Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, China
The
annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture
Festival has been held since 1963. It had been interrupted for a
number of years during the Cultural Revolution but had been resumed
by 1985. Harbin is located in Northeast China under the direct
influence of the cold winter wind from Siberia. The average temperature in
summer is 21.2 degrees Celsius, -16.8 degrees Celsius in winter. Annual low
temperatures below -35C are not uncommon.Officially, the festival starts
January 5th and lasts one month. However the exhibits often open earlier and
stay longer, weather permitting. Ice sculpture decoration technology ranges
from the modern (usinglasers) to traditional (with ice lanterns). While there
are ice sculptures throughout the city, there are two main exhibition areas:
Enormous snow sculptures at Sun Island (a recreational area on the opposite
side of the Songhua River from the city) and the separate "Ice and Snow
World" that operates each night. Ice and Snow World features illuminated
full size buildings made from blocks of 2–3 feet thick crystal clear ice
directly taken from the Songhua River. There are ice lantern park touring
activities held in many parks in the city. Winter activities in the festival
include Yabuli alpine skiing, winter-swimming in the Songhua River,
and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden. The Harbin festival is the
largest ice and snow festival in the world. Other large ice and snow festivals
include Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City
Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival. The 2007 festival
featured the Canadian theme, in memoriam of Canadian
doctor Norman Bethune. It was also a Guinness Record of the
largest snow sculpture: 250 metres long, 28 feet (8.5 m) high, using over
13,000 cubic metres of snow. The composition consisted of two parts:
"Niagara Falls" and "Crossing the Bering Strait" (the
latter depicting the migration of the First Nations).
Holi Festival, India
Holi is
a spring festival celebrated as a festival of colors It is
a Hindu religious festival which has also become popular with people of other
communities.It is primarily observed in India and Nepal. It is
also observed by the minority Hindus
in Bangladesh and Pakistan as well in countries with
large Indic diasporapopulations following Hinduism, such
as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad
and Tobago, the United Kingdom, the United States, Mauritius,
andFiji.Holi is also known as Phagwah, Festival of Colours,
or Doḷajātra in Odisha, and as Dol Jatra or Basantotsav in West
Bengal and Assam. Holi is of particular significance in
the Braj region, which includes locations traditionally connected to
the Lord Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandgaon, Uttar
Pradesh, and Barsana, which become tourist destinations during the season
of Holi. As per the Hindu calendar, Holi is celebrated on
the Phalguna Purnima (Full Moon), which comes in February or
March in the Gregorian Calendar.
The Carnival of Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
The Carnival of Brazil is an annual
festival held during the Friday to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which
marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter. On
certain days of Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians
traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the
term "carnival," from carnelevare, "to remove (literally,
"raise") meat." Carnival has roots in
the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which, adapted to Catholicism
became a farewell to well things in a season of religious discipline to
practice repentance and prepare for Christ's death and resurrection.
Rhythmatic, participation, and costumes vary from one region of Brazil to
another. In the southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro, São
Paulo and Vitória, huge organized parades are led by samba
schools. Those official parades are meant to be watched by the public, while
minor parades ("blocos") allowing public participation can be found
in other cities. The northeastern cities of Salvador, Porto Seguro and Recifehave
organized groups parading through streets, and public interacts directly with
them. This carnival is also influenced by African-Brazilian culture.
It's a six-day party where crowds follow the trios elétricosthrough the
city streets, dancing and singing. Also in northeast, Olinda carnival
features unique characteristics, heavily influenced by
local folklore and cultural manifestations, such
as Frevo and Maracatu.
The typical genres of music of Brazilian carnival are, in Rio de
Janeiro (and Southeast Region in general):
the samba-enredo, the samba de bloco, the samba de
embalo and the marchinha;
in Pernambuco andBahia (and Northeast Region in
general) the main genres are: the frevo, the maracatu,the samba-reggae and Axémusic.Carnival
is the most famous holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge
proportions. Except the industries, malls and the carnival related workers, the
country stops completely for almost a week and festivities are intense, day and
night, mainly in coastal cities.Rio de Janeiro's carnival alone drew 4.9
million people in 2011, with 400,000 being foreigners.
