Argentina
Day of the Gaucho - San Antonio de Areco and elsewhere
Starts 1st Saturday of every November
A popular cultural event for many of the ranch areas of Argentina. The Day of the Gaucho Día de La Tradición takes place largely in Las Pampas, 600 km south of Buenos Aires
Australia
Carnivale - Sydney
Every year
Carnivale is Australia's largest multicultural arts festival, founded in 1976. Artists and communities from 140 different backgrounds come together for a series of events that take place across Sydney.
Festival of the Arts - Sydney
Every year
Sydney Festival attracts an estimated 2.3 million people every year. Many of the events take place outside, with the favourite being the Symphony Under the Stars and Opera in the Park. Local and foreign theatre companies and musical ensembles also participate.
Arts Festival Perth WA
Starts 4th Friday of every January
For the four years leading up to 2003's 50th anniversary of the festival, the four elements are being taken as the theme. In 2000 the theme was 'water'. In 2001 the focus is 'earth'.
New in 2001 will be an eight-day chamber music festival at Wintrhop Hall of the University of Western Australia.
Austria
A cycle of music festivals. In January, New Year concerts consist of lavish balls in Vienna.
Fasching Carnival
February.
Corpus Christi
The second Thursday after Whitsun is heralded with more carnivals, some held on lakes in the Salzkammergut.
The Vienna International Festival
From mid-May to mid-June, has a wide-ranging programme of arts.
The Salzburg International Festival
Late-July and August and includes plenty of music by the city's favourite son, Mozart.
Barbados
Crop Over - Bridgetown
Starts 1st Sunday of every July
Crop Over - a five week festival.
Although organised along similar lines to other carnival events in the Caribbean, Crop Over is distinctly Bajan, showcasing the local culture.
Belgium
Traditional Catholic celebrations aside, Brussels' most festive months are July and August. On the first Thursday in July there's the
Ommegang pageant
A huge parade of nobles dressed in historic costumes.
The Brussels Fair
A month-long event starting on Belgium's National Day - July 21.
Bulgaria
Great Koprivshtitza Folklore Festival
Held every five years.
The Great Koprivshtitza Folklore Festival is Bulgaria's largest gathering of traditional musicians and singers and is a cross between a pop festival and a medieval fair. It is a sight that knows no equal: thousands of musicians and singers making the hillside above the picturesque village of Koprivshtitza their home for a few days. Coupled with this you have the colourful stalls of the traders and the thousands of visitors who come for the festival.
The Bourgas International Folk Festival
Held annually it attracts a host of Bulgarian and international artists and is held in the second half of August.
The Kazanluk Festival of the Roses
Held annually in early June, it has grown from a local to an international event. Not only are the roses, Kazanluk's main industry, in full flower. but the town itself blossoms while visitors enjoy the "Rose Picnic" and all the fun of a folklore festival, with its costumes, songs and dance. Should you still have the energy left, you can always visit the old factories where the rose oil is extracted.
Kukeri
It re-enacts ancient surovaki rites to ward off evil spirits and Kukeri fertility rites. Although only held once every five years, it brings together dancers from all over Bulgaria in a rainbow of colours and styles.
St. Trifon's Day
Celebrates the pruning of the vines, and is held on February 14. On the first Sunday before Lent, Kukerov Den celebrates the start of the agricultural year, and all over Bulgaria you can witness processions led by the dancing. leaping Kukeri dressed in colourful masks and costumes.
Baba Marta
Celebrated on March 1 when peasant house-holds brush out the winter cobwebs with a traditional spring clean. and people offer each other tokens of good luck called martenitsas.
Lazaruvane
Celebrated in spring on St. Lazarus Day, and here village girls considered fit for marriage perform ritual songs and dances.
Canada
Caribana - Toronto
Starts 3rd Friday of every July
This is an 18 day Toronto Carnival celebrating Caribbean-Canadian Heritage attracting nearly 1 million performers and onlookers.
