Summer season has an abundance of encyclopedic festivals, ranging from music and film, food and yoga, to UFO Festivals and Wife Carrying Championships. Whatever you’re into, it’s out there… somewhere.
We looked into some of the wackiest and unusual festivals organized this summer, some of which have become tradition in many places, attracting thousands of people from across the globe on an annual basis.
BORYEONG MUD FESTIVAL
July 18 – 27, 2014
Boryeong, South Korea
http://www.boryeongmudfestival.com/
Watch this video in Creation 5
Boryeong Mud Festival is a mucky one that celebrates the healing properties of the local mud. The international phenomenon of the South Korean mud wonderland attracts a whole range of people who wish to take part in a Mr. Mud competition, mud wrestling, mud racing and mud boot camp (whatever that means?). As for the more “well groomed” festival-goers, they can opt for mud facials, body painting, pottery, soap-making, or lounging around and catching those rays of sun on the sandy beaches. Who wouldn’t want to participate in sliding, wrestling, massaging, and take photos whilst getting filthy in mineral-rich mud?
Aside from the muddy affair, Boryeong has a pop and hip-hop music line-up, parades, other cultural performances and fireworks on opening and closing night.
Jae-Sang Lee, Director of Korea Tourism Organization, says, “The most distinctive point of the Festival is to create a united place where people from all over the world come together, meet and interact with strangers and are able to break down walls of age, nationality, race and have fun together and leave with memories and new friends.”
FESTIVAL OF NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
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July 29, 2014
Las Nieves, Galicia, Spain
http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/festivals/near-death-experiences/
Officially known as Fiesta de Santa Marta de Ribarteme, Spain’s Festival of Near-Death Experiences is similar to that of Mexico’s Día de los Muertos. The festival is held in Galicia, a region that had been somewhat isolated from the influences of Spain’s Catholic traditions for many centuries, and that developed a belief in witchcraft and evil spirits. Galicia has held on to its legacy, and continues to practice its primitive rituals. Santa Marta de Ribarteme (the sister of Lazarus who was brought back from the dead by Jesus), and the pilgrimage, is done in honour of Las Nieves’ patron saint of resurrection.
Despite the somewhat morbid processions, that involves those who claim to have had a near-death experience in the past year parade the streets whilst being carried sitting upright in their coffins, the afternoon fades into a wild evening of celebrations, filled with fireworks, brass bands, gypsy music, and street vendors selling religious memorabilia. After all, it’s a festival that celebrates life, not death.
ESALA PERAHERA
August 01-11, 2014
Kandy, Sri Lanka
http://www.daladamaligawa.org/
Esala Perahera involves elephants, incense, drumming, and dancing, in honour of the Buddha’s tooth relic. The legend dates back to 1,700 years ago, when one of the Buddha’s teeth was stolen from his funeral pyre and smuggled into Sri Lanka. Today, the relic is stored and exhibited in the Temple of the Tooth, Dilada Maligawa, in Sri Lanka.
The festival is composed of a 10-day parade, with Hindu deities and elephants covered in beautiful silk costumes. A “water cutting” ceremony through the Mahaweli Ganga River is also held, as a ritual to divide the pure and the impure and to honour the water god for a fruitful year ahead. A goblet of that water is saved and used in the tree-planting ritual that marks the start of next year’s festival.
Filled with great intensity and colour, Esala Perahera is a great visual feast, a place for snapping shots and Instgramming pics.
OPPIKOPPI FESTIVAL
August 07-09, 2014
Limpopo, South Africa
http://oppikoppi.co.za/
“Nude Olympics, red dusty camping, thorny African scrub, oh, and lots of South African bands jamming in the veld”. Oppikoppi is South Africa’s largest music festival, with over 20,000 attendees. It showcases hip-hop, jazz, EDM, metal, soul, rock n’ roll and kwaito (a South African spin on house music and remixing tribal rhythms).
Like Burning Man and Nowhere Festival, with its “hippy, survivalist” feel, Oppikoppi is held in the middle of nowhere, near the Kruger National Park, on the African continent’s greatest nature reserve.
Like Roskilde, the festival hosts competitions, where winners can get passes to next year’s festival. The Dustbowl Olympics include Box Car Races, the Boom Street 500 Naked Dash (where no clothes are allowed but shoes are obligatory), Running of the Bewilderbeats (where you must wear a costume) and the Wil(d)abong Surf Classics (some sort of sand surfing game).
Although boiling hot days and freezing nights are memorable enough, witnessing the wildlife in Kruger Park will (hands-down) be an experience of a lifetime.
OBON
August 13-15, 2014
Japan
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2286.html
Obon is Japan’s most religious holiday and is somewhat similar to Asia’s Hungry Ghosts festival or Mexico’s Día de los Muertos. It is a place where spirits are lured back to their loved ones with lanterns, candles and dance. The festival is based on the Buddhist belief that the gates to Heaven and Hell open on the 15th day of the 7th month, allowing spirits to visit the living world.
Although the island is populated with around 250,000 people, almost 1.3 million people attend the event every year. Families come to visit ancestors’ graves with flowers and offer food and lanterns to many homes and altars. One of the most stunning rituals is the releasing of “toro nagashi” (floating lanterns) into the oceans, rivers and lakes, to carry the spirit of ones ancestors back to the afterlife. Many temples have candle-lit ceremonies, as fire is used in purification ceremonies.