Songkran
Water Festival, Thailand
The Songkran
festival listen; from the Sanskrit word saṃkrānti, or literally "astrological passage" is
celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to
15 April. It coincides with the New Year of many calendars
of South and Southeast Asia.The date of the festival was
originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed. If these days
fall on a weekend, the missed days off are taken on the weekdays immediately
following. Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the
end of the dry season. Until 1888 the Thai New Year was the beginning of the
year in Thailand; thereafter 1 April was used until 1940. 1 January is now the
beginning of the year. The traditional Thai New Year has been a national
holiday since then.
Sandfest, Port Aransas, Texas
The Texas
Sand Sculpture Festival is one of the largest beach festivals in Texas on the
beautiful, sun-soaked Port Aransas beach. Master Sculptors from
around the world, as well as a many children and amateurs, will put their
creative skills to work to create the most artistic, imaginative sand
sculptures at Texas SandFest. The 3-day event starts Friday, April 26, 2013 and
runs through Sunday, April 28. Along with the sand sculptures, there will also
be vendors live music and entertainers, sand sculpting lessons and
more. View the full schedule of activities.
La
Tomatina, Buñol, Spain
La Tomatina is
a festival that is held in the Valencian town
of Buñol, a town located 30 km from the Mediterranean, in which
participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight
purely for fun. It is held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of
festivities of Buñol.
Diwali Festival of Lights
Deepavali or Diwali ,
popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a five-day Hindu
festival which starts on Dhanteras, celebrated on the thirteenth
lunar day of Krishna paksha (dark fortnight) of the Hindu
calendar month Ashwin and ends on Bhaubeej, celebrated on
second lunar day of Shukla paksha (bright fortnight) of the Hindu calendar
month Kartik. Dhanteras usually falls eighteen days
after Dussehra. In the Gregorian calendar, Diwali falls between
mid-October and mid-November.
Diwali is an official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar,
Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore
and Fiji.
For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and
is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in
their homes. For Jains, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha ornirvana by Mahavira in
527 BCE. Arya Samajists, celebrate this day as Death Anniversary
of Swami Dayanand Saraswati. They also celebrate this day as Shardiya
Nav-Shasyeshti.
The name "Diwali" or "Divali" is a contraction of
"Deepavali" (Sanskrit: दीपावली Dīpāvalī),
which translates into "row of lamps". Diwali involves the
lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good
over evil.[9] These lamps are kept on during the night and
one's house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess Lakshmi feel
welcome.Firecrackers are burst because it is believed that it drives
away evil spirits.During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and
share sweets and snacks with family members and friends.
The festival starts with Dhanteras on which most Indian business
communities begin their financial year. The second day of the festival is
called the Naraka Chaturdasi. Amavasya, the third day of Diwali,
marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. The fourth day of
Diwali is known as Kartika Shudda Padyami. The fifth day is referred to
as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj), and on this day sisters
invite their brothers to their homes.