The Bergeronnes Festival
Every year
This Western Festival has been going more than 30 years. Its aim has been to recreate the days of the Wild West. It lasts for more than ten days of the finest rodeos, country music and other shows.
Chile
Virgen del Carmen Festival - Santiago de Chile
16 July 2001 Every year
The celebrations are marked with folkloric processions in the streets and around the Templo. The state and military both share the same patron saint - the Virgen del Carmen.
China
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
Every year
Includes traditional horse-riding events, archery tournaments, a recreation of an imperial banquet of the Yuan Dynasty 1271-1368, local wedding ceremonies, a memorial ceremony at the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan and tours highlighting Mongolian customs as well as a visit to the hot spring forest.
The Lantern Festival - Everywhere in China
Every year
The Lantern Festival, which marks the end of the New Year celebrations, is a beautiful event in which thousands of lanterns are lit up all over China. Its origins are ancient; during the Han period it was heavily promoted in an attempt to popularise Buddhism, and it was subsequently incorporated into Chinese folklore.
The Ancient Culture Festival - Xi'an
10 September 2001. Every year
The Ancient Culture Festival celebrates traditions that originate 4000 years ago.
Featuring a lantern show on the Ming-period city walls during the evening, the festival provides plenty of folk-culture entertainment during the day.
Colombia
Barranquilla
24-28 February. Every year
For four days the people of the city take to the streets in a display of colour, merengue, cumbia, legendary salsa and ancestral African dances.
Cuba
Act of Commemoration - Cuba Various towns
26 July 2001. Every year
Started on 26 July 1953 which was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Cuban writer and patriot Jose Martí and coincides with a number of local carnivals.
The Act of Commemoration takes place early in the morning every year when the list of the martyrs of the revolution is read out, and guns are fired.
Denmark
The Golden Days Festival - Copenhagen
25 August - 10 September 2001. Every year
Offers a variety of events, activities and entertainment to celebrate the Danish Golden Age of the latter half of the 19th century.
The Aarhus Festival
31 August - 9 September 2001. Starts final Friday of every August
The biggest annual cultural festival in Scandinavia, in a city that is surrounded by woods and bordered by beaches. The extensive programme comprises several hundred performances and events in a wide range of disciplines - drama, opera, ballet and dance, classical and contemporary music, sport, exhibitions, film and video are all represented.
Roskilde Festival
Northern Europe's largest rock music festival, held in late June or early July.
The Midtfyns Festival
Held in early July in Ringe, features international rock, pop, world, folk and jazz musicians.
The Copenhagen Jazz Festival
Held for 10 days in early July, is one of the world's major jazz festivals.
The Copenhagen Summer Festival
Features chamber and classical music concerts during the last week of July and the first two weeks of August.
Tønder Festival
One of northern Europe's largest folk festivals, held at the end of August.
Egypt
The Islamic or Hjira calendar is a full 11 days shorter than the Gregorian western calendar, so public holidays and festivals fall 11 days earlier each year.
Ras as-Sana Celebration of the new Islamic year.
Moulid an-Nabi Celebrates the prophet Mohammed's birthday around July/August. These celebrations include parades in the city streets with lights, feasts, drummers and special sweets.
Ramadan Is celebrated during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar presently around November/December, important in the Islamic year. During this month the Qur'an was revealed to Mohammed, and out of deference the faithful take neither food nor water until after sunset each day. At the end of Ramadan Eid al-Fitr the fasting breaks with much celebration and gaiety.
Eid al-Adhah Is the time of the pilgrimage to Mecca, and each Muslim is expected to make the pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime. Streets are decorated with coloured lights and children play in their best clothes. The ritual of Mahmal is performed in each village as passing pilgrims are given carpets and shrouds to take on their journey. This all happens around April/May.
Finland
Midsummer's Day Juhannus
The most important annual event for Finns. People leave cities and towns for summer cottages to celebrate the longest day of the year. Bonfires are lit and lakeside merrymakers swim and row boats. Enthusiastic alcohol consumption is also a feature of midsummer partying.
