A decade ago, festivals were considered simply a household ritual, but the last decade has seen the events industry heavily capitalizing on such festivals to organize some of their best events.
The idea behind is simple, life is incredibly exhausting already, hence why slave over preparations for these celebrations when you can join the latest Holi party or Garba Dandiya event that is already organized and also features your favorite celebrities, interactive activities, food, friends and so much more.
But overtime, it seems monotony has caught up making it difficult to tell one event from the next. Heres some inspiration with this list of cultural festivals from around the globe that offer a generous dose of quirk-
1- Dragon Boat Festival, China
The Dragon Boat festival, also known as the Dwanwu Festival has been celebrated in China for more than 25,000 years. The main festivities in this festival are drinking realgar wine and dragon boat racing. Dragon boats are giant sized boats painted attractively and embellished with a dragon head and tail. The race begins with the rowing of boats to the rhythm of pounding drums. Once the night falls the breath-taking Dragon Lanterns and brightly lit creations come alive and truly steal the show.
2- Burning Man, Nevada
Burning Man is a weeklong annual art, music and everything-else festival held in the middle of Black Rock desert, Nevada. It usually takes place between August 27 and September 3. The festival means it’s a City of Art; the motto is ‘No Spectators’ and everybody has to contribute something to that year’s theme. This very special event which started with 8 people on a San Francisco beach in 1986 has grown to a huge art festival where hundreds of artists come and build art installations, sculptures, art cars and make performances. With lot of talented and skilled professions in the country just imagine the success of a festival like this if organized in India.
3- Lantern Floating Festival, Hawaii
Held annually on Memorial Day on Oʻahu’s south shore, Lantern Floating Hawaii brings together over 40,000 people on the beach, joined by thousands around the world via live streaming and telecast for an evening of honoring loved ones and generating collective hope toward the future. Lantern Floating Hawaii is a ceremony where all can come together for a personal and collective moment of remembrance, reflection, and offering gratitude to those who have gone before us. The concept behind the festival is that we are strengthened as a community as we reach out to support others and build understanding of our common values and experiences.
4- Roswell UFO Festival
The Roswell UFO incident, also known as Roswell, was a report of an object that crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. To celebrate their belief that aliens have landed on earth, there is an annual parade where patrons can dress up in alien-like costumes and attend brief conferences given by alien experts and authors. However, these alien activists don’t discriminate. Non-believers of the alien theory are also welcome to enjoy the festivities and dress up.
5- The Songkran festival
Every April, to celebrate New Year, the world’s largest water gun fight takes place in the country of Thailand. And no, it’s not just some small isolated village. We’re talking about an entire country drowning itself with super soakers. But the fun isn’t limited to water guns, as some people prefer buckets or even elephants. Though in India, holi is organized in a similar format but an exclusive water gun fight festival in our country is bound to be a massive crowd churner.
6- La Tomatina
What started as something of a street fight between teenagers using tomatoes from nearby vegetable stalls has turned into the largest tomato fight in the world. It happens every year in the small Spanish town of Bunyol and over the course of about 1 hour the town gets so covered in tomatos that the fire department has to come in and spray everything down. This particular festival is already a craze in India with many Indian films showcasing it over the years and several cities having hosted mini versions of it; but a collective large tomato-lunging fest would be oh so spectacular.
7- Cheese Rolling Festival
Every year near Gloucester, England hundreds of people gather to watch as locals chase a huge cheese off the top of Cooper’s Hill and tumble a couple hundred yards to the bottom where they are almost inevitably scooped up by paramedics and taken to the hospital. Supposedly if you cross the finish line at the bottom first though, you win the cheese. Being a festival majorly catering towards those with an enthusiasm for sports this one has ‘fun’ written all over it.
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