Every year, thousands of people gather in one place to be part of the weirdest festivals you can imagine. Some have their roots in ancient times, while others are modern. All of these festivals are very different, but they have one thing in common: they are freaking weird. If you have any weird festivals to add to our list, we’d love to see your examples in the comments.
1. La Tomatina
Every year, on the last Wednesday of August, in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain, 9,000 locals and 20,000 to 40,000 tourists flock to the town to throw tomatoes at each other in honor of Our Lady of Protection and Saint Louis Bertrand. The tradition began in 1945.
The celebration begins when someone climbs a soap-covered pole to retrieve a pork ham. Once the meat is removed, water cannons signal the start of the fight. After this signal, about 145 tons of tomatoes are dumped on the streets of the city. On this day, women must wear white, and men should not wear a shirt. Any shirt seen on a person will be immediately torn off. This also applies to tourists, who are the main target of local residents.
2. Coopershill Cheese Race
The Cooper's Hill Cheese Race is held every year on the last Monday in May on Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in the Cotswolds, England. An official sends a wheel of cheese rolling down the hill, and competitors chase it (at great risk to life and limb). Every festival ends in injuries, so children are banned from taking part, although local children ignore the ban. Men and women compete separately.
3. Bonfires of St. John the Baptist
The Bonfires of San Juan is a popular festival in Spain that takes place between June 19 and 24. It involves lighting bonfires, mostly made from old furniture, and jumping over them.
4. Throwing the goat
The Spanish certainly have a thing for weird festivals. Every year on the fourth Sunday in January, locals from a small town called Manganeses de la Polvorosa gather to celebrate the “Goat Throwing” festival in honor of Saint Vincent de Paul, the town’s patron saint. The festival has been around for so long that no one really remembers when exactly it began.
A young man ties a goat, carries it to the village church bell tower and throws it down, where the poor animal is caught (or tried to be caught) by locals using a tarpaulin. The festival has been banned by authorities, but it is still celebrated.
5. Hadaka Matsuri
Hadaka Matsuri is a Japanese festival where people strip almost completely naked. The festival is celebrated several times a year in different parts of Japan. During the festival, participants typically wear a traditional Japanese loincloth (fundoshi) and throw mud. The men's and women's versions are held separately. In some cities, there are also special festivals for children, as a kind of initiation before the adult celebration. Hadaka Matsuri has religious roots, but these are almost forgotten during the festival.
6. El Colacho
Since about 1620, the El Colacho (or Baby Jumping) festival has been held every year in Spain during the Corpus Christi festival. On the day of the ritual, children born in the previous 12 months are placed on a mattress, over which men from the local brotherhood of Castrillo de Murcia, dressed as the devil, jump. The jump is believed to free the babies from original sin, protect them from illness and evil spirits. Despite the riskiness of this action, not a single child has been harmed in the entire history of the ritual.
7. Resurrection Fiesta
Every year, people who have had near-death experiences gather in the Spanish town of Las Nieves to attend a mass in honor of Santa Maria Ribarteme, the patron saint of resurrection. Some of the participants in the celebration are placed in a coffin and carried to the top of a hill where a statue of the saint stands. Despite the somber nature of the occasion, the festival is accompanied by fireworks and shopkeepers fill the streets to sell various religious souvenirs.
8. Geese Festival
Until recently, this festival had been held every year in Germany for almost 350 years. A goose was tied by its feet to a pedestal, and men beat it until the bird's head came off. A very similar festival is held in Spain. Only there, the man does not beat the goose, but hangs on it until the unfortunate bird's head comes off. As a result of complaints from animal rights activists, the goose that is beaten is now killed in advance.
9. Kanamara Matsuri
Every spring, the Kanamara Matsuri or Iron Penis Festival is held in Kawasaki, Japan. It is a Shinto holiday and a fertility festival of sorts, where you can see a huge penis statue about 2.5 meters high, and buy souvenirs, candies, and vegetables in the shape of a phallus or female genitalia. The Kanamara Matsuri is very popular among prostitutes, who ask the huge Penis to protect them from sexually transmitted diseases.