The Pori Jazz Festival
Held in July is one of the country's most popular festivals.
Savonlinna Opera Festival
Held at medieval Olavinnlinna Castle, is the most famous of festivals. Some of the best and the most international festivals are the most remote: check out chamber music in Kuhmo, or folk music in Kaustinen near Kokkola. For rock, there are big festivals during the Midsummer weekend, and big annual events, such as
Ruisrock
The longest-running of rock festivals, at Turku in July. On the lighter side, check out the
Sleepyhead Day
That i where on 27 July the laziest person in the towns of Naantali and Hanko is thrown into the sea.
France
The Chamber Music Festival - Menton
28 July - 25 August 2001. Starts 4th Saturday of every July
Some of the greatest names of classical music have played at this festival, including Arthur Rubinstein and Yehudi Menuhin.
The Mimosa Festival - Mandelieu-La Napoule
9-18 February 2001. Every year
This annual festival celebrates the flowering of the millions of mimosa "yellow suns".
A native of Australia, the beautiful mimosa tree was first introduced to the Riviéra in the 19th century by British botanists, who rightly believed that the plant would thrive in the Southern French climate.
The Piano Recitals - Toulouse
5-22 September 2001. Every year
Piano recitals by some of the world's best pianists in the cloisters of an ancient monastery. Les Jacobins monastery in Toulouse, which dates from between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, is the venue.
The music Festival - Chartres
6-9 September 2001. Starts 1st Thursday of every September
This four-day classical music festival combines classical music with one of the greatest architectural treasures of France: Notre Dames de Chartres.
Concerts take place in the Cathedral itself as well as smaller performances and related events in the Musée des Beaux Arts Chartres and various venues round the town.
The Banlieues Bleues Festival - Paris
24 February - 31 March 2001. Every year
A jazz festival that brings together the old and the new, the young and the old in a celebration of music in the suburbs at the North-East of Paris.
Chenove Wine Festival
15-16 September 2001. Starts 2nd Saturday of every September
This event celebrates the town's viticultural and folkloric traditions with demonstrations of traditional arts and crafts and some New Orleans jazz.
Germany
The Oktoberfest - Munich
22 September - 7 October 2001. Starts 3rd Saturday of every September
The world's largest beer-party draws visitors from around the globe.
The festival is the biggest public festival in the world and will be held for the 168th time in the year 2001.
Stuttgart's Cannstatter Volksfest
The world's second biggest beer festival
lasting 16 days. It was founded in 1818 by King Wilhelm of Wuttemberg as a harvest festival, and resembles the larger Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich.
Ghana
The Harvest Festival - Accra
1 July - 31 August 2001. Every year
This is one of the most joyful festivals in Accra and is celebrated by the Ga people of Greater Accra. It commemorates an ancient glorious harvest and marks the Ganean New Year.
The Fetu Afahye festival - Cape Coast
2 September 2001. Every year
Ghana's colourful Fetu Afahye festival is celebrated in the Cape Coast Traditional Area, and involves the ritual sacrifice of a cow, slaughtered as an offering to local deities.
Greece
The Levkas Festival
1-31 August 2001. Every year
Morris dancers and Greek traditional dancers rub shoulders along with folk troupes from all over the world.
Greenland
The Leif Eriksson Festival - Qassiarsuk
15-16 July 2001. Every year
The millennium celebrations in Greenland honour the adventures of Leif Eriksson. In 1000AD, 500 years before Columbus left Portugal, he and his crew are thought to have discovered Canada and the USA.
Eriksson is also credited with bringing Christianity to Greenland and thus the millennium appropriately marks exactly 1,000 years of Christian worship here.
Hong Kong
The Monkey God Festival - Hong Kong Island
13 September 2001 Every year
Iceland
Independence Day
The largest nation-wide festival of the year is held on 17 June, a time of colourful parades, street music and dancing, outdoor theatre and general merriment.
