The world’s best parties – from Glastonbury to Holi
NO ONE is going anywhere at the moment, but that doesn't mean we can't remember a time when life was more exciting than baking bread and watching Tiger King on Netflix.
From the bright colours of Holi, to the elaborate costumes of Comic Con, here’s what it looks like when the world celebrates.
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1. HOLI, WORLDWIDE BUT PREDOMINANTLY IN INDIA
Once a year in March, the young and old come together in the most colourful of ways at Holi.
This Indian festival celebrates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil, and involves dancing to wooden drums and throwing brightly coloured powder at each other.
Red represents love and fertility, green means new beginnings, blue is for the Hindu god Krishna and yellow stands for the natural remedy turmeric.
It might take days to come out of your hair and never come out of your clothes, so wear white and you’ll have a souvenir you can wear for years to come.
2. BORYEONG MUD FESTIVAL, SOUTH KOREA
What started as an event to promote the beauty benefits of the mineral-rich mud from Boryeong has turned into one messy beachside party.
There are mud wresting, mud slides, mud fountains and a mud prison, with some K-Pop parties in the mix.
Mudfest, as it’s also known, takes over Daecheon Beach and downtown Boryeong with truck loads of mud brought in from the region’s mud flats to slip and slide in.
3. GLASTONBURY, UK
What started as a 1,500 capacity festival in 1970 where tickets cost £1 and included free milk now brings more than 200,000 music lovers together.
Sadly this year’s 50th anniversary with Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift as headliners has been cancelled.
Until it is able to start up again, Glastonbury’s Spotify will be sharing playlists from acts that would have been on stage so you can put your wellies on and dance at home.
4. COMIC CON, USA AND WORLDWIDE
The ultimate geek-fest, Comic Con started in San Diego in 1972 and now has spin offs around the globe.
San Diego Comic Con brings more than 130,000 sci-fi, fantasy and superhero fans together and as well as seeing the creators and stars of their favourite comics, movies and TV shows.
One of the best parts is seeing fellow fans rocking their cosplay.
5. LOWER KEYS UNDERWATER MUSIC FESTIVAL, FLORIDA, USA
Forget air guitars, at this festival you’ll be breaking out your water ones as you play along with mermaids on trom-bonefish and fluke-a-leles.
Held in the Florida Keys to raise awareness for coral preservation, this festival pipes music into the water through underwater speakers so divers and snorkellers can groove along to ocean themed tunes including The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, Jimmy Buffett’s Fins and tracks from The Little Mermaid.
6. MARDI GRAS NEW ORLEANS, USA
One of the greatest street parties in the world, at Mardi Gras in New Orleans more than 11 million tonnes of beads, cups, sunglasses and other trinkets are thrown to the crowd by carnival krewes, the creative powers behind the elaborate floats and masquerade balls.
While Mardi Gras is technically one day on Fat Tuesday, the New Orleans carnival goes for weeks with the biggest parties and parades taking place the weekend before the official day.
7. AFRIKABURN, SOUTH AFRICA
Part of the Burning Man family, Afrikaburn takes place in the semidesert of Tankwa Karoo where a desolate space is temporarily transformed into a creative community full of theme camps, mutant vehicles, huge sculptures, and burning works of art.
Afrikaburn abides by the 10 principles of Burning Man including leaving no trace, gifting and radical self-reliance, but has added an 11th, ‘Each One Teach One’ to encourage the sharing of knowledge.
And just like Burning Man, you’ll need to bring everything you need to survive.
8. LA TOMATINA, SPAIN
The biggest food fight in the world brings around 40,000 people and more than 100 metric tonnes of tomatoes together in the small Valencian town of Buñol where the streets run red with juice in the one hour battle.
While the rapid splatter should start after someone climbs a greased pole to retrieve a ham it often kicks off before this traditional box is ticked.
Wear goggles to avoid getting all that squishy tomato in your eyes and when it’s all over you can either be hosed down by a local or take a dip in the Bunol River.
9. COWS’ BALL, SLOVENIA
In Slovenia’s stunning Bohinj valley alpine herdsmen still head up into the high green pastures on the mountains to tend to their cattle in the summer months.
And when those cows come home for winter it’s time to celebrate with the Cow’s Ball.
Cows are decorated with floral wreaths before parading down the street, there’s dancing to folk music in the streets, lots of Bohinj cheese to try and horseshoe throwing and log-sawing competitions to add to the Alpine flavour.
10. COOPER’S HILL CHEESE ROLLING FESTIVAL, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK
The dairy fun continues here in the UK, when Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire plays host to their springtime cheese rolling festival.
Here it’s not just a wheel of cheese that rolls down the steep 90-metre slope but some of the people chasing it too.
In theory the first person to catch the cheese wins, but as it can travel at up to 110km an hour the winner is more of a first across the post situation.
Although this year’s festival on May 25 has had to be cancelled, a cheese will still be rolled down the hill to maintain the tradition.
11. WAIKIKI SPAM JAM, HAWAII
At the Waikiki Spam Jam, Hawaii’s unusual love for the canned meat has made it one of the most popular festivals on the islands.
This block party on Kalakaua Avenue includes some favourite Waikiki restaurants serving up Spam tacos, Spam gyoza, Spam curry, Spam nachos and even Spam Hula Pie with candied Spam.
12. DÍA DE MUERTOS, MEXICO
Brightly coloured skeletons and altars covered in food, flowers, family photos and candles welcome back the dead in this two-day festival that celebrates lost loved ones.
Dressing up and having your face painted as a beautiful skull is all part of the fun when you join in this party thrown by the living for the dead.
13. HARBIN INTERNATIONAL ICE AND SNOW FESTIVAL, CHINA
The world’s biggest ice sculpture festival is also a competition that brings teams from around the globe from December to February to flex their icy skills.
Every year has a different theme and past sculptures include a Great Wall of China ice slide, Disney towers, pyramids, and huge Buddhas.
At night the sculptures are lit up to create a colourful winter wonderland, and visitors can skate, play ice soccer and ice golf, and if you’re into swimming in ice cold water, you can even take a dip in the Songhua River.
14. GLOBAL PRIDE, WORLDWIDE
This year more than 300 Pride festivals around the world have been cancelled in response to COVID-19, but that’s not going to stop the LGBTQIA+ community coming together.
On June 27, Global Pride will be live streamed with 24 hours of performances from Pride organisations around the world, starting in Australia, New Zealand and East Asia and following the time zones around the date line.
There’ll be speeches, key messages from human rights activists and dancing.
15. CHINCHILLA MELON FESTIVAL, QUEENSLAND
Stick your feet in some watermelons for a touch of melon skiing, leave your dignity at the door for some competitive pip spitting, and test your skills on the Melon Iron Man and Woman circuit.
Held every second year, the Chinchilla Melon Festival is due to return next February.
While anyone can enter the Melon Weigh In, last year the new record was set at 100.5kg.
16. PINGXI SKY LANTERN FESTIVAL, TAIWAN
The remote hillside village of Pingxi was once so dangerous that lanterns were used as signals that a family member was safe.
Now they represent peace and good fortune, and tens of thousands of people travel to the town each September to write wishes on the lanterns before releasing them into the sky.
Surrounded by mountains with rainy weather, Pingxi is the only place in Taiwan where you can legally release sky lanterns.
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17. CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL, JAPAN
A symbol of renewal and future happiness, cherry blossoms are so fleeting that they have thousands gathering under their branches for sakura festivals.
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In Japan, people flock to parks to hold picnics and rent boats under the blooms.