Across the globe, some celebrations take the concept of “unusual” to new heights. From the Exploding Hammer Festival in Mexico to the Underwater Music Festival in Florida, these events embrace the bizarre. Adventurous travelers seeking experiences beyond the typical tourist paths will find these peculiar events unforgettable.
Boryeong Mud Festival – South Korea
The Boryeong Mud Festival in South Korea was initially created to promote the region’s mineral-rich mud for its health benefits. Now, it features events like mud wrestling, mud sliding, and even a mud prison, drawing in millions of international visitors. It’s a messy, joyous celebration that lets adults play in the mud with abandon.
Camel Wrestling Championship – Turkey
In Selçuk, Turkey, the Camel Wrestling Championship pits male camels against each other in a traditional contest watched by thousands. Though it may sound fierce, the camels mostly wrestle by pushing and shoving until one retreats without harming the other.
Monkey Buffet Festival – Thailand
In Lopburi, Thailand, the Monkey Buffet Festival offers fruit and vegetables to the local monkey population. This event starts with tables laden with food which are then raided by the monkeys, providing a unique spectacle that celebrates the creatures considered sacred by many locals.
Burning Man – USA
Burning Man, held annually in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, is more than just a festival; it’s a community dedicated to art, self-expression, and self-reliance. Participants create a temporary city filled with large-scale art installations and performances, culminating in the burning of a large wooden effigy.
La Tomatina – Spain
La Tomatina is an annual tomato-throwing festival held in Buñol, Spain, where participants hurl overripe tomatoes at each other for entertainment. The streets become rivers of red pulp under the barrage of tomatoes, originally started in 1945 from a local food fight. Despite the mess, it’s a festival full of joy, attracting thousands of tourists who come to partake.
Cheese Rolling – England
The Cheese Rolling at Cooper’s Hill in England features competitors chasing a 9-pound wheel of cheese down a steep hill. The first racer to the bottom, surviving tumbles and falls, wins the cheese. This dangerous yet thrilling event draws participants and spectators from around the globe, eager to witness the chaotic chase.
Night of the Radishes – Mexico
Oaxaca, Mexico, hosts the Night of the Radishes, where artists carve elaborate scenes into radishes, which are displayed in a competition. This tradition started in the colonial period when radishes were carved to attract customers to the market. The carvings are intricate and must be completed quickly to prevent the radishes from wilting.
Battle of the Oranges – Italy
The Battle of the Oranges in Ivrea, Italy, involves teams of locals throwing oranges at each other, reenacting a medieval battle symbolizing the fight against oppression. The streets fill with citrus-scented carnage and traditional costumes.
Kanamara Matsuri – Japan
Kanamara Matsuri, or the Festival of the Steel Phallus in Kawasaki, Japan, celebrates fertility, marriage, and healthy childbirth with phallus-shaped paraphernalia, including candies, carved vegetables, and decorations. The origins of the festival date back to prostitutes praying for protection from sexually transmitted infections.
Wife Carrying World Championships – Finland
In Sonkajärvi, Finland, the Wife Carrying World Championships challenge participants to carry their partners over a 253.5-meter obstacle course. The event, rooted in a local practice of wife-stealing, now attracts competitors worldwide, with the winner receiving the wife’s weight in beer.
Baby Jumping Festival – Spain
El Colacho, a traditional Spanish festival dating back to 1620, features men dressed as the Devil leaping over infants laid on mattresses in the street. This act is believed to cleanse the babies of original sin, ensuring their safe passage through life and guarding against illness.
Songkran Water Festival – Thailand
Thailand’s Songkran Water Festival marks the Thai New Year with country-wide water fights, symbolizing the washing away of bad luck and sins. Originally a gentle pouring of water over Buddha statues and elders’ hands, it now involves days of soaking anyone in sight.