Sjómannadagurinn
Held in the first week in June, dedicated to seafarers with participants competing in swimming contests, tugs-of-war and sea rescues.
Midsummer
24 June, when tradition has it that Midsummer Night's dew possesses magical healing powers and that to roll in it will cure 19 different health problems.
Sumardagurinn Fyrsti
The third Thursday in April, a carnival-style celebration on the first day of summer.
Pjódhátíð Vestmannaeyjar
Held in August
Vestmannaeyjar
An event of immense bonfires, outdoor camping, dancing and singing.
Verslunarmannahelgi
Held in August, celebrated with barbecues, horse competitions, camping out, and family reunions.
India
Onam - Trichur, Cheruthuruthy, Aranmulai and Kottayam
9-15 September tbc. Every year
The annual festival of Onam transforms Kerala for over a week under the weight of colourful processions, feasting, boat races, singing and dancing.
Rath Yatra - Puri in Orissa
1 July tbc . Every year
Each year, the 12th century temple town of Puri in Orissa, on the Bay of Bengal transforms under the weight of one of India's most impressive festivals. This is a very holy festival, in a very holy
Gay Bombay's Tribute to Ganesh - Mumbai
12 September tbc. Every year
After being enshrined for 10 days in every lane and alley of the city, on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi, Festival of Ganesh each September, clay idols of the elephant-headed god Ganesh (Mumbai's patron deity) are ritually immersed in the sea.
Sai Baba's birthday - Puttaparthi
23 November tbc. Every year
Puttaparthi used to be a remote little village for cow herders. It now houses one of India's greatest Guru's who's fame and face have spread throughout the world. His birthday celebrations rival the crowds at Gandhi's funeral. There will be nothing quite like it.
Agasthyarkoodam mountain - Kerala
1 December 2000 - 31 May tbc. Every year
The mountain of Agasthyarkoodam is not difficult to spot. 1890 metres high, and with a sharp apex, it defines itself well above its siblings in the Western Ghats. According to local folklore, Agasthya, a confirmed bachelor (read mysoginist) used to live amongst its rare herbs and medicinal plants, and to this day women are not allowed up the peak for fear of upsetting the soul of this strange sage.
Buddha Mahotsav - Sarnath & Kushinagar
14 April - 13 May tbc. Every year
Uttar Pradesh's unique Buddhist festival, the Buddha Mahotsav, is a fascinating journey through the Buddhist world. Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti, the birth anniversary of the Buddha is widely celebrated, on a full moon night in April/May.
Ganesh Chaturthi, Festival of Ganesh - varios cities
1 September tbc. Every year
Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati is widely worshipped as the supreme god of wisdom. Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival in his honour and is celebrated in the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Dussehra - All over India
27 September - 8 October tbc. Every year
Dussehra, coming at the end of the nine days of the Navaritri celebration, is one of the most significant Hindu festivals, celebrated with enthusiasm throughout the length and breadth of the sub-continent. It re-evokes both the victory of the legendary hero Rama over the demon-king Ravana (who had abducted his wife Sita) and the defeat of the demon Mahisha by the goddess Durga.
Indonesia
The Petik Lauk - Banyuwangi
10-11 July 2001. Every year
The Petik Lauk or sea offering derives from ancient animist beliefs in local gods and spirits in the days before Hinduism and Islam made their mark on the nation's cultural practices. The ritual called Petik Lauk Rokat Tasek is performed by local fishermen, and held at the start of the Javanese Year, Sato Suro.
Ireland
Puck Fair - Killorglin
10-12 August 2001. Every year
During the three days, the town celebrates. Parades and dressing-up take place on the first day. The second day is a fun fair for the kids and an increasingly prestigious Irish singing competition. The third day sees merrymaking of all sorts, including, of course, set dancing.
Visitors come from all over the world for this one - and top 100,000.
