Festivals of light, lemons & the odd dancing queen
Not all festivals are as famous as the annual carnival in Rio in April, or, indeed, the one about to kick off in Venice next month, but once Christmas is past there are always festivals aplenty all over the world in the first few months of the year. Many are created by the locals and primarily for the locals while others are designed to attract visitors from far and wide; some are massive in scale while others are lower key and a bit quirky but equally, if not even more, appealing as a result.
Here are a few between now and Easter that I’d be choosing to head to if I could.
FEBRUARY
Chinese New Year begins on 5 February, heralding the start of the Year of the Pig. Celebrations run for two weeks for what essentially becomes the country’s Spring Festival. The locals decorate their houses with red cloths and accessories and the celebrations (on their New Year’s Eve) continue long into the night. In Beijing you’ll be treated to fantastic firework displays and to all kind of celebrations in the traditional hutongs some of which still exist in the city. On Houhai Lake (which I visited in Beijing last September) which is often frozen at this time of year, the locals take to the ice before partying in the bars that line the lakefront. The so-called Temple Fairs, where you’ll find stalls selling souvenirs, crafts and toys, attract huge crowds.
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA:
The Winter Festival in Sarajevo is one of the highlights of the year in that city. Running this year from 7 February to 10 March, it is an international culture festival that has been in existence since the mid-1980s and operates under the auspices of the International Peace Centre in Sarajevo. This year will feature fine art exhibitions, concerts and literary events plus architectural displays and an abundance of films. There’s also a children’s programme. And what an opportunity to visit Sarajevo, a city forever associated with war, but which has now reinvented itself and which welcomes visitors with open arms.
The Lemon Festival in Menton in the south is a festival that certainly appeals to me. Established way back in 1934, it’s like a flower festival, but with lemons and oranges instead of flowers. This year it runs from 16 February- 3 March. With huge sculptures created from lemons (some more than 10m) and displayed all over the town, there are also musical parades with citrusthemed floats, brass bands and entertainers to draw the crowds.
MARCH
Arguably the biggest festival in the world, the carnival in Rio sees more than two million people on the city streets every day throughout the week long celebration. (Remember those scenes with James Bond in Moonraker?) It’s always held before Lent and runs this year from 2 to 9 March. Essentially a massive street party complete with extraordinary floats, dancers, and general razzmatazz, it’s very much about the dancing with various samba schools competing with each other in the specially built Sambadrome. Like other carnivals you have to pay through the nose to attend certain parties and balls, but you can simply ignore those and party for free with the locals in many of the neighbourhoods. The Imprensa and Monobloco districts are said to be two of the best.
Another famous festival in March is, of course, the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Celebrations this year lead up to the climax on 5 March.
It’s a hugely colourful festival that’s all about the parades and a host of masked balls, held all over the city.
Tradition dictates that those on the floats throw things into the crowds as they pass by with the most common things thrown including specific Mardi Gras coins called doubloons, lingerie, children’s toys and strings of brightly coloured plastic beads.
And if you want to really get into the Mardi Gras vibe, then make sure you dress in the traditional colours of the New Orleans festival - purple, green and yellow.
APRIL
Now this sounds like an interesting one! It’s the International Festival of Ghosts and Monsters, held in Bojnice Castle, in the small town of Bojnice that lies close to Prievidza in west Slovakia.
With the castle setting adding greatly to the appeal, visitors are invited to participate, and there are also lots of ghost-tours of the castle where you’ll encounter all kinds of spooky ghosts and demons and witches. Scheduled for the last weekend in April and the first one in May, it’s not all about ghosts as there are also a plethora of stalls with all kinds of foodie offerings.
What’s not to like about the country’s annual tulip festival? Even on an everyday visit to Amsterdam the flower market there is a fascinating place to while away a few hours. The national tulip festival, however, is huge, running for the whole of April, and with visitors able to view the magnificent tulip displays in more than 80 different locations in Amsterdam alone.
In the Keukenhof Gardens, for example, they plant more than six million tulip bulbs every year.
And it’s not just about viewing tulips as they grow. The city hosts a huge flower parade towards the end of the month, held this year on 21 April - Easter Sunday.