One thing I’ve learned through my travels is the fact that every culture has its fair shares of eccentric things to celebrate. Yes, people around the world celebrate New Year’s Eve, independence days, Christmas and maybe even have religious feasts – and they always have a few things in common (including eating, drinking and dancing), but then if you look closely, it gets just a little bit more interesting.
Over the past few years, festival tourism has grown exponentially. However, more and more people are straying away from cultural and traditional festivals and more towards mainstream festivals.
And while I have absolutely no problem with that, there’s a whole other “weird” side of the world that will make your life and your travels a lot less boring. If you want to find yourself right in the middle of a-once-in-a-lifetime-experience, then I’ve got some news for you: it’s time to start exploring!
Our world enjoys hundreds of festivals that are downright crazy – from people dressed as devils jumping over babies, to others driving skewers through their face…If you think you’ve seen it all, then you’re definitely wrong.
I’ve put together a list of the most eccentric festivals around the world to give you a bit of a glimpse of all the things you’re missing out on. Or maybe even things you’d rather never experience.)
Who knows? Maybe you’ll find your next vacation destination somewhere here!
1. El Colacho – The Baby Jumping Festival
Where: Castrillo de Murcia, Spain.
Yup, the name isn’t even a metaphor. The town of Castrillo de Murcia really turns into a gigantic festival of flying devils and babies. It’s honestly a spectacular tradition that has been going on for over 400 years and has a surprisingly low late of injury.
What exactly happens: Think of this as the weirdest baptizing event you’ve been to (or an exorcism even!). The festival starts off with men dressed in extravagant masks, devil costumes (usually red, or yellow ones) who go around the town swearing and whipping people who get in their way.
The plot twist, however, is that the devils are the saviors. As the sound of drums approaches, those devil-dressed people start jumping over one-year-old-babies displayed on mattresses to protect them from bad luck.
Why? Apparently, this ritual also takes away all of their sins. Who knew acrobatic devils hopping over babies could be so effective?! The Spaniards, obviously.
2. Vegetarian Festival
Where: All of Thailand, specifically Phuket Town.
The auspicious Thai food festival is one of the most bizarre around the world – and although it’s a “vegan festival” per se, it takes the locals a lot more than switching from pork to tofu.
What exactly happens: The traditions that go into this festival are an amalgamation of gruesome and deeply religious. One thing I can tell you for sure is that this festival is not for the faint of heart. From perilous parades that take place in the cities, gory rituals, and gruesome rituals acted out in trance-like states – the festival is all sorts of overwhelming.
Why? The practitioners (usually the Chinese community in Thailand) wear white and must obey a set of different rules – including not killing animals, not steal, not harms other, not drink alcohol, not touch people of the opposite sex, not wear ornaments and not even share utensils. But it doesn’t stop there – during this event, masong people (who invite spirits in) are the ones that participate in the gruesome rituals to honor the gods and sacrifice themselves from punishment.
3. Monkey Buffet Festival
Where: Lopburi, Thailand.
Monkeys have it real good in Lopburi, Thailand. The Monkey Buffet Festival experiences those furry animals treated to a literal feast of over 4,000 kg of various Thai dishes, fruits, vegetables, and candies right by the ancient temple of Phra Prang Sam Yot. Visintg a major tourist attraction, watching good-luck monkeys treating themselves to food and a can of Pepsi and experiencing a popular local legend all at once? Count me in!
Why? The monkeys are thought to bring good luck after (according to legend), they saved a bride from a ten-headed demon!
4. Battle of the Oranges.
Where: Ivrea, Italy.
Every year, the UNESCO-listed town of Ivera turns into a full-on battle of…orange-throwing. And while that may sound dangerous (it is), over 600,000 kgs of oranges are launched yearly to create a symbolic orange war, and eventually – the largest food fight in Italy.
Let me sum it up real quick for you: each year, hundreds of townspeople divide themselves into nine different groups, meet up at designated streets made for “fighting”, and then attempt to “kill” each other by hurling oranges at each other.
Why? It is an attempt to recreate the 12th-century combat between the locals and the Royal.
To add a little bit of “authenticity” to the story, one girl is chosen yearly to represent the miller’s daughter (who supposedly killed the Marquis who tried to kill her), and then a huge funeral is held on Fat Tuesday.
5. Boryeong Mud Festival
Where: Boryeong, South Korea.
This is definitely as messy as it sounds. The gorgeous coastal town of Boryeong turns into a massive mud-fest every year in July to create a massive two-week event. Luckily, the festival is not historic by any means, instead, it was actually a marketing event for mud cosmetics in Boryeong.