The Fringe Theatre Festival - Dublin
10 September - 24 October 2001. Every year
Dublin's Fringe Theatre Festival, set up in 1995, offers the visitor three weeks of theatre, dance, comedy and visual arts, showcasing a number of new Irish works.
Israel
Purim - Various towns
8-9 March 2001. Every year
The most colourful festival in the Jewish calendar, Purim is one that the children love.
During the day the streets are filled with children dressed in an array of costumes, ranging from the traditional festival heroes, to cowboys and indians.
It is also a time when both the secular and the orthodox Jewish residents of Israel are united in celebration.
Italy
San Gennaro - Naples
19 September 2001. Every year
San Gennaro, patron saint and protector of Napoli, stands for many as a symbol of the city itself, and his festival is one of the most passionately celebrated in all of Italy.
The festival ideally culminates in the miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of San Gennaro, which takes place every year more or less on the date of the festival.
Many accept the divine nature of the event, and it is incontestable that the blood liquefies, but experts obviously differ on why or how this happens.
Florence
15 April 2001. Every year on Easter Sunday
The annual 'holy fire' during Holy Week, is started with historical shards of the Holy Sepulchre, and is lit in the Church of SS Apostoli and transported to the Duomo, where the archbishop of the city lights the sacred 'Colombina' rocket with it during the Easter Mass. The rocket travels out of the Duomo along a wire, sets fire to the huge array of fireworks attached to the ICARRO and returns back into the church the way it came.
The celebration of the ceremony still bears a strong resemblance to the way in which it has been celebrated for centuries. On the morning of the day the Carro, pulled by two white oxen, leaves from Via del Prato for the Piazza del Duomo, accompanied by costumed revellers and various city officials and clerical representatives.
Siena
2 July 2001. Every year
A banner, decorated with an image of the Virgin Mary, is presented to the winner of a horse race around the Siena's Piazza del Campo. Competitors come from each one of the 17 districts of the city.
The race consists of bareback riders making three circuits of the main square and is over in 90 seconds. But it is preceded by 5 hours of flag throwing acrobatics around the main square.
Italy Viareggio
11 February - 4 March 2001. Every year
The Viareggio Carnival is the most spectacular in Italy, and is known world-wide. The people of Viareggio begin preparing the huge papier-maché puppets in hangar-like buildings by the sea. The figures satirise public and political figures; making them and setting them atop the floats requires considerable technical skill as well as creativity and imagination.
The voluminous floats parade around Viareggio competing for the finest float award from 2.30pm until 9pm on the following dates: 11, 18, 25, 27 Feb and 4 March, each one carrying about 200 people in costume, as well as the huge moving, Trojan horse-like puppets, which hold people inside to manoeuvre the weights, counter-weights and levers that prevent them from toppling over.
Japan
The Buddhist Festival of Obon - Various towns
13-14 July 2001. Every year
The great Buddhist festival of Obon is often referred to as The Feast of Lanterns. According to tradition this is the time of year when the souls of the dead return to the living world and visit their relatives.
Special offerings of food are made at temples and house altars, and at sunset lanterns are lit and hung in front of houses to guide the spirits back home.
In the evenings the Bon-Odori, or special Obon dance, can be seen in local communities, often in temple or shrine precincts. The dance is intended to comfort the ancestral spirits and is performed to the sounds of folk music and singing.
Obon is one of the most important Buddhist festivals in the year and most people will return to their family homes at this time.
The Fukuro Matsuri Festival - Tokyo
25-26 September 2001. Every year
The Fukuro Matsuri Festival is a spectacular street parade that invites the active participation of Japanese and tourists alike.
Portable shrines, known as mikoshi, are traditionally carried through the streets, animated by all-singing, all-dancing celebrations.
