Unusual festival around the world

Every country has that one unique festival that defines their culture the very best. I recently read about five unusual and interesting festivals around the world.

The Chap & Hendrick's Olympics is an annual event held in July in London. The festival involves sports such as the Three Trousered limbo, Cucumber Sandwich Discus and Pipe Smoker's relay, in the hope of winning a coveted gold cravat.  

Photo by FaceMePLS

Holi - The festival of colours which is also an annual festival held mostly in the northern part of India. Holi was originally a festival celebrated to mark the victory of Prahalad over Hirnakashyap (The symbol of evil). Now a days Holi is celebrated more as a harvest festival. As a symbolic representation of the burning of evil, on the eve of Holi large bonfires are lit. it is celebrated by smearing different colours on each other.

Tomatina is held on the last Wednesday of August. People all around the world join to celebrate this festival. The festival is held in the town of Bunol in the Valencia region of Spain, thousands of people participate to fight a battle where over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets.

Photo by Mike Pennington

Up-Helly-Aa which takes place on the last tuesday in January every year in Lerwick, Shetland. The festival involves marches, visitations in a torch-lit procession and the burning of a galley, followed by performing and dancing in halls throughout Lerwick.




Monkey buffet is held in Thailand as an annual festival to promote tourism. It involves giving fruits and vegetables to the large monkey population in Lopburi Province north of Bangkok. It is described as one the strangest festivals. These unusual festivals makes you wonder about the many others that we have never even heard of. I look forward to hearing about any other unusual festival around the world.