The Oktoberfest in Munich actually happens in September – 2 weeks in September and ending on the first Sunday in October.
World-famous festival that lasts for 16 days. Days full of drinking different kind of beer and eating würst (sausages) or brezen (pretzels), roast chicken, schweinshaxe (roasted ham hock), reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), sauerkraut…
Back in 1810, October 12 was a day of marriage of the crown prince Louis I of Bavaria ( King of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848) to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. It was epic with multiple days of drinking, feasting and horse races. So people wanted to do it all over again! For about 200 years this event was named as Octoberfest to happen annually, well, except certain years of war conflicts or pandemics ,including COVID-19 period (2020 and 2021 the event was cancelled).
Frankly, many germans prefer to stay away from Munich on Oktoberfest as they think its more touristic type of event and avoid getting hammered from beer guzzle. But apart from drinks (wine is served too) you would enjoy extremely friendly atmosphere, regional dances, costumes, and yummy rich food.
Concurs de Castells is not just festival but also since 1952 its tower-building competition in Catalonia that held every two years in October.
Human tower-building championship in Tarragona, Spain was first introduced in the 18th century in the rural and religious province of Catalonia called Camp de Tarragona. Inspired by traditional Valencian dances (the Balls de Valencias), which used to end with a small human pyramid. The main point was to represent solidarity and team spirit among Catalan people by making Els Castells, the human towers – number of people climb into each other to built a castle. Sounds fun and impressive when you watch it on the side.
Each team of castelleres want to win by having the right strategy, forming the tower placing the heaviest members in the circle as the foundation and then goes athletic women and men who climb on their shoulders to build the trunk that made up of up to ten identical levels. Every member carries around their waist some kind of sash to hold on to. Picture on the right shows how they climb higher and higher till the desired point (usually more than 8 meters) four children climb up to complete the upper level (pom de dalt). And the very last one is the role for enxaneta that goes all the way up on top of the other four children to greet the audience with a short wave from the top of the castell. The chosen kid for this role is basically the smallest and lightest.
However, some rules were changed recently including the compulsory helmets for children and the tower completion – tower could be called successful only when everyone will make it to the ground in the right order and without falling. These new rules were established in regards to a tragic accident with a 12 year old girl who fell from the top of a castell in 2006. In the history of the festival there have been three recorded deadly accidents what explains how competition could turn wrong.
Thankfully accompanied with the melodies of the flutes that change with every climbing level, making it more exciting!
So to end this, for you there Catalanian culture will be about the parades, street performances, music and food stalls or only witnessing the big group of people (castellers), dressed in white trousers and shirts, gather on a square that is full of spectators, more than 25,000 spectators. Yeah it will be crowded…but worth it to see at least once in one glance.
Italian regatta in the Gulf of Trieste. Barcolana regatta is quite crowded event, an international sailing race that happens on every second Sunday of October. If you wonder how crowded it could get imagine about 2000 boats with 16,000 sailors, so its massive event…On the left the image from there.
With so many sailors there would be thousands of spectators who would turn this event into a full-blown festival with other water sports, night concerts, parades and more. Love waves and everything about the boats then, you must be there as a spectator at first, and then who knows you might start surfing those waves with your own boat😉. More Info or here
Music festivals:
Norwich (Wild Paths festival) 10 – 16 October ( But not sure for 2023)
Glasgow (Trancefest) 15 October ( but not sure for 2023)
in Edinburg (Terminal V Halloween festival) Friday 27 – Sunday 29 October
Bath (Westfest 2022) 29 October ( But not sure for 2023)
Rotherham ( FearFest22 ) 28th October
Food Festivals:
Near Edinburg ( Woodland Dance Project festival ) 30th September
Brazil might have many festivals and you could look at them via discovery channel, youtube or other media but some are should seen in real life like Rio Carnival or Círio de Nazaré festival. Brazilian annual festival in Belem (Northern Brazil, near the mouth of the Guamá River) that celebrates the Virgin Mary (Virgin of Nazaré), occurs on the 2nd Sunday of October; the city becomes a centre for more than one million pilgrims who come to join the parade that follows an image of the Virgin of Nazaré throughout Belém.
This is all to salute ‘Our Lady of Nazareth’. Huge parade involves on-water march with hundreds of boats that crossing the Amazon River twice when carrying the small statue from Belem to Icoaraci and back.
Mid-October is also the a special time for Amazonian culture and its cuisine!
There are different names of this festival – Dusshera, Dashain, Baḍadashain or as Vijaya Dashami is a Hindu festival mostly celebrated in India , Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar.
On October 24th there will be special prayer meetings and food offerings to the gods at home or in temples throughout India. This is because the Dussehra is about commemorating the triumphs of good over evil – Durga’s (Hindu goddess of power and purity) victory over Mahishasura (demon). In fact, in some parts of India its about the victory of the god Rama (God of protection) over the demon-king Ravana.
Festival rooted deeply in Hindu mythology. All day paying tributes with large parades, bonfires in the evening to burn a tall mannequin of the demon king, and other impressive Hindu traditions! More info
Diwali in India (npr image)
Famous and one of the major festivals celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists – ‘festival of the lights’ – Diwali ! Its supposed to be India’s biggest festival so you must have heard about it and what it represents – victory of light over darkness. Often lasts for about 5 days where is Thursday is the main day of festivities – faithful pray to the Hindu goddess of wealth (Lakshmi). Its also the end of harvest season…
There will be plenty of fireworks and paper lanterns not only in every city of India but also in Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal and Fiji; lit candles everywhere and setting lanterns into the sky. You also would see decorated houses with marigold flowers and mango leaves on the days of Diwali.
