10 Strange and Wonderful Festivals
1. The Night of the Radishes - Oaxaca, Mexico. La Noche de los Rábanos goes back more than 200 years. Basically, many years ago, a section of radishes wasn’t harvested when they should have been and continued growing for months. When the radishes were finally pulled up, they were strange sizes and shapes and were brought to be exhibited at the Christmas market. Now this spicy veggie is celebrated every year in Oaxaca with parades, costumes, prizes and competitions.
2. The Chap & Hendrick’s Olympics - London, England. Hendrick’s is a brand of gin, for those of us who aren’t gin connoisseurs. I am decidedly not a gin fan, but I would consider trying Hendrick’s because the brand seems to have an outstanding sense of humor. Last year, the C&H Olympics included the events like the Pipe Smokers’ Relay, a competition to see who could tie a Windsor Knot the fastest, and my favorite: a contest where “six cads approached six ladies and whispered savoury nothings. The winner was the recipient of the loudest slap.” Awesome.
3. The Alien Festival - Roswell, New Mexico. This one is just around the corner – July 3, if you happen to be in the area next week. Events include workshops (”Alien Implants are Real”), an alien haunted house, lectures (”Roswell’s Deathbed Confessions, the Truth Revealed”), parades, shows, and – obviously – costume contests.
4. Mike the Headless Chicken Days - Fruita, Colorado. In 1945, a chicken named Mike, who was intended for dinner, had his head chopped off. An unremarkable story… except that Mike didn’t die. He lived for 18 months and continued to, well, act like a chicken. The good people of Fruita celebrate Mike every May, including the “Run Like a Headless Chicken” 5k. The Web site says “attending this fun, family event is a NO BRAINER.” Ha. Speaking of puns…
5. The O. Henry Pun-Off – Austin, Texas. Crap. As soon as my husband reads this, he’ll be booking out airfare to Austin for next year. Since 1978, people have entered this competition (it’s limited to 32 contestants) to see who can out-pun one another. You can check out some of the winning puns here, but bring your crackers – some of the entries are pretty cheesy.
6. Up Helly Aa – Lerwick, Shetland, Shetland Islands, U.K. This one is a pyromaniac’s dream. In the dead of winter, thousands of people gather to watch about 800 men torch a galley that builders spent four months making. After that part is over, there are lots of parties, dancing, costumes, food and drinking. Honestly, I’m not sure WHY they do this and the official Web site didn’t shed a whole lot of light on the subject, so if anyone knows, fill us in! [Image courtesy of Anne Burgess.]
7. Cheese Rolling - Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire, England. As a strong proponent of cheese, I’m not sure if I love this festival or hate it. Seems like a waste of delicious cheese, but at the same time, it’s a festival in honor of cheese! This is what happens: The Official Cheese Roller sends an eight-pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down an extremely steep, uneven hill with rough terrain. About 20 contestants are then sent chasing after it. The first person to the bottom gets the cheese and the second and third-place winners get a small cash prize. There are lots of injuries, which people are generally pretty proud of. In the words of one participant: ” I spent the two and half hours with the St. John Ambulance medics where they patched me up before helping me to Gloucester Royal Hospital, where sadly I spent the next four days having two operations under general anesthetic to have the wound in my knee cleaned out of mud and stitched back up. Even though I had this time in hospital, I WILL be back next year to win that cheese.”
8. Golden Shears Sheep Shearing Festival - Wairarapa, New Zealand. In 1958, some members of the Wairarapa Young Farmer’s Club decided to hold a little sheep shearing contest. This “little” gathering ended up taking off. By 1961, it was such a huge event that the Army was called in to help control crowds. By the 80s, it was so serious that shearers trained for months before the event – not only with shears and sheep, but in the gym and with fitness trainers.
9. Hadakamatsuri - Japan. These festivals take place all over Japan and involve lots of scantily clad men (typically, the festivals are all-male), and one completely naked guy (it’s good luck to find him in the crowd and touch him). But it’s not vulgar – at least, it’s not supposed to be. It’s supposed to be holy. When the festival is held in the winter, participants are “purified” by holy water and compete to obtain a “holy” object of some sort.
10. Naha Tug of War – Naha, Okinawa, Japan. This event goes all the way back to the 1600s. About 25,000 people show up to play tug-of-war with a rope that weights approximately 40 metric tons. This huge rope has lots of little ropes on it to allow for the maximum amount of participants possible. Each team has only 30 minutes to try to pull the other team a total of 30 meters to win the match. If neither team is pulled 30 meters, it’s considered a tie.
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