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Tag: Festivals
Frank Fell captures Malaga’s passionate Easter processions
Robert HardingDuring Easter week, members of religious brotherhoods in Malaga, Spain, parade through the streets dressed in traditional robes, carrying religious statues known as pasos. Travel photographer […]
Dancing with demons at Peru’s Diablada festival
Peru’s Diablada festival sees locals parade through the lakeside town of Puno dressed as colourful demons. Some of the myths as to the origins of the […]
Ölgii’s spectacular Golden Eagle Festival
On the remote plains of Western Mongolia, around a hundred eagle hunters gather every October to demonstrate their art at this incredible annual festival, the […]
Celebrating Meskel Festival in Ethiopia
September marks Meskel, an important holy celebration in the Orthodox Ethiopian and Eritrean calendars, in which pilgrims and priests celebrate the discovery of the true […]
La Tomatina – the world’s biggest food fight
The world’s biggest food fight takes place in the Spanish town of Buñol every August, in which more than a hundred tons of over-the-hill tomatoes […]
Outrageous costumes at Indonesia’s Jember Fashion Carnival
The Indonesian city of Jember comes alive with riotous colour this week as its annual fashion carnival hits the streets, revealing outrageous costumes on the […]
Dazzling cultural celebrations at Morocco’s Gnaoua Festival
For three days the colourful port city of Essaouira, Morocco, comes alive with music, theatre and art as the Gnaoua world music festival celebrates traditional […]
The Romería del Rocío – Spain’s largest pilgrimage
Every year in late May or early June the sleepy village of El Rocío comes to life as almost a million people join the Romería (pilgrimage) […]
Flamenco, fairgrounds and fiesta at Seville’s April Fair
Throughout this week the Feria de Abril (Seville Fair) fills this beautiful Andalucian town with dancing, fairgrounds and spectacular horse parades. The fair takes place two weeks […]
The spectacular Las Fallas festival
Today sees the spectacular culmination of one of Spain’s most famous festivals, Las Fallas. Elaborate figures up to 20 metres high will be burned, after being […]
Tibetans celebrate Losar New Year Festival
On February 27th, Tibetans celebrate New year – also known as Losar Festival – by making offerings at local monasteries, eating, dancing and performing ancient ceremonies which […]
The surreal romance of Venice Carnival
February sees Venice’s alluring piazzas and canals burst into life as they fill with carnival-goers dressed in elaborate masks and costumes. The surreal Venice Carnival ends with the Catholic […]
Québec’s crazy Winter Carnival
Every winter thousands of visitors flock to chilly Québec to enjoy a host of activities including a snow bath in which revellers don their swimsuits to frolic around […]
Historic Coumba Freida Carnival
This series of unusual carnivals is held in different locations in the Valle del Gran San Bernardo in the Italian Alps in January and February. Revellers wear traditional […]
Dancing with demons at La Diablada, Peru
In Peru’s Diablada festival men parade through the lakeside town of Puno dressed as colourful demons. Some myths as to the origins of the festival point […]
Diwali – the festival of lights
Every autumn Hindus across the world light up lamps and candles to signify the victory of light over darkness, during Diwali or Deepavali Festival. The rituals […]
The Gerewol – a male beauty contest in the desert
The Gerewol is an annual beauty pageant with a difference – it is the men who wear the make-up and compete for the attention of female judges, in this […]
Tribal traditions at the Mount Hagen Cultural Show
A riot of body-paint, dance and music, the Mount Hagen Cultural Show is one of the largest gatherings of the tribes of Papua New Guinea. Every […]
Bristol’s colourful Balloon Fiesta takes off
The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is Europe’s largest annual hot air balloon event, attracting over 150 colourful balloons from across the globe. The fiesta kicks off […]
Pamplona’s adrenaline-fueled Running of the Bulls festival
Attracting over a million people each year, the San Fermin festival’s most renowned event is the encierro, or running of the bulls, in which a bull […]
Bloomsday celebrates Ireland’s literary star
Every 16th of June Dubliners celebrate the life of Irish writer James Joyce, with readings and stagings of his novel Ulysses (which was set on the 16th of […]
The passionate Pilgrimage of the Gitans
Every 24 May the French seaside town of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer becomes the site of celebration and religious fervour during the Pilgrimage of the Gitans. Gypsies from […]
Colourful crowds at La Corsa dei Ceri
The Corsa or Festa dei Ceri is an ancient feast day held every 15th of May in Umbria, Italy in which three giant candles are […]
Spain’s crazy Moors and Christians festival
Many Spanish towns celebrate Moros y Cristianos, an annual festival in which mock battles commemorate the struggles between the Muslims and Christians in Spain in the […]
Kumbh Mela – the world’s largest religious gathering
Considered the world’s largest congregation of religious pilgrims, the Kumbh Mela is a pilgrimage in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river – the Ganges, Shipra […]
Festival of the Snakes
In one of Italy’s strangest festivals, the people of Cocullo decorate the statue of St. Domenic (the protector against snake bites) with live snakes. As the creatures […]
New year fireworks, Germany
We love this photo of new year’s fireworks in Rems-Murr Kreis district, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, by Herbert Kehrer. See more new years photos here
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
This Monday (8th September) saw residents of the village of Abbots Bromley in Staffordshire perform the eccentric Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, an English folk tradition dating back to […]
Tomatina festival
The world’s biggest food fight takes place in the Spanish town of Buñol every August. More than a hundred tons of over-the-hill tomatoes are thrown […]
Naadam festival in pictures
This week (starting on the 11th July) Mongolia’s traditional festival, Naadam, whips the country into a frenzy of colourful costume parades, horse racing, archery and Mongolian wrestling […]
Calgary Stampede in pictures
Calgary Stampede is Canada’s largest rodeo, a ten day event featuring hair-raising competitions with the world’s best cowboys. We picked some of our favourite pictures from our […]
Inti Raymi festival
The Festival of Inti Raymi (which means festival of the sun) brings crowds onto the streets in the Andean villages of Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and […]
Voodoo Festival
Every January thousands of Beninese flock to the town of Ouidah for the annual Voodoo Festival. Some 40% of the population of the West African […]