At any given moment, there are many exciting events happening all over the world. But if you happen to be heading near any of these destinations at the right time of year, make sure you don’t miss out on these mind-blowingly awesome and bizarre festivals and celebrations. This is Backhackers’ best of the bunch, the weirdest and most wonderful times to be had.
La Tomatina, Buñol, East Spain
Every year on the last Wednesday of August you can find the residents of Buñol, and MANY participants in a tomato throwing frenzy. Yes you read that right. You will literally be hurling tomatoes at each other for around 2 hours… for entertainment purposes only, nothing else. A tradition dating back to the 1940’s, this bizarre event is a must do (or at least see), if you’re not scared of getting covered head to toe in mushy tomato ammunition.
The festival has grown in popularity over the last decade, probably in thanks to the internet and social media. Now an officiated festival of the town, you will only be able to take part if you have a paid for ticket. That’s money well spent to be involved in the destruction of 150 tons of tomatoes if you ask us! Bizarrely enough, the citric acid in the tomatoes actually leads to the town’s surfaces ending up being cleaner than before the mayhem descends.
By the end of the “fight” the town is covered in tomatoes. Make sure you’re still around to help with the clean-up operation and a hose down though.
Holi, India
The “festival of colours” represents the arrival of spring, the end of winter, and for some it’s a time to forgive and forget. Normally celebrated during early March this amazingly colourful celebration sees participants decorate (putting it very mildly) each other in coloured powders, paints, water guns, paint bombs and water balloons and any which way they can imagine to colour one another. It’s a beautiful chaos of colour.
Out in the open streets, parks, anywhere and anyone is fair game during Holi. In more recent years, the celebrations have made their way to many other spots around the planet, including parts of Europe and North America as a spring festivity of colour and love. We feel that to get the best experience is to take part in the birthplace of Holi, which is India. You can find many locations around the country celebrating Holi and here you can also observe the deeply cultural and religious roots of the festival as well.
There’s music, dancing, food and drink, and plenty of colours you didn’t even know existed. Sheer joy.
‘Día de Muertos’ or Day of The Dead, Mexico
A deeply spiritual festival that used to be celebrated in summer time but has more recently been associated with Halloween celebrations. Each year from October 31st to November 2nd, most of the country comes together to celebrate those that have passed away in the most positive, brightest, loudest and joyful way possible. This means bringing together all sorts of traditional food, drink, music, dancing and big, big parades.
Arguably the biggest and brightest parades of this holiday can be found in Mexico City. Thousands of people from Mexico, and from around the world, come to the countries’ capital for 3 days to embrace the traditional music, arts and fancy dress. The parade is normally held on the Saturday or Sunday of the holiday, depending on when it falls and it’s been growing in numbers and visitors in more recent years. But you can still find many towns and villages around the country with their own unique take on what it means to celebrate Day of the Dead.
No matter where you find yourself in Mexico for Day of the Dead, you’ll always be able to find a beautifully decorated sugar skull to satisfy your sweet cravings!
Spring Lantern Festival, China
Normally held around late February or early March, depending on what date in the Lunisolar Chinese calendar it falls on. This celebration marks the end of the Chinese New Year. Young and old alike go out into the streets with paper lanterns and release them into the night sky. Best observed in town centres or temples where many will be released at once.
But we are talking hundreds, if not thousands, of lanterns released into the starry abyss. A magical sight to behold. Dating back 2000 years this awesome tradition sees many people designing their own lanterns as well. Designs can range from historical figures, zodiac signs, animals, and even saints and gods of Taoism or Buddhism. Lanterns can also be bright red to signify good luck for the forthcoming year.
Go and see in the new year with hundreds of others, brightly lighting up the sky, in the hope of a fortune rich new year.
Burning Man, Nevada, Western U.S.A
The youngest annual festival on our list. Born in 1986 from a spontaneous burning of a wooden figure on a San Francisco beach, a perplexed small crowd gathered to watch. That small crowd has grown incredibly into 70,000 dwellers of the temporarily built “Black Rock City” for a weeks’ celebrations of all things community, art and its ten main principles: “radical” inclusion, self-reliance, self-expression, community cooperation, civic responsibility, gifting, de-commodification, participation, immediacy and to leave no trace.
What that translates into personally for yourself can be a whole mixture of things, elaborate fancy dress, dancing, partying, performing, singing, arts, crafts… anything goes really. The festival seems to evolve and grow year on year, always with a different centric theme. Staying true to its roots though, the ritual burning of a large wooden figure (A.K.A The Man) customarily takes place on the Saturday of that week.
Money is usually not needed here, at Burning Man a “gift economy” exists whereby you are encouraged to give gifts to each other instead!
Go to the desert and ‘self-express yourself’ on the last Sunday in August to the first Monday of September each year.
Oktoberfest, Munich, Southern Germany
A 2 week celebration of all things brewed and barrelled. This one is for the beer lovers out there. Find yourself in Munich in October, and you can take part in the world’s biggest beer festival. Not a beer lover? You can also enjoy the parades, food, music, amusement rides, side stalls and games with the other 7 MILLION visitors!
There are numerous tents and seating areas to help you consume the 6.9 million litres of beer that’s poured during the festival. Enjoy as much as you can handle, dance on the tables, sing to your hearts content. But don’t worry, coffee is also at hand if you need a caffeine fix after one too many. Various traditional food stalls are set up as well if you need a non-alcoholic top up.
The even better news? Entrance is free and you don’t require a ticket, you don’t even have to buy a beer if you don’t want to. But come on, you’d be silly to not even sample just a little. Just one?
Burj Khalifa New Year’s Fireworks, Dubai, Northern United Arab Emirates
You should, by now, know of the tallest building in the world: the Burj Khalifa. Building work was completed back in 2010 and to celebrate its grand opening, a huge firework display was held. Now an annual tradition, a display is held to celebrate and see in the New Year.
Every December 31st at 12pm, the building is lit up with every type of firework conceivable, with every colour imaginable. It’s an impressive sight, to watch the tallest building in the world being lit up in such a way, with fireworks shooting from it in every direction.
See in the New Year in the ‘City of Gold’ with arguably one of the best firework displays in the world.
Sydney Festival, Sydney, South Eastern Australia
Australia’s largest city is home to this art festival, and it’s a good thing it’s large given that the event attracts almost half a million visitors each year! The festival takes place from the 2nd week of January for 3 weeks and celebrates music, circus, dance, performance and visual arts. The majority of the event is free but there are ticketed areas as well.
Nearly 1000 local and international artists alike flock to express themselves through their chosen media and performances. Running since 1977, this well-established festival always has an impressive roster of artists during its programme and amazing mixture of arts and music to indulge in.
Find yourself in the land down under’s east coast in January? Go and explore the multitude of artists to start your new year the right way!
Find yourself in the land down under’s east coast in January? Go and explore the multitude of artists to start your new year the right way!
Thanks for reading our list and don’t forget to let us know about your experiences of any of these or if you’re heading to any of the events!