Halloween Festival of the Dead, Salem,
Massachusetts, USA
Halloween or Hallowe'en (a
contraction of "All Hallows' Evening"), also known
as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a
number of countries on October 31, the eve of
the WesternChristian feast of All Hallows (or All
Saints) and the day initiating the triduum of Hallowmas.According
to many scholars, All Hallows' Eve is a Christianised feast
originally influenced by western European harvest
festivals, and festivals of the dead with
possible pagan roots, particularly the CelticSamhain.[6][8][9] Other
scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely
Christian roots.Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also
known as "guising"), attending costume parties,
carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns,
lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions,
playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
Keene Pumpkin Festival, New
Hampshire, USA
The Keene
Pumpkin Festival (a.k.a. Pumpkin
Fest or P-Fest amongst teens) is a yearly celebration held
in Keene, New Hampshire, United
States around Halloween. Each year, Keene residents and citizens from
around the area attempt to amass the largest number of
lit jack-o'-lanterns in one place, trying to meet or beat the world
record (which they have held for many years).The Keene Pumpkin
Festival previously held the record (as recognized by the Guinness World
Records) of 28,952 set at this celebration on October 25, 2003, but this
was broken when Boston, Massachusetts collected 30,128 on October 21,
2006. At first it was believed that Boston did not have an official count,
merely a sign-in for each pumpkin. But it was later determined that each
pumpkin was indeed registered and counted, causing Guinness to confirm the
record in a certificate issued to Camp Sunshine, the event beneficiary and
organizer of the festival. Camp Sunshine is a national non-profit retreat for
children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.The
organizers attempt yearly to beat this record by encouraging businesses,
organizations, schools and individuals to create and donate jack-o'-lanterns
which are displayed on many enormous banks of shelves and all available
surfaces around the center of town.The festivities also
include fireworks, music, and food, and draw in people from all over New
Hampshire and adjoining states.Almost immediately after the
festival is over, the pumpkins are hauled away by volunteer work crews and
given to pig farmers, to use as food.The event is held on a
Saturday in mid-to-late-October. Keene Pumpkin Festival 2009 was held on
Saturday October 17, and an estimated 70,000 people attended the event. The
official total, announced on October 21, was 29,762 pumpkins, a new Keene
record, but not enough to beat the world record.The largest ever crowd to
attend the event was in 2006, which drew an estimated 80,000 people from around
the world to downtown Keene.By comparison, the population of Keene
is nearly 23,000.In 2010, the Keene Pumpkin Festival organizers,
Center Stage Cheshire County, stepped down from running the event, leaving it
in limbo for 2011.The festival was able to secure new organizers, however, and
the Pumpkin Festival continued in 2011, taking place on October 22.
Pushkar Camel Festival, India
The Pushkar
Fair, or Pushkar ka Mela, is the annual five-day camel and livestock
fair, held in the town of Pushkar in the state of Rajasthan, India.
It is one of the world's largest camel fairs, and apart from buying
and selling of livestock it has become an important tourist attraction and its
highlights have become competitions such as the "matka phod",
"longest moustache", and "bridal competition" are the main
draws for this fair which attracts thousands of tourists.[1] In
recent years the fair has also included an exhibition cricket match between the
local Pushkar club and a team of random foreign tourists. TheImperial Gazetteer
of India, mentions an attendance of 100,000 pilgrims in early 1900s.
Sham ennisim
Sham ennisim is
an Egyptian national holiday marking the beginning of spring. It
always falls on the day after the Eastern
Christian Easter (following the custom of the largest Christian
denomination in the country, the Coptic Orthodox Church). Despite the
Christian-related date, the holiday is celebrated by Egyptians regardless of
religion.The name of the holiday is derived from
the Egyptian name of the Harvest Season, known as Shemu,
which means a day of creation. According to annals written
by Plutarch during the 1st century AD, theAncient Egyptians used
to offer salted fish, lettuce, and onions to their deities on this
day.After the Christianization of Egypt, the festival became associated
with the other Christian spring festival, Easter. Over time, Shemu morphed
into its current form and its current date, and by the time of theIslamic
conquest of Egypt, the holiday was settled on Easter Monday.
The Islamic calendar being lunar and thus unfixed relative
to the solar year, the date of Sham el-Nessim remained on the Christian-linked
date even after most Egyptians had become Muslims. As Egypt
became Arabized, the term Shemu found a
rough phono-semantic match in Sham el-Nessim, or
"Smelling/Taking In of the Zephyrs," which fairly accurately
represents the way in which Egyptians celebrate the holiday.
Source Wikipedia/Google
.JPG){kind=spacer}