10. Thaipusam
Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated by Tamils in January–February to mark the birth of Muguran (the son of the gods Parvati and Shiva). Participants shave their heads and undertake a pilgrimage, at the end of which they pierce their tongues and cheeks with sharp needles. Some place hooks on their backs and pull heavy objects. The aim of the festival is to experience as much pain as possible – the more you endure, the more blessings you will receive from the gods. The festival is popular in India, but the largest celebrations are held in Singapore and Malaysia, where the day is a public holiday.
11. Food throwing festivals
The orange festival in Iberia (Italy) dates back many centuries, when ladies threw oranges from their balconies at grooms parading in the parade. Today, it is simply entertainment in which anyone can take part. In addition, everyone knows about the tomato festivals that take place in Spain. The real tomato fight takes place in Bunol, the wine fight, where people pour wine on each other, takes place in Hora, and the water fight is near Granada.
12. Holi Festival of Colors
The only Indian festival for which people do not dress up in advance. And in general, they try to wear the oldest clothes. After all, every spring in honor of Lord Krishna, people play with colorful paints, throw them on each other, dance, and rejoice.
13. Monkey Festival
A festival is held especially for little banana lovers in Lopburi, Thailand. Tons of fruits and vegetables are laid out in honor of Hanuman, the monkey god. Needless to say, after that, all the local inhabitants in the form of monkeys pounce on the luxuriously laid table?
14. Fish Swallowing Festival
Held in Belgium on the last Sunday of February, locals swallow small, live, wriggling fish dipped in red wine. The ceremony naturally provokes a storm of protest from conservationists, who insist that the live fish be replaced with marzipan fish.
15. Festival of Crying Children
Enormous, overweight men wearing nothing but a loincloth are enough to scare anyone, so you can imagine how those they hold react. During Konaki Sumo, a Japanese festival, sumo wrestlers pick up one child each and hold them up facing each other. The first child to burst into tears wins. As the Japanese proverb goes, "a child who cries grows up faster," so be it.
16. Running with the Bulls
This festival takes place annually in the Italian city of Pamplona from July 7 to 14 in honor of San Fermin. The highlight of the program is a joint run of bulls and people through the streets of the city. Probably, someone will find running through the streets in a crowd of angry bulls a fun activity, but those who are of the timid kind should not participate in such fun. During the festival, doctors of local hospitals do not sit idle - not a single celebration of San Fermin's day goes by without victims.
17. Burning Barrel Festival
If you prefer a fire show to a cheese race, you can visit another festival in the UK, namely the Burning Barrel Festival. This festival takes place annually on November 5 in Devon, UK. No one knows how this holiday appeared, there are only assumptions that the festival is somehow connected with ancient pagan rituals. Festival participants coat barrels with resin, set them on fire, and then put the burning barrels on their shoulders and march through the streets of the city, amusing and scaring spectators. If you want to actively participate in the festival and drag barrels on yourself, then it is better to stay at home. Only native residents of Devon who know all the intricacies of the fire process can participate in the fire show. Untrained people are allowed only as spectators.
18. Mud Festival
Clean freaks are unlikely to want to attend this fun festival. Participants of the Mud Festival, which takes place annually in South Korea, strip almost naked and then smear themselves and anyone else they come across with sea mud. Smearing yourself with mud is not only fun, but also useful, because sea mud is very good for the skin. The Mud Festival is usually held in July and attracts thousands of foreigners. Festival guests become spectators and participants of various cultural programs.
19. Cuckold Festival
Why cry when you can have fun? That's the thinking of the participants of the Cuckold Festival, which is held annually in the village of Roca Canterano, near Rome. Instead of sprinkling ashes on their heads, Italian men and women who have been deceived by their other halves put cute horns on their heads and march joyfully through the streets of the village. The carnival procession is accompanied by songs, dances and satirical skits on the theme of marital infidelity.
In principle, betrayal is not a reason to celebrate, but, as they say, “If the bride left for another, who knows who’s lucky.”
