Every country has its festival season, from film & food to jazz & art, there is always something to celebrate somewhere in the world. From wacky and avant-garde, to contemporary and classic, festivals can be an unforgettable experience. Here is one for every month of the year:
January
Cherry Blossom Festival - in Nago, Japan. Everywhere you look is a sea of color. The festival has many highlights including food, games, rides, parades, folk music, concerts, folk dancers, flower displays, kimono shows and religious ceremonies.
February
The world-renowned Mardi Gras in New Orleans is one of the most famous festivals. Street revelers mingle with parades in the streets of New Orleans, while festival-goers dressed in elaborate costumes catch strings of beads and trinkets from the floats and party-goers on balconies.
March
March is synonymous with St Patrick's Day. All across the globe, Ireland's patron saint is celebrated with parades, a traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage, green beer and a whole lot of tom foolery! New York City's contingency of Irish descendants are known to enjoy themselves in their annual St Patrick's Day Parade.
April
Head to beautiful Thailand to enjoy the Songkran Festival, a watery celebration which takes place all over Thailand to mark the Traditional Thai New Year. Starting April 13, everyone is fair game as people arm themselves with buckets, water guns, garden hoses or anything that will carry water to douse a few dozen targets.
May
One of the wackiest, yet strangely enticing festivals is the Gloucester Cheese Rolling Festival. Taking place annually during mid-summer at the top of Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire, England. With paramedics and catchers on hand at the foot of the hill, volunteers run full-tilt downhill, gathering tremendous speed along the way, chasing their prize, a seven pound wheel of traditional Double Gloucestershire Cheese.
June
The largest music festival in the world of its kind, the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, is hosted in the UK and is known mostly for its music, but it also features dance, comedy, theatre, circus and, more often than not, mud. Lots of mud. This is one festival that everyone should attend once in their lifetime.
July
During the month of July the Wife Carrying World Championships takes place in Sonkajärvi, Finland. This act dates back to the 19th century. Men carry their wives along a 830-foot (253.5 meter) track of obstacles and water. The first to cross the finish line wins. The prize is the wife's weight in beer.
August
Bunol, Spain celebrates La Tomatina, where on the last Wednesday of August, tens of thousands of people from across the globe hurl over 100 metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes at each other, turning the streets and surrounding buildings red. La Tomatina is thought to have first begun in 1945 as the result of a restaurant food fight, but nowadays a frenzy of excitement surrounds the festival.
September
Regarded as one of the world's most important celebrations of arts, the Edinburgh Festival is not to be missed. Each year, visitors flock to the historic city where artists, performers, musicians and writers, flood various venues around the city. Practically every public venue in the city turns into a theatre or stage during the festival.
October
Munich hosts the world's best-known and greatest beer festival of all time - Oktoberfest. Each year, hundreds upon thousands of visitors descend upon the grass meadow in the center of the city, where tents become bustling beer halls and Bavarian bands belt a tune.
November
In Mexico, festival feasts and processions are held at the beginning of November to honor the dead on the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) - a festival of reminiscence and a colorful celebration of the lives of ancestors and lost loved ones lights up the streets of Mexico City & Oaxaca.
December
For a sunnier Christmas destination - Key West, Florida plays host to the Pirates in Paradise Festival. A mob of pirates invades the shores of Key West and for more than a week, re-enactments, exhibits, nautical excursions and much more take place on the island. There is even a Conch Republic Shipwreck Pirate's Ball & Pirate's Feast to mark the end of the festival.
If you need help planning a trip to one of these festivals or another festival:
Call us at: 585-442-8901 or Email us at: vacations@depreztravel.com