When you are traveling and a festival is happening in that city, you couldn’t ask more from your holidays! Festivals are something that everyone enjoys and want to take part in. It’s not only exciting but you also get to capture worth remembering moments that you will enjoy and reminisce for the rest of your lives. Different types of are always happening around the year across the globe, some are spiritual, traditional and some can be crazy and weird as well. Here is a list of some colorful yet messy global festivals that are celebrated across the world and you surely don’t want to regret missing them.
Songkran Water Festival, Thailand
The New Year in Thailand is supposedly the most amazing, exciting, and messy festival in our global festivals list. They have the biggest water gun fights ever! It basically originated from Songkran, where it started out at sprinkling water on people’s shoulders in order to purify them and bless them with happiness and a good start. With the passage of time, the locals believed that it is done to wash away the bad luck and sorrows to step into the next to year with a new start. The festival leveled up by using water guns, fire hoses, and buckets.
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Water fights are the best kind of fun fights as this ritual attracted people from around the world. This festival is celebrated every year in April which is the hottest month in Thailand and it couldn’t be a better time for a water fight.
If you happen to visit Thailand around that time you must make sure to visit Songkran to celebrate this watery festival. Also you must check out Bangkok and visit the famous floating markets, temples and elephant sanctuary.
Bonfire Night, Scotland
To turn your m trip into something hot, fun and exciting then visit the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It is the biggest fire festival celebrated in Europe. This event is celebrated at the end of Yule season which is the Scottish Christmas season.
The local natives dress up as Vikings and march through the streets while holding torches in their hands to set a galley ship on fire. Once the bonfire begins, drinking, dancing and partying begins! This is one crazy and wild party which prolongs for the entire day. The following day is considered as a public holiday which is given to recover from the party last night.
Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, England
This festival in our global festivals list is celebrated on Spring Bank Holiday every year at Cooper’s Hill near Gloucester, England. It was traditionally celebrated by the locals from the village of Brockworth, Gloucestershire. According to the news officials it is claimed as the world-famous event where people come to attend this event from the USA, New Zealand, Nepal and Australia.
People gather on the top of the hill and roll 7-9 pounds of Double Gloucester Cheese down the hill and the participants run downhill after the rolling cheese. They chase the cheese in order to catch the cheese. The winners are given the cheese as a prize.
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This entire activity is fun and take cheese rolling event very seriously however it is injurious as well.
Many runners tumble and get scooped till they reach the bottom of the hill. Regardless of the dangers of this activity the enthusiasm among the crowd is at its fullest.
La Tomatina, Spain
If you, by any chance happen to visit Spain during August, then you know it’s time to get messy. In our global festivals list this one hour festival that attracts people to attend from different parts of the world. We are talking about Ka Tomatina- a festival held in Valencian town of Bunol, Spain. Participants gather and throw tomatoes at each other for fun. It is the world’s biggest tomato fight which includes thousands of people.
The fight goes on for about one hour and the entire town is filled with squishy tomatoes. Later on the fire truck comes and hoses the entire town along with the people to get the tomatoes off their bodies. Some people head towards Los Penones pool to wash themselves!
The tomato fight is held on last Wednesday of April and begins at noon with approx more than 150,000 people who come to paint the town red! Food wastage isn’t a concern because the tomatoes used are of low quality and over ripe.
There is no logic behind the reason of this festival but it all started as a food fight back in 1940s. Following that year, people gather as tomatoes their weapon and begin the fight ritually.
Battle of Oranges, Italy
Seems like Europeans have something with food fights! Let’s talk about Italy’s La Battaglia Delle Arrance aka Balle of Oranges. Celebrated every year when people of Ivrea from northern Italy throw more than 500,000 oranges at each other.
This festival is celebrated among townspeople who are divided into nice combats team and throw oranges with full aggression. The traditional carnival days are Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
This carnival takes us back to medieval times when a miller’s daughter Violetta, took matter in her own hands when a local man made an unwanted move towards her. This move inspired the citizens who stormed the place to free the town.
Afterwards, the tradition followed and Ivrea people dress up as dukes or townspeople and storm the city with oranges. This mess goes on for straight three days.
Holi, India
A joyful and colourful Hindu festivity which is celebrated by Hindus located anywhere in the world. It is also known as the ‘Festival of Love’ where people are said to reunite and forget all the bitterness among themselves. This fun festival goes on for a day and night which begins in their Hindu month of Falgan.
You will enjoy this festival if you live throwing water, mud and powder. This festival is full of different coloured powders which people throw at each other and also apply on themselves. They sing, dance and party while they’re all dipped in colourful powders. They believe that this festival is a start of spring and a victory f good over bad.
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They dress up especially in white clothes so that the dye colours last long and they can remember the memories.
Boryeong’s Mudfest
And the last in our global festivals list, here we are talking about messy festivals and getting dietary, you do not want to miss the mudfest in South Korea. If you are looking to have some dirty fun like literally dirty then take part in the muddiest festival in Boryeong. This mudfest goes on for 10 summer days and people from Boryeong have just mid on their minds.
This festival actually begins from the second weekend in July.
This festival has no religious or traditional background but this all was a marketing tactic which was used by a cosmetic company that wanted to make mud of that place famous. Well, that marketing strategy turned out to be something big! It all went to the whole new level and became a festival where people started playing, wrestling, dancing, sliding and bathing in wet dirt!
There is coloured mud available too for body painting and you can also enjoy live music, competitions and other attraction too while covered in mud.
This festival is one of a kind and if you are really into experiencing something new and unique in life , then this one must make it to your bucket list!