Every year thousands of people gather to take part in, or witness bizarre festivals. Many of these festivals are ancient but some are much more modern. While they are all extremely different, they have one thing in common: they are totally weird. If you wish to mention other festivals that you know of, be sure to do so in the comments. NOTE: Some images may be Not Safe For Work.
On the last Wednesday of August every year in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain, 9,000 locals and 20,000 – 40,000 foreigners descend on the town to throw tomatoes at each other in honor of the Virgin Mary and St. Louis Bertrand. This tradition has been around since the 1940s, though it was briefly suppressed under the reign of Franco. The festival starts with a person attempting to scale a greased pole to capture a cooked ham. Once the ham is taken down from the pole, water canons are fired at the participants and over 100 tons of tomatoes are dumped into the streets for throwing. Women are expected to wear white and men to wear no shirts. Anyone caught wearing a shirt inevitably has it ripped off – including women and especially tourists who tend to be the main target of locals.
The Cheese Rolling Festival is held every May in Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire in the United Kingdom. The festival involves an official tossing a cheese down the extremely steep hill, after which hundreds of people begin to run down the hill (risking life and limb) in order to catch the cheese. Each year the event results in casualties and for this reason children are not allowed to participate, though oftentimes boys from the local town will join in anyway. For the children, there is an uphill race. Women and men race separately in the main event.
The Bonfires of Saint John is a popular festival in Spain held on the 19th to the 24th of June. The strange festival involves the lighting of bonfires (frequently fueled by old furniture). The locals share hot chocolate whilst watching the bonfires. But then it gets weird. The children of the villages then take turns in running through the fires. The entire week is filled with festivities including fireworks displays and eighty-six women and eighty-six young girls are elected the “Beauties” of the bonfires. These “beauties” preside over the festival as Queens.
The Spanish certainly like their odd festivals. Every year on the fourth Sunday in January, the locals of a small town named Manganeses de la Polvorosa gather together for the goat tossing festival, in honor of St Vincent de Paul, their patron saint. The festival has been around for so long that no one knows when it started. It involves a young man who finds a goat in the village, ties it up, and takes it to the top of the local Church belfry. He then tosses the goat over the side and it falls 50 feet where it is (hopefully) caught by villagers holding up a sheet of tarpaulin. The village officials banned the event but it continues regardless. Various animal rights agencies have complained about it – though their complaints have also been ignored.
Hadaka Matsuri is a Japanese festival in which the participants are all but naked. The festival is celebrated many times throughout the year in various parts of Japan and those involved usually wear a type of traditional loin cloth. Some of those involved go completely naked which is not frowned on at all – in fact it is considered healthy. The festivals often involve the use of mud (for entertainment) and there are often separate women’s and men’s festivals. In some towns special festivals are held for children – as a rite of passage, but sometimes children participate in the adult festival. The festival has its origins as a religious event, but these days the religious aspects are virtually forgotten.
Dating from 1620, El Colacho (or baby jumping) is a festival in Spain held every year on the feast of Corpus Christi. The festival involves the laying on mattresses all babies born in the previous twelve months. The adult men of the village of Castrillo de Murcia then dress up as devils and take turns jumping over the babies. The festival often results in injuries (usually of the adults) and it is believed that the jumping rids the babies of original sin – a bizarre kind of baptism. Pope Benedict XVI has recently asked the local priests to distance themselves from the festival as it is dangerous and contrary to the Catholic religion.
Every year in Las Nieves, Spain, people who have suffered a near death experience in the previous year get together to attend Mass in celebration of Saint Marta de Ribarteme, the Patron Saint of resurrection. But here is the twist: they turn up at Mass carrying a coffin, or being carried in a coffin. After Mass, the coffins all proceed to the top of a nearby hill with a statue of the saint. Despite the somberness of the event, people light fireworks and shopkeepers fill the streets to sell religious objects.
Until recently, an annual festival was held in Germany in which a goose was tied by its feet to a post and then clubbed by the local men until its head came off. As a result of complaints from animal rights activists, the festival-goers now hit a goose which has previously been killed. A very similar event occurs in Spain (surprise surprise) every year in which a man hangs from the goose until the head comes off. Again the goose is killed prior to the event which dates back 350 years. The Spanish festival is called Antzar Eguna.
Every year in spring, the festival of Kanamara Matsuri (The Steel Phallus) is held in Kawasaki, Japan. It is a Shinto fertility festival and, as you would expect, it involves a rather large penis statue. During the festival, people can buy candies, vegetables, and gifts in the shape of a phallus. The festival was very popular amongst prostitutes who thought that participation would help to prevent them getting sexually transmitted diseases.
