Just Like Holi: List Of Countries That Celebrate Holi Like Festivals
If you think, only Indians have fun festivals like Holi, think again.? It seems we have inspired many other countries to get coloured in the name of festivities.
In India, Holi is the festival of colours and is celebrated with great enthusiasm. But, if you¡¯ve ever wondered if Holi appears crazy to people in other countries, you can breathe a sigh of relief. We¡¯re not the only crazy ones around here. There are many interesting festivals around the world that closely resemble the festival of colours, Holi. Take a look:
1. Songkran, Thailand
Songkran is one of the most similar messy festivals to Holi because people tend to throw ice-cold water and apply the beige coloured paste to each other.?
Songkran -is also known as the Water Splashing Festival. Songkran is a celebration to mark the start of the Buddhist New Year. Thai New Year's festival has evolved into the world's biggest water fight!
On this day, Buddha images are bathed, and younger Thais show respect to monks and elders by sprinkling water over their hands.
2. Michigan's Annual Mud Day, USA
Mud Day is an annual event in Michigan, USA, where people compete to be King or Queen of the Mud. The contest started out for kids but adults couldn't resist the temptation to get involved. Almost 80,000 litres of water are mixed with 180, 000 kilograms of topsoil to create a giant lake of mud.
The annual day sponsored by the Wayne County Parks takes place in a 75 foot by 150-foot giant mud pit that gives children the opportunity to get down and dirty at one of the messiest playgrounds Southeast Michigan has ever seen. On This day, thousands of children, who will be separated into two age groups: ages 4 and younger and ages 5-12, will charge into the mud to participate in fun-filled activities, such as mud limbo and wheelbarrow races. The King and Queen are crowned after the games are over.
3. Oberbaumbr¨¹cke Water Fight, Germany
Every year the Oberbaumbr¨¹cke is host to a huge water-fight festival. This is one of the most prominent and fun festivals celebrated in Germany. During this summer fest, people stand up against each and get into a massive water fight on the Oberbaumbrucke Bridge.
The bridge itself has some pretty interesting history. Originally built in 1732 as part of the Berlin Customs Wall (Berliner Zoll und Akzisemauer) which surrounded the historic city of Berlin from 1737-1860, built primarily to levy taxes on the import and export of goods.
At the very end of the Second World War, the Wehrmacht blew up the middle section of the bridge in an attempt to stop the Red Army from crossing it.
The Oberbaumbr¨¹cke Water-fight began in 1999 after the city administration decided to merge the two districts, without asking the citizens their opinion. The reaction of the neighbouring left-leaning boroughs was to fight it out.
4. Gloucester Cheese Festival, England
The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in England. Participants race down the 200-yard-long hill after a round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down it.
The cheese rolling tradition stretches back over 200 years though its origins remain a cause of speculation. The most popular theory says it is a celebration of the end of winter and the growth of new crops. Participants chase a 9lb wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the hill, which can travel at over 70mph!
5. Flour Throwing Festival in Galaxidi, Greece
The little harbour town, Galaxidi is located in the south-central part of Greece, north of the Peloponnese. The city is covered, every year, with more than 1.5 tons of coloured flour which is thrown on the locales and the mass of tourists who attend the most insane battle.
The traditional flour battle symbols the end of the carnivals period. The historic legacy and the causes of these fights are unknown. According to local tradition, in the 19th century, when Greece was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, carnivals were forbidden.
During the holiday, hundreds of people, dressed in plastic cloths, their paces are coloured with black coal and safety goggles on their eyes, fill the streets. Due to the numerous visitors during the festival day and the high demand for accommodations, it is recommended to check hotel rates and book rooms well in advance.
6. Boryeong Mud Festival, South Korea
For two weeks every July, thousands flock from around the Korean peninsula to Boryeong, a small, sleepy town situated on the western coast of the country for the Boryeong Mud Festival, or Mudfest, as it¡¯s colloquially called.?
This festival was first established in 1999, the festival was intended to promote cosmetics made from the region¡¯s mud. According to event organisers, Boryeong mud is high in minerals, especially germanium and bentonite, and it emits large amounts of far-infrared rays, which are particularly beneficial for the skin.?
7. Battle of Oranges, Italy
The origin of the so-called Battle of the Oranges dates back to mediaeval times and is said to commemorate the day the townsfolk were liberated from the harsh rule of an evil duke.
Every year the citizens remember their liberation with the Battle of the Oranges, where teams of aranceri (orange handlers) on foot throw oranges (representing old weapons and stones) against aranceri riding in carts (representing the tyrant's ranks).
8. Oktoberfest, Germany
The Oktoberfest is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling funfair. Oktoberfest, an annual festival in Munich, Germany, is held over a two-week period and ends on the first Sunday in October. The festival originated on October 12, 1810, in celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
9. Chinchilla Melon Festival, Australia
It is the world's biggest melon festival, and it will be back to celebrate its 15th biannual event in 2023. Known as the 'Melon Capital' of Australia, every two years the thriving Chinchilla community welcomes in excess of 20,000 visitors for the unique, fun-filled and crazy experience of the Chinchilla Melon Festival.
The Chinchilla Melon Festival is a wild week of melon-themed events that culminate in the hilarious Melon Games. Visitors provide the entertainment as they participate in the many competitions taking place including melon skiing, the melon toss, pip spitting, melon bungee, and melon iron man races.
10. La Tomatina, Spain
Spanish festivals have a reputation for being wacky, and La Tomatina is probably the wackiest of them all. Every year, the end of August sees the streets of the small Valencian town of Bu?ol become rivers of tomato juice, as people from all over the world throw over-ripe tomatoes at each other in this state-sanctioned food fight. Here are a few fun facts to consider before joining the fun this summer.
The story goes that, during a more sombre street parade back in 1945, a street fight broke out when one rowdy local started to pelt everyone with vegetables from a nearby market stall. A group of young people retaliated, and a huge food fight broke out. The following year, the same people picked a fight on purpose and brought their own supply of tomatoes. Although the police broke up the new tradition for a few years, and it was banned in the early 1950s, the popularity of the food fight lived on and the tradition was eventually brought back.
11. Haro Wine Festival, Spain
The Haro Wine Festival is a summer festival in the town of Haro. The Haro Wine Festival involves thousands of people soaking themselves, and everybody around them, in red wine then rushing off to run around a bull ring chasing frolicking heifers and then heading off to a party. That¡¯s La Batalla del Vino in a nutshell. Held in the historic, picturesque town of Haro, in the Rioja region, about 100 kilometres south of Bilbao, thousands of people turn up for one of Spain¡¯s most exuberant festivals every June 29, Saint Peter¡¯s Day.