Air Guitar World Championship – Finland
The Air Guitar World Championship in Oulu, Finland, celebrates the imaginary guitar strumming skills of its participants, who perform in front of a live audience and judges. Contestants are judged based on their technical merit, stage presence, and “airness.”
Festival of Near-Death Experiences – Spain
The Festival of Near-Death Experiences, or La Fiesta de Santa Marta de Ribarteme, is held in Las Nieves, Spain, where people who’ve had near-death experiences in the past year are carried through the streets in coffins by relatives. This gratitude festival is intended to show thanks to Saint Marta de Ribarteme, the patron saint of resurrection.
World Bog Snorkeling Championship – Wales
Every year in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, participants compete in the World Bog Snorkeling Championship, a race through a water-filled trench cut through a peat bog. Competitors must navigate two lengths of a 60-yard bog using snorkels and flippers without using conventional swimming techniques.
World Bodypainting Festival – Austria
Held annually in Klagenfurt, Austria, the World Bodypainting Festival is a vibrant celebration of creativity and artistry, where artists from around the globe compete in different categories of bodypainting. Participants transform human bodies into breathtaking artworks, accompanied by live music and performance art.
The Festival of Exploding Hammers – Mexico
San Juan de la Vega’s Festival of Exploding Hammers in Mexico features participants attaching mixtures of sulfur and chlorate to the ends of sledgehammers and slamming them against rail beams to create loud explosions.
Ivrea Orange Festival – Italy
In Ivrea, Italy, the historical reenactment of a medieval battle is celebrated through the Ivrea Orange Festival, where teams on foot throw oranges at those on horse-drawn carriages. The event symbolizes the people’s uprising against tyrannical rulers and is part of a larger carnival celebration.
Tinku “Punch Your Neighbor” Festival – Bolivia
Tinku, a traditional fighting festival in Bolivia, involves community members engaging in ritualistic fistfights to ensure good harvests and social bonding. Based on Pachamama (Mother Earth) and ancestral customs, participants believe that the bloodshed fertilizes the earth. This intense festival is both a spectacle and a deeply ingrained cultural rite.
Yanshui Fireworks Festival – Taiwan
The Yanshui Fireworks Festival in Taiwan, one of the world’s most dangerous festivals, involves participants donning protective gear as thousands of fireworks are launched directly into the crowds. Originally started in the late 19th century to ward off a plague, today’s attendees seek blessings by braving the fiery onslaught. The festival is a test of courage and faith.
Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling – England
The annual Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling event near Gloucester, England, features participants racing down a steep hill after a rolling wheel of cheese. The first person to cross the finish line at the bottom wins the cheese, but the event is notorious for its high risk of injury due to the hill’s steepness. This quirky British tradition draws participants and spectators from around the world.
Kukeri – Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, the Kukeri festival involves men dressing in elaborate costumes and masks designed to scare away evil spirits with their appearance and the loud bells attached to their belts. These rituals, performed in small towns and villages, are meant to ensure good fortune and health for the coming year. The festival is a colorful, noisy celebration of ancient traditions.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival – Thailand
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival in Thailand includes a range of extreme rituals believed to purify the soul. Participants perform shocking acts like walking over hot coals and piercing their bodies with sharp objects as a form of spiritual cleansing and devotion. This intense display of faith, intended to bring about good health and peace of mind, draws spectators from around the world.
Hadaka Matsuri – Japan
Hadaka Matsuri, or the “Naked Festival,” held in Okayama, Japan, sees thousands of men wearing only loincloths participate in a wild scramble to grab a pair of sacred sticks thrown by priests. The chaotic event takes place in the cold month of February, and it is believed that catching these sticks brings a year of good fortune.
Underwater Music Festival – USA
In Florida’s Looe Key Reef, the Underwater Music Festival combines scuba diving with music broadcasted underwater through speakers suspended beneath boats. Divers and snorkelers are treated to ocean-themed tunes and messages about reef conservation, promoting environmental awareness in a unique setting.