Latvia
Janu nakts - All over Latvia
23 and 24 June Every year
Janu nakts is the summer solstice. it involves going out to the countryside, staying up all night (afterall it is the shortest night of the year) singing folk songs, drinking beer, eating janu cheese (with caraway seeds) and jumping over the bonfire. There is the legend that the fern will flower only once - on this night. Couples go off together in seach of this 'flowering' fern.
Meteni - All over Latvia
February Every year
Meteni is a traditional Latvian festival, part of the country's ancient calendar of events. It is an agricultural festival in origin, marking the time when spinning ends, weaving starts, and young horses are broken in.
Ritual activities include sledding, sleigh rides, and masquerades.
The Autumn Equinox
23 September Every year
This is a traditional Latvian festival marking the start of the threshing season at the Autumn equinox - described as 'the period of the souls of the dead'. The traditional activities include 'Jumis chasing and welcoming' - Jumis are the spirits of the dead - and on the ritual menu are bread, rooster, pork or mutton.
Lebanon
Performing Arts Festival - Deir-el-Qamar
7-11 July 2001. Starts 1st Saturday of every July
The 18th Century palace of Arab princes is the venue for an eclectic variety of prominent artists from Shaolin Temples and Manhattan and everywhere in between.
Originally built by Emir Bachir Chehab II, Beiteddine House of the Faith is probably the best preserved example of classical Arabic architecture in Lebanon.
The palace sits on top of the Shouf Mountains, has survived the wars in Lebanon and is now the grounds of a large museum, an exhibition hall and the president's summer residence. It also houses an annual festival that offers a programme with a very impressive roster featuring a wide variety of performing arts.
Luxembourg
Carnival
Held six weeks before Easter.
Bürgsonndeg
Bonfire Day.
National Day
Held on 23 June, celebrated with parties and revelry, particularly in Luxembourg City.
Octave
Held in the capital, a Catholic festival held from late April to early May that climaxes with a street parade headed up by the royal family.
Schueberfouer
A fortnight of fairs held in late August.
Whitsunday East of the capital, the Müllerthal town of Echternach celebrates the 7th Sunday after Easter with a handkerchief pageant in honour of St Willibrord, whose remains are in the town's basilica.
Broom Flower festival
In Ardennes, the town of Wiltz celebrates its yearly with parades and colourful floats.
Moselle Valley's wine festivals
Begin in August and run through November's 'New Wine' celebration in Wormeldange.
Malaysia
The Dragon Boat Festival - Kota Kinabalu
25 June 2001. Every year
The Dragon Boat Festival is a spectacular boating competition taking place in Likas Bay, Borneo. Local teams race each other in boats with prows carved in the shapes of the heads of snakes.
The dragon boat races are a Chinese tradition which remember a great Chinese poet.
For spectators, it's an exciting series of suspense-filled races and plenty of delicious food to be sampled at the stalls set up beside the lake. The Dragon Boat Festival is always celebrated each year on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar.
Malta
Saint Paul in Mdina - Rabat
28-29 June 2001. Every year
It begins on the eve of the 28 June when artists, folk singers, food vendors and spectators converge in the Buskett Gardens outside Rabat.
The next day's highlight is bareback horse-riding contests, a tradition dating back to the days of the Maltese knights. Riders compete both on donkeyback and horseback. The prize is one of the prestigious 'palji' - decorated cloths that are usually donated to churches, to be used as altarcloths.
Mexico
Los Dias de Los Muertos - Various towns
31 October - 2 November 2001. Every year
Mexico's famous celebration of the dead - Los Dias de Los Muertos - is a time when the living remember the dead have a chance to visit the homes and families they have left behind. It is also spectacular, with street festivals, parades, and the giving of gifts.
Certain towns and villages choose to stage street celebrations. The character of these can vary greatly from region to region.
Mongolia
Naadam - Ulan Bator
11-13 July 2001
Mongolia's largest and most famous festival, Naadam brings together the age-old pursuits of the local tribes-people in a colourful and exhilarating event. Sights include wrestling, riding and archery competitions, each performed in the traditional manner.