Thaipusam is a Hindu festival (celebrated mostly by Tamils) held in January/February each year to celebrate the birth of Murugan (the son of gods Shiva and Parvati). The participants shave their heads and perform a pilgrimage, at the end of which they shove very sharp skewers through their tongues or cheeks. Some of the practitioners put hooks into their back and pull heavy objects like tractors. The aim is to cause as much pain as possible – the more you endure, the more “blessings” you receive from the gods. The festival is popular in India, but the largest celebrations take place in Singapore and Malaysia, where it is a public holiday.
Contributor: JFrater
Ouch to no. 1!
Oh and Carlos, I think you got the Japanese end of the stick mixed up… they just have a different kind of social morality =).
BUT FOR THE NUMBER 1 AND SINCE IM FROM MALAYSIA I HAVE DONE THIS MANY TIMES, AND YES U WILL BE IN TRANCE WHERE U CAN NEVER FEEL A SINGLE PAIN, AND THE SCARS CAN HEAL IN A FEW DAYS.
Number two is just strange.
Mmmm….The Japanese got a lot right with those festivals. ***** = Good.
Aww crap Im not first. Close though.
cool
Spanish people have some free time on their hands huh????
For some reason I knew the Spanish would dominate this list before I even read it.
But I didn’t expect them to dominate it so thoroughly. They appear 5 1/2 times (counting#3 as one half)!
I think #7 symbolizes the abandonment of pagan gods by throwing the goat out the window..
The poor babies what if they get squished :O Haha interesting list I had no idea about most of these.
wait till you here this in india there is a festival that is an perfect blend of #5 and #7 … i.e. ppl here toss babies from rooftops who then are caught by ppl below in bed sheets… interestingly no adult or baby has ever had a scratch.. and its NOT banned til date……
What else can you expect from savage indians
#5 Are you serious?! I wouldnt take a chance with my child like that. I dont care how good of a jumper there is. And I have actually pretty much heard of all of these other festivals except for #2 I thought the Japanese were more *****ually secretive. Besides the fact that they sell used panties in vending machines, I thought they were more conservative.
Good list… Sure the Spaniards know how to have fun; strange that the run with the bulls in Pamplona isn’t listed though. Does that non qualify as a festival? Anyway we have our share of weird festivals here in Italy too, for instance in Ivrea there’s an annual battle of the oranges, during the traditional carnival days. Works exactly like the Spanish Tomatina, but the projectiles used are oranges, which I suppose must hurt much more than tomatoes. And to think they used apples in the olden days…
Carlos, I totally understand what you’re saying… but at the same time, do you put your kid in a car?
The number 3 isn´t spanish, it is a basque tradition from Lekeitio (Bizkaia-Basque Country, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lekeitio). The name of the festival (Antzar eguna) in Euskera (basque language) means “The day of the goose”.
This list was dope I had heard of some these festivals, but I wasn’t surprised there was a few I did not know about man those Spanish people really know how to get down word! Shout out to my homeboy Rascalian sup gangsta. Here in Alaska we don’t have any bizarre festivles lame
My boyfriend is Spanish, I now spend all my holidays travelling to Spain for these festivals. Believe me… there are a thousand more and they get weirder. Lot of fun though.
Interesting list, though several do(or use to)treat animals poorly. Not to mention the babies.
On the good side, I guess we won’t be hearing any boring cracks about the list being to American, will we?
huh for #5?!?!?!?
Redcaboose: maybe we can start a new meme: “this list is too spanish!”
Oh and don’t you love the expression on the face of the lady in item 1? That would make a brilliant caption competition.
Wow! I definitley have to experience No.10 before I die!
Maybe i’ll just do a local version of it by throwing tomatoes at my lil bro in the back garden…
Gloucestershire also has another EXTREMELY odd festival, or contest if you will. It is the shin kicking contest where two people are tied together at their hands and they kick at each others shins until one or the other cannot take it any longer. I had actually read about both contests at the same time one day and when I read about the cheese rolling I just couldn’t say nothing about the shin kicking contest.
Good morning to all. I’ve been “silent” for more than a year, but don’t think I don’t visit Listverse everyday.
San Juan’s night (June 23rd) is believed to be a very magical night, and jumping over a bonfire is believed to give you good luck for the rest of the year.
There are variants, like throwing cream buns or just water.
This time my spaniard-ness pushes me to post
First of all, the “goat toss” is a shameful tradition, and it has already been outlawed. It is fined with about 2000 euros, but (sigh) the whole village agrees to pay it together, and the goat gets tossed anyway.
