In the US there are many occasions where we celebrate a special day, St. Patrick’s day is one of them. Although we do celebrate St. Patrick’s day here, it doesn’t quite amount to the festival that is thrown in Dublin, Ireland. This festival will go on for five days and five nights in March and is widely celebrated with music, performing arts, literature, tours and food events. They are very passionate about this special day and will waste no expense to show their appreciation. Carnival, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is another enthusiastically celebrated holiday where there are elaborate parade floats and costumes. Carnival is a very popular festival, drawing in millions of people every year to join in on the fun. La Tomatina, in Buñol, Spain, is an interesting celebration, where on the last Wednesday of August, 100,000 kg of tomatoes are hurled, squished, and splattered in the town square. It’s a week-long celebration of Buñol’s patron saint and evidently leaves the town with lots of clean up afterwards. International Bathtub Regatta in Dinant, Belgium, is another fun and interesting festival where locals and tourists will participate in a one-kilometer boat race with the boat being a bathtub. The contestants are not allowed a motor, which will allow for some interesting contraptions. It’s not only a bathtub race, the festival also includes an antique car show and tastings of flamiche which is a local delicacy. In Thailand, Songkran is a water festival that started off by pouring water over statues of Buddha, but is now also a fun tradition of drenching anyone who doesn’t find shelter, by literally pouring water all over them.

24 festivals from around the world