The Baby Jumping Festival — Castrillo de Murcia, Spain Known to the Spanish locals as El Colacho, this festival happens 60 days after Easter during the feast of Corpus Christi. The Baby Jumping Festival is a baptismal ceremony wherein babies who were born over the last year are absolved of sin. The religious custom dates back to the early 1600s. Men dressed in traditional “devilish” clothing terrorize the crowd before running down the street and jumping over the babies who have been carefully laid out on pillows. No injuries have been reported, but the Catholic higher-ups frown upon the ritual.
Cheese Rolling — Gloucestershire, England, UK
Every year on a cool day at the end of May, grown adults gather in the village of Brockworth to chase a rolling nine-pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down a steep hill. Before the race down Cooper’s Hill begins, the fences are removed, the undergrowth is cut and the site is swept through for stones and other dangerous objects, but the race is still dangerous for competitors and spectators. Over the years, many have been seriously injured due to the steepness and unevenness of the hill and the bulk and speed of the cheese itself. This led to a loss of official management in 2010. But the locals are hugely proud of their traditional event, and it carries on today unmanaged. In 2015, around 4,000 people came to watch the spectacle.
International Hair Freezing Contest — Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Located up in the frigid province of Yukon, Canada, the International Hair Freezing Contest is a fun winter celebration that occurs every February at the Takhini Hot Pools. Participants in the contest dunk their heads in the hot water of the pools and then create frosty hairdos by shaping their locks as they freeze in the cold air above. Temperatures in the area can reach below -30° Celsius, or -22° Fahrenheit, at the time of the contest. Winners receive a small cash prize.
Monkey Buffet Festival — Lopburi, Thailand
Before you start to consider how a monkey would taste, this is a buffet for monkeys. The local monkey population of around 2,000-3,000 in the Lopburi Province north of Bangkok is gifted with a feast of 4,000 kilograms of fruits, vegetables, cakes, and candies every November. After the monkeys are given their treat, youths dressed up as monkeys perform dances. The festival first occurred in 1989, run by a local businessman who thought of this unique way to drive up tourism in Lopburi. Luckily for him and the monkeys, it worked.
Boryeong Mud Festival — Boryeong, South Korea
This annual festival occurs in July in the village of Boryeong, 200 kilometers south of Seoul. The festival is not historic by any means — the first one took place in 1998 — and it was originally created as a marketing event for Boryeong mud cosmetics. The mud from the Boryeong mud flats is considered rich in natural minerals and is used to make beauty products. The two-week promotional event is now popular with locals and tourists alike. Notable festivities include a mud pool, mud slides, mud prison and mud skiing.
Burning Man — Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA
At the end of every summer, an artistic community comes together to create and dismantle a city in the Nevada desert. Founded in 1986 in San Francisco, California, Burning Man is a mindset as well as a festival. Some of the group’s values include ‘radical’ inclusion, self-reliance, self-expression, community cooperation, decommodification and more. The community celebrates by combining all of their individual talents to create artistic sculptures, buildings, performances, art cars, and more that all participants can enjoy. The event culminates in the burning of a large wooden man, which has reached a height of 105 feet in recent years. After the event, the festival-goers aim to leave no trace of their activities by restoring the environment to exactly as it was when they arrived.
World Toe Wrestling Championships — England, UK
The location of the World Toe Wrestling Championships varies, but the practice originated in the village of Wetton, Staffordshire, in the 1970s. It was born out of the desire for the UK to have its own championship in some type of sport. Just like arm wrestling, two people go up against one another in each match, which is won by the best of three. Players can only take part in the tournament after a thorough toe examination by a qualified nurse.
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