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Awa Odori takes place between August 13th and 15th at Tokyshima on Shikoku Island where there is street-dancing and an outburst of colour and culture. This part of the festival originated in 1586, and came with strict ancient rules: you can dance in the streets only on those 3 days, samurais can only dance at home with the doors closed, and no dancing is permitted at temples or with swords or masks. At Awa Odori, the two traditional forms of dancing are “Nagashi” (beautiful and calculated dancing in the daytime) and “Zomeki” (wild and unpredictable dancing at night).
MOUNT HAGEN CULTURAL SHOW
August 16-17, 2014
Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea
http://www.pngtours.com/tours/festivals2014.html
Mount Hagen Cultural Show is a tribal gathering of feathers, mud and masks. “Unity in Diversity” is Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) motto. With an abundance of rare animal species, 841 documented languages, jungly rainforests and coral reefs, PNG (located practically off the map) is not a place for faint-hearted travelers, but a place for thick-skinned adventurers seeking to soothe their cultural curiosity.
Mount Hagen Cultural Show, held annually on the third weekend of August, is one of the biggest tribal gatherings (singsings) in PNG. Over 100 tribes share their cultural traditions, such as customs, dancing and music. They disguise themselves with anthropomorphic body paint, intricate headdresses, shell jewelry, boars’ tusks, skirts made from plants and fur, etc., and express themselves through music and dance. The tribe that receives the loudest applause from the crowd is the one that wins.
WORLD BOG SNORKELING CHAMPIONSHIPS
August 24, 2014
Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, United Kingdom
http://www.green-events.co.uk/events.html?page=3&id=57
The World Bog Snorkeling Championships was included in the World Alternative Games, a list of strange outdoors events. Llanwrtyd Wells, in Dolycoed, was originally a tourist attraction for those seeking a health retreat, due to the medicinal qualities of the region’s sulfuric springs.
For you adventurer’s out there, who like to try new things and don’t mind getting extremely dirty, or for those of you who just aren’t good enough to enter the Olympics for swimming, then bog snorkeling is just for you! All you need are fins, a mask, snorkels and whichever kind of swimsuit tickles your fancy (from sexy Speedos, to a wetsuit or a costume).
Of course, the other requirement is to know how not to drown. From the beginning to the end of the 60-yard stretch of bogland, flipper power is the only way forward – no conventional swimming strokes are allowed (eg. crawl, breast stroke, butterfly). How about that? Knowing how to swim isn’t even a requirement!
LA TOMATINA
August 27, 2014
Buñol, Valencia, Spain
http://latomatina.info/en/
Official Song: ‘Todo es del mismo color’ Malsujeto Watch this video in Creation 5
The La Tomatina revolution is a wacky tomato throwing tradition held in the streets of Buñol, Spain. Over 30,000 people join in the food fight, launching and crushing over 130,000 kg’s of ripe and juicy tomatoes at one another. Although the tomatoes are the main event, La Tomatina is a week filled with a diversity of festivities, including the celebration of Buñol’s patron saints, the Virgin Mary and St. Louis Bertrand, along with a bunch of music, street parades and fireworks. With tradition comes more tradition – a gigantic paella is served on the eve of the main event, in preparation for battle.
Trailer for the short film: El Punto Rojo Watch this video in Creation 5
No doubt, the festival is a shameful waste of food… so organisers have dedicated themselves to cultivate a special variety of inedible tomatoes solely for the annual event.
Evidently, like any festival that could get out of hand, some ground rules have been established:
• To avoid injuries, tomatoes have to be squashed before throwing.
• No other projectiles except tomatoes are allowed.
• Participants have to give way to the trucks and lorries.
• T-shirts must be worn throughout the festival.
• No tomatoes can be thrown after the second shot fires.
Inside La Tomatina Watch this video in Creation 5
AIR GUITAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
August 27-30, 2014
Oulu, Finland
http://www.airguitarworldchampionships.com/
Air Guitar World Championships 2014 Watch this video in Creation 5
The Air Guitar World Championships gives every one a chance at being a rockstar! No guitar is required; therefore no learning or mastering of an instrument is required either. Throughout the four-day event, workshops on how to best exaggerate picking motions are held, including demonstrations from previous world champions.
“Make Air not War” is the festival’s mantra. Apparently, the championships are held to promote world peace and, according to the promoters of the event, “wars end, climate change stops and all bad things disappear, if all the people in the world played air guitar”.
Due to the popularity of the festival, first hosted as a joke, the air guitar movement has travelled the world and competitions are now hosted across the globe.
Competition rule Nº1 – NO guitars allowed.
Marking Criteria:
• Technical merit
• Mimesmanship
• Stage presence
• Airness
LISDOONVARNA MATCHMAKING FESTIVAL
August 29 – October 05, 2014
Lisdoonvarna, Ireland
http://www.matchmakerireland.com/
Lisdoonvarna, a small rural community in Ireland, is the place that holds a one month-long mystical matchmaking festival, designed for people to find their soulmates, with the hope that they’ll catch the magical “luck of the Irish” bug. Call it the real life Match.com or the non-virtual form of Tinder; it’s a fun festival of dancing, drinking, betting, flirting, and “playing”. The festival originated over 150 years ago during the Great Irish Famine, when emigration from the farms accelerated and families would pay matchmakers large dowries to find wives for their young men.
Willy Daly, author of the book “The Last Matchmaker”, and member of Lisdoonvarna’s community, is known today as the king of the matchmakers. He is also known as “the horse whisperer of matchmaking”.
The festival, “Europe’s Biggest Single’s Event” attracts men and women from all over the UK and Europe. With one too many pints and cupid’s arrow ready to strike its prey right through the heart, perhaps Lisdoonvarna is where someone will find their great, great love.
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