So you might even pick the country where you want to celebrate the Diwali; they differ by festivities and the cost you might pay for living – Singapore would be the most expensive whereas India would be the cheapest. More info or history
nytimes.com image
Hachiman Matsuri is one of the impressive events in Japan. Purposely commemorate the guardian deity of Sakurayama Hachimangu shrine, who protects the residents of the northern half of the old city surrounding Takayama Castle. Spectacular 11 matsuri-yatai floats parade around the city…
Coming to the real point – if you would come to see this all traditional things then you might just stay till it gets dark for…superb night festival! Or come up only for the night festival, just saying.
To fly to Japan in Autumn is worth it! There are more celebrations during this season before winter. Yeah, unfortunately, you wont see the cherry tree blossoming (March – April) but weather-wise you would love the Fall for the most comforting temperatures – not too hot or cold so you wouldn’t be constantly sweating like in Summer or getting goose bumps from cold but from impressive cultural sites 😁
In Bacolod, Philippines city on the northwest coast of Negros Island that is also called City of Smiles, mostly for this superb festival that he hosts where everyone wears colourful masks with smiling faces – MassKara Festival (‘many faces’ festival). The story of this festival may not be the happiest; the idea was to distract people from their problems during the crisis of 1980s. In the way to cheer them up.
Basically in the 80s Philippines faced economic crisis, tragedy with ferry accident where number of notable families lost their members and other challenges. Would guess that the MassKara festival helped a lot to lift the people’s spirits bringing back their smiles with colourful beaded masks, vibrant hats, quirky costumes and festivities that were made to overcome challenges and tragedies. More info or here
Thailand having one of the most fascinating festivals in the world – Naga Fireball festival. Festival that centres hundreds and thousands of glowing ‘fireballs’ shooting up t0 100 meters lighting up the dark sky for a few seconds from Mekong River. And what gives more chills is that after hitting about 100 metres up this fireballs will disappear in thin air!
This ‘fireballs’ is the phenomenon of absolutely dazzling display that locals usually linking to the myth – Naga or Phaya Nak is the gigantic fireball-breathing sea serpent that exhale fireballs, wakes up under the water around October/November every year to mark the end of the three months Buddhist Lent or Vassa (the end of rain season). And basically for locals it means to celebrate the return of Buddha in Naga form.
Many chose to believe in that myth as scientists still have no clear explanation to this Mekong River’s dazzling phenomenon – explosions underneath the water… Whether it is an organically formed methane when contacting oxygen-rich air or generated by river’s mashy condition flammable gas – phosphine or some say its certain alignment of the Earth, sun, and moon, the point is its one of the rarest things in this world that absolutely worth to see. Note that if you would get to the river early you will see this ‘fareballs’ up closer.
Festival is held at the end or after the end of the ‘Buddhist Lent‘ period (usually mid to late October and early November). More info or here
Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, Buddist site
Dates for this festival could vary from year to year depends on the Burmese lunar calendar – usually between the 1st day of the waxing moon and the 3rd day after the full moon of the 7th month (Thadingyut). Anyway, its the Myanmar’s largest Buddhist celebrations and the main idea of the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival to carry the Buddha statues/images from most famous shrines in Myanmar through the villages of Inle Lake (things to do at Inle lake)
Traditional music, rhythmic Shan dances, martial arts…and on-water procession: golden bird-shaped ship or if you like colorful barge with the mythological bird at front ferry 4 Buddha statues rowed around each village(14 villages) for blessings. More info
That royal barge or golden ship where the Buddha images are carried is accompanied by other boats with about 100 Inle leg rowers. In addition, those villages that getting blessing will compete in the rowing race with their teams and thats the highlight of the festival!
Myanmar is the place is known for beautiful silent beaches, delicious food and thousands of Buddha temples. Also for being second-largest producer of opium in the world after Afghanistan and ongoing conflict in the northern part of Myanmar’s Rakhine State (former Arakan State) – conflict between the Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities. Just saying to warn you in case you would wander around in some dodgy areas of Myanmar.
North America
October 7 – October 15th
What's About?:
Balloon Fiesta! Its like a kiddo’s dream comes true seeing huge balloons all different shapes and sizes, flying over your head…such a magical scenery. This Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta goes for 9 days in October and this year festival will be celebrating its anniversary of 50th year!
For this 50 years the Balloon Fiesta has hosted millions of spectators and thousands of pilots from more than 50 countries. Indeed, its not the only event in the world for balloons rally there are other popular balloon festivals (Morocco, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Australia, Thailand, and more). However, this one is known as the largest gathering of balloons and balloonists on Earth.
Time for sBoookie stories! Is there anyone who never heard about Halloween?Hmm maybe only if you live on the North Sentinel Island or any kind of isolated form of place…
However what’s the story behind this 31st of October day known as Halloween… Halloween wasn’t known as ‘honouring’ of something scary it was linked to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (Celts who lived 2000 years ago in Ireland), people would wear costumes, light bonfires, and maybe something else – all this is only to ward off ghosts. Since the 8 century(700s), Pope Gregory III wanted to find the date to honour all saints and luckily he marked November 1st as the day for it. After more than thousand yeas passed the Saint Day incorporated different traditions for us to celebrate it around the world with one thing that remain constant – wearing costumes is the must-have rule …More of history
Today the 31st of October is the day for one of the best and most fun festivals worldwide. The Halloween Parade in New York City’s Greenwich Village is one of the places where the ‘monstrous’ crowd with painted faces, with the scariest masks and costumes could gather to commemorate supernatural. Guaranteed to see different movie characters masks/faces especially from the horror films. It’s the day when people can be whoever they want to be!
Also, interesting fact, if you in North America for Halloween season, folks here spend around $2 billion on candy – endless quantities of cheap and glittering candies. So October is the cruelest month for those who want to cut off sugar and the best month for dentists 😁.
