10. Tübingen Duck Race
Every year since 1999 over 7000 yellow rubber ducks are let loose in
River Necker that courses through this historic town near Stuttgart in
Germany. This is almost a third of the city population. The competition
starts at midday and anyone with a rubber duck can participate; and if
you left yours at home in the bathtub, ducks can be rented before the
race. Spectators stick their name and number on the ducks, release the
toy in the water and cheer along the riverbank as the mass of yellow bob
up and down the designated stretch of the Neckar. A metal weight is
attached to their underside so that they don’t topple over on the way.
The ducks race from Alleenbrücke to Neckarbrücke is taken very
seriously, because there is €10.000 worth of prizes to be won. 28 More after the break...
The duck race is on this Saturday, October 6.
09. Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest is a celebration of Bavarian beer from Munich’s finest
breweries. Each year, around six million liters of beer is consumed
along with approximately 300,000 pork sausages, 600,000 roast chickens
and 80 roast ox. Only beer from Munich’s six select breweries is sold in
the 14 large tents, served by beer maids carrying armfuls at a time.
Aside from beer there are traditional German amusements, folk costumes,
traditional music and marching bands, fair ground rides and parades to
name but a few. More pictures of Oktoberfest 2012.
Photo by — Boston Globe
08. Pushkar Camel Fair
The annual five-day Pushkar Fair is held in the town of Pushkar in the
state of Rajasthan, India. The fair attracts hundreds of Rabadi herdsmen
who buy and sell many thousands of camels here each year. The camels
are decorated with colorful bits of clothes and papers for trading, and
there are camel races and even camel beauty parades to take part in as
well.
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". In recent years the fair
has also included an exhibition cricket match between the local Pushkar
club and a team of random foreign tourists.
07. Halloween
Halloween is observed around the world on October 31, the eve before the
Western Christian feast of All Hallows. Halloween is thought to have
originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people
would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. Over
time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event
characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating and
pumpkin carving.
Children go from house to house dressed at witches and ghouls, asking
for treats with the question, “Trick or treat?” The word "trick" refers
to a (mostly idle) "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or
their property if no treat is given. In this custom the child performs
some sort of trick, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, to earn
their treats.
Because the holiday comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest, candy
apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel or taffy
apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a
sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.
Diwali
Diwali or Dipawali popularly known as the "festival of lights," is the
most well-known of the Hindu festivals. The name "Diwali" is a
contraction of "Deepavali" 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. These lamps are kept on during the night and
one's house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess Lakshmi,
the goddess of wealth, feel welcome. The festival is celebrated through
festive fireworks, lights, flowers, sharing of sweets, and worship. The
festival of Diwali extends over five days, and because of the lights,
fireworks and sweets involved, it's a great favourite with children.
03. Naga Fireball Festival
Naga Fireballs is a mysterious event that takes place every year in
Thailand. Locally known as “bung fai paya nak” the phenomenon which is
seen in the Mekong river involves hundreds and thousands of glowing
fireballs that rise out from the water high into the air. The balls are
reddish and have diverse size from smaller sparkles up to the size of
basketballs. They quickly rise up to a couple of hundred metres before
disappearing.
Local people say that they have seen the fireballs throughout their
lives and their parents and grandparents did as well, but in earlier
times they did not pay much attention to this phenomenon. The festival
related to the observation of Naga fireballs gained popularity in the
1990s and is named Bang Fai Phaya Nark festival. Since the 2000s this
festival has obtained international fame and is actively promoted by the
authorities of Thailand.
Traditionally it is believed that the balls come from the breath of
Naga, a mythical serpent that haunts the river. While no plausible
explanation exist, some believe that fireballs are actually pockets of
methane bubbling up from the river that spontaneously ignite.
Video
02. Okunchi Matsuri
Photo —
Link
Regarded as among the most unusual festivals in Japan, the Okunchi
Festival in Nagasaki dates back to the 17th century, when many Chinese
lived in the city and when both Dutch and Chinese traders regularly
anchored their ships there. For many years, the ruling shogun of Japan
barred foreigners from other Japanese ports, and the few Dutch and
Chinese ships that were allowed to stop in Nagasaki were the country's
only point of contact with the non-Japanese world. The Okunchi Festival
pays tribute to these traders by presenting both a Dutch dance and a
Chinese dragon dance, along with processions, street fairs, and other
entertainment.
The Dutch and Chinese dances are performed in an open area at the
beginning of the many stairs that go to the Suwa Shrine. Two young women
execute the Dutch dance, one of whom wears a false mustache and plays
the part of a man. The two dancers bend at the waist, exchange coy
smiles, and flirt with each other, to the amusement of the crowd. The
Chinese dance features four dragons made out of cloth stretched over
flexible frames. Each dragon conceals about a dozen dancers, who help it
"dance" with snakelike motions by maneuvering the black rods attached
to its body. The dragon dance reenacts the legendary battle between
darkness, symbolized by the dragon, and light, symbolized by the sun—a
golden globe atop a long pole. Needless to say, the sun always wins.
01. Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival also known by various names such as the Moon
Festival or Chinese Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival or Zhongqiu
Festival, is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and
Vietnamese people. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth
month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in
the Gregorian calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness.
Photo —
Link
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a day of family reunions much like
Thanksgiving. Chinese people believe that on that day, the moon is the
roundest and brightest signaling a time of completeness and abundance.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, children are delighted to stay up past
midnight, parading multi-colored lanterns into the wee hours as families
take to the streets to moon-gaze.
Photo —
Link
Special kind of sweet pastry cake is made in the shape of the moon, and
filled with a sweet paste made from sesame seeds, lotus seeds or red
beans. Lobster and salmon are particular favorites along with apples,
pomegranates, roasted peanuts, pomelo, and chestnuts.
