10 Most Unusual Celebrations and Festivals in The World
Man is the most intelligent creature in the world, who started living in groups for security and created societies or civilizations with different cultures and traditions. Also, they created many practices or festivals to bring happiness, harmony and togetherness to the community. These festivals may be unusual celebrations for today’s evolved and more logical people who are more practical and busier.
Unusual Celebrations and Festivals
Today man with his highly developed mind, inventions, technology and advanced lifestyle is gradually moving away from all the old traditions and celebrations.
But still, there are many places where you will find very interesting and slightly unusual festivals according to today’s thinking and scientific world. Some interesting and unusual celebrations around the world are:
1. Holi, India
Holi is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in India and some other parts of Asia. This festival marks the victory of good over evil with the arrival of spring and the end of winter.
Holi is celebrated as the festival of colours in honour of the Hindu god Lord Vishnu and his follower Prahlad. On this day people apply colors to their friends and relatives and also celebrate this day by pouring water on them.
On this day, everyone across the country is drenched in colours and everyone looks happy and colourful throughout the day. This day is also called the ‘Festival of Colors’ because people playfully throw water and colours at each other.
In some towns in the northern part, ‘Lathmar’ Holi is celebrated by hitting men with long wooden sticks or women with ‘lathis’, in line with the story of the Hindu god Lord Krishna and his beloved Radha.
These traditions may seem like a very “unusual celebration” to a person from another country but this festival is also popular for forgetting and forgiving others and repairing broken relationships.
The festival is celebrated in different ways in different parts of the country and South Asia.
2. La Tomatina
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Since 1945, every year on the last Wednesday of August, the people of the Spanish city of Bunol hold tomato fights, in which people throw tomatoes at each other just for fun.
The festival is celebrated as the “world’s largest food fight”, where over a thousand tonnes of ripe tomatoes are thrown into the streets.
The fight lasts for an hour and the officials take the responsibility of cleaning the place in this event of interesting and unusual celebrations.
3. Near Death Festival
Source: Spanish Fiestas
This near death celebration in Spain “The Fiesta de Santa Marta de Rebartem” is dedicated to people who have had a near-death experience and survived. These people have had near death experiences and tell other people about their experiences.
The festival is held in the small village of As Nieves in Galicia and is held every year on 29 July.
On this festival day, people with near-death experiences are carried by their relatives in coffins to a temple dedicated to St. Marta’s Day.
People pray to the saint and give thanks that their lives were saved and pay homage to the saint. The festival ends with lots of eating, dancing and fireworks.
This festival is one of the unusual celebrations but the best way to thank God and share your experiences.
4. Buso Festival
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The Buso Festival in Mohacs, Hungary celebrates the passing of winter and the welcoming of spring with scantily clad men traditionally protecting themselves from the cold by wearing scary costumes, unique wooden masks and woollen cloaks made from sheepskin (also called Buso).
It resembles the Rio Carnival, the Carnival of Venice, and many traditions of African tribes. It is also celebrated by the Croatian people living in Mohacs.
The Buso traditionally walks in groups around the city wearing carved masks and are accompanied by folk music and dance.
5. Baby Jumping Festival
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The Baby Jumping celebration of Spain involves men dressed in red and yellow who wear masks representing devils. They run on the streets and beat and abuse people who come in their way.
Children born within the last 12 months are placed on their path. When men in devil form jump over children, they are believed to absorb their sins and misfortunes.
This ceremony is believed to protect children from diseases and other misfortunes but is also a bit strange so it is one of the most unusual celebrations in the world.
6. Naki Sumo Crying Baby Festival
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The Naki Sumo Crying Baby Festival is a Japanese festival in which sumo wrestlers hold two small babies and make them cry while holding them in their arms.
Two sumo wrestlers hold the baby, and the one who starts crying first is considered the winner. There is also a priest present who makes faces at children to make them cry.
If both babies cry at the same time, the one who cries louder is considered the winner.
In this event of unusual celebrations, it is believed that the child who cries the most gets the most blessings from God.
7. Mud Olympics
Source: AVAX News
Mud Olympics held in Germany is basically a charity that supports cancer patients and their relatives. It is held in Germany and the money received from participants and spectators goes directly to charity as it is fully sponsored.
Over 4,000 people and about forty teams from Germany and other countries compete in mud volleyball, mud football and sledging for medals as well as awards, such as funniest team name, best mud mascot, best costume, etc.
The mud involved in the games brings fun to the players and they feel free from the stress of winning and losing. Therefore it is among the unusual celebrations in the world.
8. Monkey Buffet
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The Monkey Buffet Festival of Thailand involves people giving food to the stray monkeys roaming around their residences.
This is among the interesting and unusual celebrations since the day is not just about feeding the monkeys anything from home as we see in many countries.
There is a grand celebration which starts with an opening ceremony. The dancers perform while wearing their monkey costumes and various other performances are held.
When the monkeys arrive, the large buffet prepared for them is revealed and the monkeys feed on it like kids.
9. The Piercing Festival
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The Thaipusam or piercing festival is mostly celebrated in southern India and other Asian countries like Malaysia, and Mauritius and is devoted to Lord Murugan, the God of war.
This festival is celebrated by the Tamil and Malayalam communities on the full moon of ‘Thai’ Month.
In Malaysia, the people show their devotion to God by piercing their body parts in different ways, face and tongue piercings are very common.
The devotees pierce their skin with pins and spikes. They also hang heavy pots from their chests and pull chariots from their backs with hooks attached to their bodies.
10. Air Guitar Championship
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Every year since 1966, the Air Guitar Championships are held in Oulu, Finland where performers in these unusual celebrations pretend to play the guitar.
The music is usually of the ‘rock’ or ‘heavy-metal’ genre and also includes singing or lip-synching by the artist. Championships are organized to promote and spread world peace.
According to the ideology of air guitar, it is believed that if everyone played air guitar, wars would end, climate change would stop and all bad things would disappear from the universe.
