The world is full of not only, weird people that do things unusually on individual level but collectively too. Every year huge number of people gather at a particular venue to either take part or witness the most bizarre happenings. These happenings are actually organized and celebrated on the grand scale.
From rolling cheese in Gloucestershire to wife-carrying in Scandinavia, the world is full of unusual, colorful and downright bizarre events that attract many locals and tourists.
Not only the ones who are already there to visit a particular place, instead lot many people plan their trip to the place around that festival or event to be the part of it or atleast witness the bizarre event.
To the OddStuffLab blog that promises to offer the weirdest treat, the list of bizarre festivals around the globe deserved a special mention. Correct me if I am wrong! So, here I am with the extremely different festivals that pull oodles of people from across the world.
I can’t promise that each one of the most unusual festivals and events listed below will be of everyone’s taste, but one thing that’s common is that each one is amazingly weird and will indeed catch your attention. Sit back and enjoy the best selection of some of the unusual festivals around the world. Don’t be disheartened if you see any festival or event in the list that you never knew about. You still can plan to be the part of theweirdest festival(s) which successfully exerted a pull on you.
Cheese Rolling Festival, UK
The Cheese-Rolling is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester in the Cotswolds region of England. It is traditionally by and for the people who live in the local village of Brockworth that does not limit there. People from all parts of the world come to participate. Each year, an official tosses cheese down the extremely steep hill, and festival-goers run pell-mell in order to catch it. We can well understand the risk factor, the festival results in a number of casualties.
Boryeong Mud Festival
First staged in 1998, the Boryeong Mud Festival is one of the major attractions that pulls more than a million visitors to the South Korean city. As you all know, the town is said to be rich in minerals, there is no shortage of mud, it is trucked in to Daecheon Beach for tourists and locals to enjoy the festival to their best.
Montana Testicle Festival, USA
The Montana Testicle Festival takes place on the last weekend in July or first weekend in August sometimes on the first weekend of July in Rock Creek Lodge-Clinton, Montana in America. Strange it might sound but this festival is a tribute to the eating of ‘Bulls Balls’. It includes notable events like wet t-shirt contest, hairy chest competition and the bullshit bingo.
Fiesta de Santa Marta de Ribarteme, Spain
Also known by the name Near-Death-Festival, it takes place in the month of July in the town of Las Nieves, Pontevedra in Galicia; Spain. The festival is held for people who have suffered near-death experiences in the last year. The participants gather for a Mass in celebration of the Patron Saint of resurrection, Saint Marta de Ribarteme by either carrying a coffin, or being carried in a coffin. The festival ends with fireworks and in the end religious objects are sold out to those interested.
Thaipusam, India, Malaysia, Singapore
Thaipusam is a Hindu festival held in January/February in India, Singapore and Malaysia every year. It is celebrated mostly by Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai and celebrates the birth of Murugan, the son of gods Shiva and Parvati.
The revelers shave their heads to perform a pilgrimage, and it spirals downwards from there during the celebration. At the end of the rituals, participants shove sharp skewers through their tongues or cheeks and some put hooks on their back to pull heavy objects. Bizarre it might sound but the aim of the festivities is to endure as much pain as possible and those who endure the most pain are said to be given the most blessings.