These “festivals” involving hurting or scaring an animal (like other one in which they tie a ring of fireworks to each of a bull’s horns, or bullfighting itself) are gradually losing popularity, and it is no longer wanted to be a spanish “trademark”. For a long time Spain has been the country of “bulls and tambourine”, and that is why many people think that’s how we have fun here. You don’t come across a herd of bulls on your way to your hotel, nor get hit by a falling goat if you step out of a church.
As for San Juan, you jump over the flames, and not through them
Tomatina is just fun!
As for the rest… yes, they are bizarre. Usually related to religion, sin-forgiveness and the like.
Finally, I would personally add “San Antón’s day”(I think January 22nd or 28th, the patron saint of animals), when pet owners dress their dogs, cats, birds, snakes… whatever, with the regional dress of Madrid and take them to San Antón’s parish church in Madrid, to get them blessed by the priest.
Anyway, I think you could go to each rural village and find a different (and more bizarre) tradition every time…
good list Frater! I had seen #1 on a tv program about a year ago…hard to watch…shudder.
Oh come on…you forgot the most gruesome…the Shia Muslim celebration of the martyrdom of Ali or something like that where the men take chains and knives and cut themselves all up….very gross…and typcial of the religion of peace…ha ha ha….
Oh sure like number 1 where people pierce themselves and the kumbh mela of the hindus where people never takes baths, get naked and cover themselves in ash and do crazy freaky things…..get a life idiot
Oh i forgot and hindus in the mela drink cow ***** which they regard as holy….yukkkkk……what a dirty religion hinduism ha ha ha
My caption for #1 would be: “And no more lip from you, right?”.
And I wasn’t going to make any comment beginning with the words “This list is too …” but I’m glad that someone else did.
La Tomatina is very similar to a festival held each June in my Texas hometown, only there it is referred to as “The Battle of San Tomato”
I forgot!
The greased pole stuff is called “Cucaña”, and it’s quite famous in every kind of festivals. What hangs on its top is a delicious cured ham (jamón serrano), and the one who manages to climb to the top and touch it, keeps it.
The baby jumping this is quite interesting. I hope no babies have been injured during this. Love the cheese rolling tradition.
Haha, I went to cheese rolling a few years ago, it’s a brilliant brilliant holiday.
In France there’s this pretty popular festival in some villages (it might not happen only in France) kind of like the tomato throwing one, except we don’t throw tomatoes but flowers (“fête des fleurs” or “flower party”)… the festival starts out with dozens of very elaborate sculptures made out of flowers which parade through the town and when its finished everyone tears the flowers off and throw them at each other.
When I was a kid I’d go to this awesome town in the Pyrenees called Luchon during the holidays, and it was pretty fun, though not too extreme.
In England (dunno where) they have WORM CHARMING!
You have to try and ‘charm’ the worms out the ground without digging to find them. You can try anything method from singing to them to hitting the ground to try and get them out. The person with the most worms at the end wins.
I really want to try that lol
Jfrater – Tonsuring or shaving the head and offering it to God isn’t a very bizarre practice in India. In fact, there are rules that are followed in various communities. The FIRST Tonsure cannot be on Tuesdays; The first tonsure has to be done in odd months or odd years. So tonsure is held in the 7th (rare)/9th/ 11th month for a baby or in the 3rd / 5th / 7th / 9th year, though it is very rare to go so late for tonsure. Tonsure is very famous practice in Tirumala (World’s richest religious organization – idea for a list!) and Palani. In fact, TTD that runs the Tirumala temple earned Rs 2.3 bn ($46 million) from the sale of hair offered by pilgrims. No small matter. Is it?
The practice of tonsure stems from the belief that Hair contributes to one’s physical beauty. By offering the hair to God, one is ready to give away his physical beauty to seek / receive spiritual beauty.
With respect to piercing, that’s quite a bizarre site. I live 5 kms from a famous Muruga temple and i see it much often and i get shivers when i see people pierced in their mouth, lips and the back.
Can you all imagine if the Japanese and the Hindu’s collaborated to celebrate 1 & 2 together????
Now THAT would be a bizarre event!
Disappointing that shroveball (or street football) played across Europe for hundreds of years: and has a written and oral history of over 1,000 years in Workington, Cumbria wasn’t included. It’s a game played every Easter / Lent in towns where one half of the town plays the other half (which side you are on is usually determined by a geographical or municipal feature – in Workington it’s the River Derwent) in a game of “football”. The ball is a rag-stuffed leather ball (traditional) – though some now use a soccer ball, and the object is to get the ball and kick/hit/throw it against a feature in the other half of the town: again, in Workington, the Uppies (one half) try to hit a capstan in the northern side of town while the ‘Downies’ attempt tp get the ball to the park wall in the south.