Morocco
Marrakesh
11-20 June 2001. Every year
The Place Djemaa El Fna in Marrakesh is the centre of the show, with its storytellers, acrobats and troupes of hypnotic Gnaoua musicians.
During this annual festival, the Place and surrounding locations become the al-fresco venues for an even wider variety of traditional folk performances from throughout Morocco.
Nepal
Bada Dasain - Kathmandu, Patan
29 September - 8 October 2001. Every year
Bada Dasain is Nepal's most thrilling and memorable festival. Ten days of masked dancing, kite flying, bamboo swinging and, bathing in holy rivers, culminate in a final hour of unrivalled spectacle.
For the first six days people concentrate on private devotions, then, on the seventh day, the public festivities begin.
Netherlands
The Holland Festival - Amsterdam
22 June - 13 July 2001 Every year
The Holland Festival is the biggest arts event in the Dutch calendar. It draws international performers in theatre, dance, music and opera and has expanded into media and the visual arts. Even the most classical productions are given a contemporary slant in an event known for its strong links to the avant-garde.
During the course of the festival usually some 35 productions take place in around 80 performances, attended by some 80,000 people.
Pakistan
Basant Kite Festival - Lahore
23-25 February 2001. Every year
The Basant kite festival is one of the most spectacular festivals to happen upon the Lahore rooftops, allowing the skies to burst with darting colours and the town to draw to a standstill.
In in the late 1990s, the late February weekend became the largest single celebration in Pakistan. Recent estimates suggest that about eight million people attend.
Portugal
Red Waistcoat Festival - Vila Franca de Xira
3-16 July 2001. Every year
Horse and bull rearing form the basis of the local economy and the main event in the town is the Festa do Colete Encarnado, or the Red Waistcoat Festival, so-called after the traditional costumes of the campinos the cowboys who guard the bulls in the pasturelands of the Ribatejo.
For several days there are bullfights and bull runs.
Singapore
The Festival of the Hungry Ghosts
31 July - 30 August 2001. Every year
The festival of the Hungry Ghosts is an ancient Chinese tradition which happens in Vietnam, Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora communities around the world.
During this festival, the Chinese honour the restless spirits that they believe roam around the world for a month between August and September, when they are temporarily let out of hell.
The Harvest Festival
12 September 2001. Every year
This is one of the loveliest festivals in the Chinese calendar and equivalent to the West's Harvest Moon Festival. It always takes place on the September Full Moon.
During the festival, people eat special Moon Cakes yuek beng made from a whole range of ingredients from ground lotus to sesame.
All over Chinatown stalls offer pomelos a local citrus fruit and a variety of freshly-baked mooncakes filled with lotus paste, melon seeds, red bean paste, nuts, yam and preserved duck's eggs.
South Africa
The Cape Town Festival
20-24 September 2001. Every year
This city-wide festival sees the streets of central Cape Town fill with performances, talks, poetry readings, concerts and exhibitions.
The historic centre of Cape Town - Grand Parade - is the focus of the festival providing a Grand Marquee where visitors can go to share a drink and have a meal.
Another major venue of the festival is The Granary. This historic Customs House is hosting a number of music events as well as exhibitions and lectures.
South Korea
Arts Festival - Jinju City
2-10 October 2001. Starts 1st Tuesday of every October
This Arts Festival shows Korean arts at their best. Jinju-si, in Gyeongnam Province is a city with long historic and cultural traditions. The festival boasts a lantern parade and shamanic kut rituals in which priestesses call on ancient animist traditions to beckon the spirits of the dead into her body.
A beautiful ceremony of floating lanterns down the Namgang River is one of the highlights, accompanied by a firework display and classical Korean music. It features historical costume parades and traditional fighting bulls, clowns and kite-flying.
