9,000 is flooded with enthusiasts from all over the world to take part in week long festivities of music, dancing, fireworks, and of course the main event. To start the fight, water ...
Ever wonder how the name 420 came to be associated with smoking pot? Some say it’s the number of ingredients in the herb, while others believe it to be the police code for a pot bust. Either way, if this kind of debate interests you then the Cannabis Cup is the place for you. For the liberal at heart that may not get to exercise the right to smoke pot legally in their home town, the Cannabis Cup is all that is marijuana liberation. Every November Amsterdam is home to the Cannabis Cup for a week. It’s no change from the ordinary for locals, but for those not able to partake in pot back home, the competition is the opportunity to visit various coffee shops ...
The Whirling Dervishes Festival is one of the world's most intriguing sights, a mesmerizing spectacle of twirling delight. Become entranced at the origins of the Whirling Dervishes in Konya, Turkey, home to Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi, a revered 13th-century scholar. Rumi preached of love, tolerance, and forgiveness, and as a way of connecting with God would whirl in the city streets in joy. Every December on the anniversary of Rumi’s death known as Seb-i Aruz, thousands of pilgrims flood Konya to witness the ritualized whirling at his Mausoleum. The ceremony known as Sema, takes place in the evening through an intricate tradition of mystical dances. It is divided into seven parts and includes four distinct musical movements, or selams. The eerie sounds floating from the reed ...
Among Malaysia’s natural gems, the Batu Caves may be the most awe-inspiring, although they remain an unknown destination to many western tourists. In the eastern world this limestone network of temples and 400-million-year-old caverns, located just 10 miles north of Kuala Lumpur, is hardly a secret; the caves, adorned by a 100-foot golden statue of a Hindu god, are the focal point of the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, which attracts over 1.5 million religious pilgrims every year. Malaysia’s Thaipusam festival is one of the largest annual gatherings anywhere on Earth, famed for its eight-hour procession that begins in Kuala Lumpur and culminates in a flight of 272 steps to the top of the Temple Cave. This arduous journey outdoes any stairmaster, as the participants engage ...
For most of the year southern Japan’s Okayama City is a tranquil midsized town that offers a typical Japanese experience tourists will not find in Tokyo or Kyoto. But for one weekend every February the city transforms into a testosterone-charged den of mayhem and festivity. Brave men from near and far congregate at the Saidaiji Kan'nonin Temple for the internationally renowned Hadaka Matsuri—more commonly known as the Naked Man Festival. The Naked Man Festival, which dates back to the sixteenth century, features nearly 10,000 near-naked men vying for a pair of sacred sticks thrown by a priest into the Saki-charged mob. Male bonding takes on a new meaning as the loincloth-clad participants struggle to gain the sacred sticks, and the lucky winner is blessed with ...
They say that the "Land of the Rising Sun" is at its prettiest during springtime, and this certainly is no bogus claim. The famous Japanese Cherry Blossom or 'Sakura' blooms during this time of the year; showcasing its beauty on every street, corner and park of Japan. Along with the blooming of the Sakuras is the tradition of Hanami or the Cherry Blossom Festival. The Cherry Blossom Festival is a special social event in Japan from the time of antiquity when aristocrats along with their artists, musicians and poets spent some time under the blooming Sakuras. It might be surprising to know that "Hanami" simply means “flower viewing" and for non-Japanese as well as those who do not possess knowledge of Japanese culture, it might ...
Almost all towns and cities in the Philippines have their own festivals, but one particular festival in the Visayas island group stands head and shoulders above the rest—the Ati Atihan Festival. Held every third Sunday of January, this jovial celebration transforms the quiet district of Kalibo, in the province of Aklan, into a lively and upbeat place filled with dancing, music and other merry-making activities. Known as the “Mother of All Festivals,” the Ati Atihan Festival has been celebrated for more than 700 years, and still ranks as one of the main festivals in the country. The Atis (or Aetas) are one of the indigenous people of the Philippines. Dark-skinned, and short with kinky hair, these Atis were the first settlers of the Philippine archipelago ...
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