17 Unique Festivals And Celebrations That’ll Leave You Amazed At How Wonderful Our World Really Is

Yes, it definitely sounds like one big party with all things mud!

Celebrated every year over a period of two weeks, the Mud Festival attracts millions of travellers and involves fun activities like mud slides, mud pools, parades, and mud skiing competitions. I really don’t mind the mess if it packs so much fun.

This Chinese festival is celebrated annually on the island of Cheung Chau, and is thronged by a plethora of locals and tourists.

The festivities involve competitors racing to climb MASSIVE, 60-feet-high bamboo mountains that are covered with handmade buns. As per tradition, the higher the buns that are snatched by a holder, the greater the fortune that falls on their family.

Also known as The Busó Festival, this annual, week-long, UNESCO-recognised carnival is celebrated in Hungary, in the town of Mohács. The festival features people, especially men, dressed as horned devils, or “Busós”, running to chase away the winters. There’s also alcohol, music, and lots of dancing.

Yes, you’ve got the name right — it is a banquet for monkeys!

Celebrated in the provincial capital of Lopburi in Thailand, this festival holds special significance in Thai culture, where monkeys are considered sacred. The celebration is therefore exclusively held to witness thousands of monkeys feasting on mountains of fruits, vegetables, desserts, and more.

This carnival is essentially a delightful battle of oranges! What is supposed to be the largest food fight in Italy, the Carnival Of Ivrea is celebrated to memorialise Ivrea’s freedom from tyranny and oppression. Locals and tourists hurl oranges at each other for three entire days, and it is indeed a sight to see.

Does this remind you of a certain “La Tomatina“?

Yep! Toe wrestling is very much a thing. Initiated in 1976 by a group of mates at a pub in Wetton, Staffordshire, the Toe Wrestling Championships continue to be one of the most interesting events in the UK. As you might’ve guessed already, participants are supposed to battle each other with their interlocked toes.

I wonder if they’re awarded a winning “toephy” for this. Sorry!

The Gilroy Garlic Food Festival is a three-day annual event held in Gilroy, California, and is not only one of the best-known food festivals of the state, but also Gilroy’s biggest fundraiser. Thousands of visitors gather here each year to enjoy all sorts of garlicky food, live music, crafts, and more. Oh and they also serve garlic ice cream!

I’d like to add that horrible events such as that of a mass shooting in 2019 and the pandemic in 2020 absolutely couldn’t dampen the spirits of this amazing festival as it made a fantastic comeback in July of 2021.

“The Night of the Radishes” is celebrated annually, every winter, and attracts hundreds of contestants and a lot more visitors to the city of Oaxaca. The competing participants gather to carve large radishes into even larger sculptures. The resulting creations are truly marvellous.

This special ceremony marks the occasion of Memorial Day in Hawaii. Thousands of visitors from across the country assemble to extend their prayer messages and float them in these beautiful golden lanterns. This astounding sight of floating lanterns in the Pacific is a wonderful symbol of peace and harmony. 

This cultural festival was first created in 1998 and is now celebrated annually in Austria. It goes way beyond the usual face and body paintings one gets done at birthday parties.

The celebration is attended by artists from over 50 nations, who gather to display their art, using the human body as their canvas. The creations are absolutely jaw-dropping.

This lively celebration has rightfully been voted Seoul’s most iconic event for four consecutive years. The opening ceremony of The Water Gun Festival is celebrated with a water concert, umbrella performances, AND a water gun wedding. Every year, the streets of the city are closed for the festival as people enjoy thematic water gun battles. Doesn’t that sound fun?

Hosted every spring in Coopers Hill in Gloucester, England, the Cheese Rolling Festival is a one of a kind sport. Participating contestants literally race down 200 yards in pursuit of a nine-pound round of Double Gloucester cheese. However, considering past instances of injuries, a foam replica has now replaced the rolling cheese.

A fiesta that has been around for the past 36 years, the Florida Keys Underwater Music Festival combines music with the conservation of coral reefs. Every year, music enthusiasts get together, 20 feet below the surface of the water, to play to the melodies of various water-themed songs with guitars, drums, and horns.

“Dame Fasnacht” or the Carnival of Basel is Switzerland’s largest procession that takes place in the month of March. It is the only protestant carnival in the world and lures almost 2,00,000 visitors every year. The three-day-long carnival involves parades, exhibitions, and countless performances. Sounds to me like three days of pure thrill!

This special festival is celebrated every year to commemorate the establishment of The Golden Retriever Club Of Scotland. Hundreds of goldens assemble from around the world for this most incredible meet and greet. The celebrations also include a dog show and some activities for the dog parents.

Well, don’t we all have all sorts of paw-sitive feelings for this festival?

This festival began as a one day event in 1950 and is now celebrated annually in Japan for seven days, every February, where talented artists carve hundreds of snow and ice sculptures at the Odori Park in Sapporo, Hokkaido. These sculptures often depict a famous building, person or event and continue to enthral millions of visitors from around the globe.

Songkran essentially marks the beginning of the Thai New Year. Devotees visit temples wherein they bathe images of Lord Buddha while also sprinkling water over the heads of monks and their elders. The festival becomes a lot more special with events such as parades, dancing, tons of entertainment, and, of course, water splashing!