The beauty of this gme is that it is played from around 2 in the afternoon until dusk and THERE ARE NO RULES: htough as one long-time rsident has been quoted as saying – though outright killing of an opponent is “frowned upon”
I’m not sure what it is called but there is a festival in Mongolia I think, where all the villages in the area come together to have a big punch-up. Everyone is standing in the town square, then without warning they start throwing punches at each other, male and female. When it’s all over they all get drunk. Sounds like the local bar but there they drink first, then start the fight.
Another one is in the pacific, where the men bungie jump with vines instead of a rope, if it’s too long or not strong enough, OUCH.
JFrater – The most bizzare one that i ever encountered was the religious practice of burying babies under sand in Tamil Nadu for a few minutes. That practice is outlawed in India. A few years back, a state minister was present in one such ritual and public opinion forced him out of office.
I shall try and find the weblink of this ghastly ritual.
The one bizare ritual that you missed is walking on fire / red-hot coal. That’s a fairly common one in India or at least in movies. hero woos the heroine by walking on fire. The heroine starts loving the hero after the incident. A love song follows. yeah, yeah – that’s dumb. I know.
My most bizare one is living with my mother. Every year on her B-day a kiss YUCK…..
Carlos… have you not realised that Japanese people are the most *****ually *****ed up on the entire planet?
as an example of one of the slightly more tame (but still horribly screwed up) japanese *****ual practices of, look up ‘Bukkake’ on wikipedia, i would advise not to google it
What about Whacking Day. The residents of Springfield, each year, round up all the snakes in the town square and beat them to death with clubs.
I gotta start partying with the Japanese.
Every year my mother-in-law goes to a festival in Southern Illinois, a town called Metropolis holds the largest Superman “party” in the world every summer.
There is a huge statue of Superman in the town square, along with many other shops and litle novelties. This festival draws people from all over the United States.
This list is too Spanish. And where’s Dazed and Confused?
NOW, IF YOU COULD COMBINE THE GOATS AND BABIES–Jump over the goats and toss the babies out the window–I suppose it would be too AMERICAN of a list then.
#34 Stevek: America has a ritual similar to what you’re talking about, except it’s called a mosh pit.
Heh, the “Running of the Bulls” reminds me of the one bit in Borat where in his country it was the “Running of the Jews”
number one would suck so bad
Funny list. Heard of the tomatoes and cheese one. #1 was……interesting. Gotta love the Japanese…I did get a kick out of the 10 foot phallus!
Anyone heard about the baby tossing? Can’t remember where its from but for the last 500 years this town tosses their babies from a 50 foot wall to be caught by those below….now what was going through their heads to come up with something so stupid?
the spanish are weird
I’m waiting for bucslim’s jokes here, as the ground is just oh so fertile.
Songkran in Thailand is pretty nutty as well…although it doesn’t include any animals or phalluses (sp?), its a water festival where entire cities are overrun by people with super soakers and buckets full of water that they pour on anyone and everyone. It’s insane how much fun it is.
I recommend everyone go check it out!
lol Spain
I guess the Burning Man Festival isn’t bizarre enough to make the list any longer, but 20 years ago it was certainly strange enough! Now it’s just pretty much an Arts Festival, then, it was a “get as messed up as you can before the burning of the giant straw man”.
Crazy Spaniards
Crazier Japanese!
wow. some of these are just really retarded. lol
I believe festivals have religious backgrounds and I was not surprised at all to see Spain conquer all the slots considering they influenced the Philippines with these events under their Catholic religion.
Crazy Japanese. Crazy, yet creative Spaniards.
Wow, I guess the running of the bulls in Spain was just the tip of the iceberg.
I am Spanish, live in Spain and have never heard of these except:
1. La Tomatina: totally safe and I guess fun for some (not my style, though)
2. The Goat Thing: I actually believed it was banned. In any case it is considered repulsive by most of us, the exception being the ones that toss the goat I imagine.
3. San Juan Bonfires: every year my friends and I make a bonfire at the beach, most people do. No one jumps through it, I have never seen anyone jump through any.
I guess this list is slightly biased against Spain. Reminds me of the US being the 3rd most dangerous country in the world….
Thaipusam is not a public holiday in Singapore. I live in Singapore, people go to work and school as usual. Not sure in Malaysia.
But interesting list. =)
This struck me funny about # 2.
“It is a Shinto fertility festival and, as you would expect, it involves a rather large penis statue”
Well of course, I mean why would anyone expect anything else than a large penis statue?
Ya know. There are just so many reasons to never go to Spain.
i wanna go cheese rolling