Top 10 of the weirdest holidays and festivals
Goat tossing festival and Sleep day...sounds strange? Well brace yourself as these are just some of the weird and wacky holidays and festivals around the world.
A holiday is a day designated to have a special significance for people, government or religious/secular groups and believed to deserve special celebration. We have all heard about the New Year, the Christmas, the Chinese New Year and the Ramadan. However, I would be surprised if you have heard of the following celebrations:
1.Kanamara Matsuri
Every time the first Sunday of April comes around, the locals of Komaki celebrate the genital that is hailed as the ultimate symbol of fertility in this Japanese town, and during this festival, everywhere you look (or pretend not to look), you’ll see mammoth illustrations of a penis. There are penis-shaped decorations, penis-shaped candy, penis-shaped candles, and penis-shaped everything.
2.International Breast Day
Something for the ladies too…
Every year on March 30, the firm, soft and supple breasts of a women are celebrated. However, it is not a big celebration, but more a marketing ploy. It is aimed to highlight the strength and independence of women and also… draw attention to the direction that attracts men’s eyes.
3.Peeing Day
Who would have thought that such a routine bodily function would wind up having its very own holiday? Good news for the people who use outdoor spaces as urinals I’d say. Before you can say, defamation of public property, you’ll want to know that New Jersey’s celebrates Pissing Day. The holiday’s other name is Revolutionary War Day, is a recollection of the Revolutionary War.
History (or was it rumours) has it that American Revolutionary soldiers peed all over the troops of British general Charles Mawhood after driving them out of the Princeton town. Today, every second Saturday of March, Princetonians choose to relive the glory and victory by reenacting the battle, including the post-battle pissing and all.
4. Tinku Punch your neighbour day
This festival has got to be a recipe for neighbour trouble! Every month of May in Bolivia, specifically in Macha and Potosi, people swarm to the tiny town of Macha in order to celebrate this festival. The word “Tinku” means a meeting or an encounter between people, but if you had the chance to get a glimpse the events at this festival, you’d conclude that that translation should really be changed to “beat someone to death.”
So before you go out beating that nosy neighbour know the purpose of the festival.
In actuality, though, the festival isn’t held for the purpose of hurting people, but for ensuring a good harvest. This is based on the belief that the Goddess Pachamama will grant the people a great harvest as long as there’s a lot of blood, and what better way to get some blood than to beat it out of the next person? Thankfully, the festival today isn’t as great a bloodbath as in past times.
5. Sleep Day
This is the day when we can sleep and do nothing. It gives people a chance to relax after the holidays and “recharge” for school or work. Nobody knows the origins of this celebration.
6. Vanuatu Land Diving Festival
In Vanuatu a traditional rite of passage is a primitive form of bungee jumping. Tribesmen construct a wooden tower and scale it, diving from the top with bungee cords made of vines. This is also meant to ensure a good yam harvest, and jumpers are considered the most successful when they actually hit their heads on the ground, making it extremely dangerous.
7. Goat Tossing Festival
The annual Goat Toss Festival is held on January 24 in the town of Manganeses de la Polvorosa in northwest Spain. It is dedicated to the town’s patron saint, St. Vincent. Though the exact origins and purpose for the spectacle are a subject of some debate, the practice has exist for ages. A goat is thrown from the upper story of a bell tower, where it plummets into a crowd of villagers who attempt to catch it with a sheet.
8. Procession of cows festival
On a random day in August in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, you might bear witness to one of the Gai Jatra or Procession of Cows. The way it works is that each household that has had a death in the family in the past year leads a cow through the streets in order to help the dead get to heaven. Contrary to what you may think, this event isn’t as dismal as a funeral. There are plenty of things at this festival that should cheer you up such as upbeat music, colourful parades, and more.
9. Straw bear day
This is sort of like Halloween, only instead of kids in costume going door to door for candy and chocolate, it involves a grown man attired in a costume created of straw dancing for beer and food. After completing his rounds, the burning of the bear commences. Luckily, they take the guy out of the costume before setting the straw aflame. This holiday is held every first Monday after Twelfth Night in a British town called Whittlesea.
10. Monkey buffet festival
Okay, so far you’ve read about beatings, penises, and goats. The next entry on this list of weird holidays is one that’s held in Thailand every last Sunday of the month November. This involves giving honour to monkeys! Based on Thai legends, the mighty hero Rama gave the province of Lopburi to the monkey king Hanuman, and that may be the reason why the Thais have followed suit in giving tribute to that particular animal species.
So if you find yourself in the area during the Monkey Buffet Festival, don’t be so shocked to see a bunch of monkeys feasting on pounds and pounds of vegetables and fresh fruits. If only you could join the feast, right?
There are plenty of funny and weird holidays around the world being held throughout the year. If you’re looking to engage in some clean (or not) fun and add a little spice to your life, then you should definitely witness and join these celebrations.
