When you think of festivals, throughout the world, there are some really strange (non-musical) festivals and celebrations, some annual festivals emerge out of religious rituals or cultural events, while others come because of marketing experiments or boredom. Here are the festivals that might make you scratch your head.
MONKEY BUFFET FESTIVAL,
THAILAND
The long-tailed macaques are always a hit with the tourists in Lopburi, so every year, on the last Saturday in November, the monkeys get a treat to say thank you. Locals set up tables of food laden with sweets, soft drinks, fruit and other monkey favourites, sometimes even encasing the food in blocks of ice so the little scamps have to work for their dinner!
THE TURNIP FESTIVAL,
SWITZERLAND
The Räbechilbi Turnip Festival is held on the second Saturday in November every year in the town of Ricterswill, on Lake Zurich. The festival marks the season change from autumn to winter. The reason the humble turnip is so revered is because so legend says that they were used as lanterns in the 19th century.
THE FESTIVAL OF NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES, SPAIN
This sounds very weird.. And creepy, very creepy. However, when you really think about it, it makes sense; it’s about being thankful for still being alive! Every year, at the end of July, anyone who has had a near death experience hops into an open coffin and is carried by their potential pall-bearers in a procession to the local church.
THE CARNIVAL OF BINCHE, BELGIUM
The preparations for the Binche carnival/festival start months before its climax on Shrove Tuesday, around 1,000 local males, from age three upwards, get dressed-up in bizarre and scary-looking masks and wooden shoes. They gather in the centre of the town at dawn and dance to the beat of drums, waving and shaking their sticks to ward off the evil spirits. Later on, they start to march through the town, pelting the crowd with oranges.
FESTIVAL OF THE HORNS, ITALY
Being cheated on, it’s not pleasant. For some, they may even consider it to be humiliating. Well, why not just add to that humiliation by donning a large pair of horns and parading round the town? Of course, no one would do that, Well, yes, they would! Also held on the second Saturday of November, the Festa del Cornuto isn’t to humiliate. It is in fact a parade in honour of the cuckold. In Italy, horns are a metaphor for having been cheated on by a lover.