Busan Beer Festival
Summer
The "Busan
Beer Festival 2003" is an annual summer special nation-wide festival
opening with live concert hosted by LeeSeungHwan, the most popular live
singer in the nation heating up the festival mood in the first day,
The 1st annual Busan Beer Festival is an excellent opportunity to
sample and learn about a variety of beer styles. It is the first time in
the nation to hold a nation-wide beer festival such as "Oktoberfest" in
Germany, "Sapporo Beer Festival" in Japan, and "TsingTao Beer Festival" in
China.
The main area of the festival is exterior convention square of
BEXCO where we exhibits 200 kinds of beers from all over the world. We also
present an introduction so you can learn more about beer through industry
exhibits. It is fitting that this festival takes place just near Haewondae
and Kwanganri which are considered as the country's greatest and loveliest
beaches.
Spain
The International Festival of Music and Dance - Granada
22 June - 8 July 2001. Starts 3rd Friday of every June
The International Festival of Music and Dance is held in the harmonious setting of Granada's Alhambra, the Generalife Gardens, monasteries, and the Cathedral.
Around the Alhambra and all over the city the streets will be filled with the sound of Spanish guitars, the click of castanets, and flamenco dancing. This year's festival programme includes highlights such as the Madrid National Ballet and the London Symphony Orchestra.
The Tapa Festival - Seville 7-11 February 2001 Every year
The tapa, a small hors d'eouvre which can now be found in every corner of Spain, is no ordinary part of Seville's cultural heritage.
The fair opens with a lengthy discourse and introduction to the culinary phenomenon of tapas.
The public have the opportunity to taste the wide variety of tapas on offer as Sevillian bars and restaurants compete with one another to create the winning culinary masterpiece. From the forty or so competing bars and restaurants the visitor is likely to come across a wide variety of tapas.
Logroño Wine Festival
19-25 September 2001. Starts 4th Sunday of every September
The program lasts for six days and coincides with a series of important festival dates. One of these is Logroño's patron saint day, Nuestra Señora de Valvanera. The 21 September marks the day of `San Mateo'.
The highlights of the festival feature bull-running, free regional cuisine, pelota games, fireworks, neighbourhood music, dancng and, wine.
Sweden
Midsummer
Held at summer solstice, this is Sweden's most enthusiastically celebrated festival. Pagan rites, such as maypole dancing, mingle with public holidays.
Lucia festival
Held on 13 December it has only been celebrated for about 60 years but has become very popular. Lucia celebrates the coming of Christmas with processions of robed youngsters. Most households serve up ham at Christmas time, and many families still partake in the tradition of 'dipping in the pot' when slices of bread are soaked in ham juices.
New Year's Eve
A highly social time when friends get together, often setting off fireworks.
Easter
in Sweden incorporates the pagan belief that witches hang out with the devil in hell for the duration.
Walpurgis Night
Held on 30 April this is a pagan festival which celebrates the end of winter with bonfires and fireworks.
Kiruna Snow Festival
Jan 26-29
Biggest snow festival in Europe. Competing teams sculpt snow into fine art under the sparkling cascade of the Northern Lights. Dog sledge and reindeer racing in the center of Kiruna. A festival to celebrate winter and the Northern Lights.
Malmö Festival
Aug 11-18
The festival area is divided into continents. 1000 events include a Viking ship competition, and large music stages. Hjälmare pier is the festival's highlight. It is transformed into a microcosm of the province of Skåne with exhibitions and cultural activities from the region
The Stanga Games - Stanga
1-31 July 2001. Every year
This three-day event on the small island of Gotland however, is a serious sporting contest along the lines of Scotland's Highland games.
Tanzania
The Zanzibar Cultural Festival - Zanzibar
1-31 July 2001. Every year
Participants come from as far away as Germany, China and India, not to mention many other African Countries. Nevertheless it remains strongly local in its flavour.
The Zanzibar Cultural Festival features traditional and contemporary dance, music, arts and crafts. Many of the dances have their roots in ancient tribal rituals connected with the many stages of a human life, or with royal ceremonies.
The Mwakakogwa Festival - