FESTIVALS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

VILLAGE HALLOWEEN PARADE

Remember the excitement and anticipation of Halloween when you

were a kid? As you got older, maybe the magic started to fade a

bit or maybe it was replaced with your own child’s excitement. However,

Halloween isn’t just for kids. Just ask the over two million people who

attend New York City’s annual Village Halloween Parade in Times

Square during which chaos usually erupts with music and giant puppets.

STURGIS MOTORCYCLE RALLY

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is an American motorcycle rally held

annually in Sturgis, South Dakota usually during the first full week of

August. It began in 1938 and was originally held for stunts and

races, but has evolved into being a meeting for motorcycle

enthusiasts from all around the world. It brings significant income

to the citizens of Sturgis, a town of only 6,627 people and it is

considered to be one of the largest motorcycle rallies in the world.

PIRATES WEEK FESTIVAL

Every November, the Cayman Islands play host to an onslaught of

scallywags and rapscallions at the annual Pirates Week Festival.

Though the festival is known as Pirates Week, celebrations actually

last for eleven days. This fun-filled event comes complete with a

simulated pirate invasion and plenty of fancy dress. Prepare to be

transported to a world that has gained notoriety thanks to Disney’s

popular film series Pirates of the Caribbean. There are plenty of

Jack Sparrow look-alikes marauding the streets of George Town

so you best be on the lookout or you might end up in

Davy Jones’s locker.

KRAMPUSNACHT FESTIVAL

A unique holiday season celebration, Krampusnacht (Krampus Night)

is an alcohol-fuelled race where alpine joggers compete dressed

as child-kidnapping furry devils. The origins of the Krampus is not

entirely clear but it is believed to date back to pre-Christian traditions.

KANAMARA MATSURI

There is no greater celebration of the Japanese joystick than

Kawasaki’s Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Iron Phallus). Despite

smirks and giggles from Westerners, this is no Fantasy Fest: it’s

an ancient tradition that serves as a celebration of (and prayer for)

fertility, long marriages, and healthy births. It’s also a way to promote

awareness about sexually transmitted diseases, most importantly HIV.

HOLI

If you happen to be in India, Nepal, or Sri Lanka during the last lunar

cycle of winter, called Phalguna (usually in February or March),

you just might get caught in a rainbow battlefield at the Holi festival

of colours. Throngs of celebrants fling every imaginable type of

brightly coloured dye in the form of powder, liquid, and water balloons

at one another in an all-out war. It’s a wildly immersive and

participatory festival in which everyone gets involved, from

young to old. Holi is celebrated all over the region from intimate

celebrations at home to enormous street parties exploding

with colour.

WALPURGISNACHT

Walpurgisnacht (Witches’ Night) is an ancient festival to welcome

spring and to drive away evil spirits. Though there are many

variations of the festival, it is commonly celebrated with dancing

and bonfires on April 30 or May 1 throughout Central and

Northern Europe. Strangely enough, it is exactly six months from

All Hallows’ Eve, more commonly known as Halloween. Like

Halloween, Walpurgis Night has its roots in ancient pagan customs

where the arrival of spring was celebrated with bonfires at night.

As for the name? It comes from the eighth-century missionary

Saint Walburga.

FESTIVAL OF GIANTS

For almost five hundred years, enormous human effigies—the Gayant

(giant) family—have presided over this party in northern France,

one of the nation’s largest festivals.

EL COLACHO

Known locally as “El Colacho” but internationally as “the baby

jumping festival,” this Spanish ritual involves men dressed as the

devil in red and yellow jumpsuits and wearing modern running shoes,

jumping over babies born in the previous twelve months.

The festival traditionally takes place on the Sunday after

Corpus Christi (usually in May or June).