What exactly happens? There really is everything from music, dance competitions, inflatables, zip-lining, mud fireworks, and mud wrestling!
6. Underwater Music Festival
Where: Looe Key Reef, Florida, USA.
This is probably the first time you hear about this festival, but you’d be surprised to know that it has been running for over 31 years.
What exactly happens? A local radio station plays underwater-themed music tracks through a boat (including the soundtrack from the Little Mermaid, and Octopus Garden) and you’re more than encouraged to wear costumes and play underwater instruments!
Why? The festival is held to promote environmental sustainability, responsible diving and more.
7. Konaki Sumo
Where: Yamaji Ji Temple in Japan.
Konaki means crying, and you definitely know what Sumo is. So why would anyone want to visit a crying sumo festival? The real question here, my friend, is why wouldn’t they want to?
What exactly happens? This 400-year old tradition is organized by Japanese temples where two Sumo wrestlers each hold a baby in their hand (yes, again with the babies) and compete over who can make the baby cry louder.
It doesn’t even stop there…There is a priest standing there who accentuates the entire ordeal by making faces at the babies to make them cry.
8. Bolas de Fuego, El Salvador.
Where: Nejapa, El Salvador.
Nejapa, an originally small quiet town in Salvador, turns into an entire festival where people hurl fireballs at each other. Everyone is dressed extravagantly with cover accessories, war paint, and bandanas and in an effort to commemorate an eruption of Volcan San Salvador that originally destroyed their town.
9. Hadaka Matsuri – The Naked Parade.
Where: Oyakama, Japan.
This is a male-only, annual naked festival that takes place in Japan and is one of the top 3 most eccentric festivals there – and it’s hard to argue with that title. Over 10,000 men dress in loincloths and battle for grabbing the “shingi” which is the lucky stick or the talisman thrown by the priest into the crowd.
Once a man gets the talisman, he is required to put it in a wooden box filled with rice so he could be guaranteed for a year of happiness. If you had the chance to be granted a whole year of happiness as long as you fought 10,000 other almost-naked men in a temple, would you do it?
10. La Tomatina
Where: Bunol, Spain.
You’ve definitely heard of La Tomatina before but it’s still worth mentioning. The world’s largest food fight takes place in a quiet town in Spain where over 20,000 people indulge in this messy, yet peculiar, experience of throwing tomatoes at each other in one epic battle. The “fight” itself lasts for an hour, but there’s a whole week before filled with all sorts of celebrations – from music concerts to paella cooking contests.
11. Buso Festival
Mohacs, Hungary.
Every February, Mohacs is turned from a quaint European town to one of mayhem, celebrations, chaos, and revelry. The village transforms from a rural dream to a surreal pagan nightmare where people are dressed in hand-carved demon masks, grotesque monsters, and more to “scare off the winter.”
Well, let me tell you one thing: If I was winter, I sure as hell would be scared off. It’s a mixture of fascinating, magical, scary and most importantly – chaotic. The festival dates back to when the Turks used to occupy the town and is explained with the day they dressed in scary masks to chase away the Turks.
There are plenty of celebrations all around town – from parades, to dancing – but my favorite part was their arrival in rowboats on the Danube. The entire scene of people dressed in big sheepskin costumes and masks gliding on rowboats was surreal, to say the least.
12. Beer Floating – Finland.
Near Helsinki, Finland.
Do you like drinking beer? Of course, you do. Next question – do you like floating down a river whilst drinking beer? Of course, you do. Well, there’s a festival for that! (Of course, there is, welcome to Europe, where there is a festival for practically everything!)
Every year, there is a free-spirit summer event (with no official organizer) that takes place near Finland. Thousands of people float down a river in makeshift rafts, boats or inflatable vessels whilst drinking beer and playing music. That’s it. A cool, fun festival that doesn’t involve crying babies or throwing stuff at each other? What a shocker.
13. Thaipusam
Malaysia and Singapore.
Another festival that is definitely not suited for anyone who is squeamish. Every year, local Hindus (over 1 million locals) pierce their entire bodies with hooks on their back, and then attach weights to those hooks and then walk for over 10 hours.
The reason behind this is obvious: religious devotion and a demonstration of faith that is supposedly going to cleanse them of all their sins!
14. Wife Carrying World Championship
Where: Sonkajärvi, Finland
Back to Finland where the festivals are light-hearted and easy to participate in. Every year, participants carry their wives (in whichever way they want.: piggyback, Estonian style..etc) and are asked to run through a track filled with different obstacles. The prize? The wife’s weight in beer!
There are plenty of world festivals around the globe with the “oomph” factor that will take your trip to the next level. All you need to do is just explore a little bit more and be open to the major weird factors of those festivals!
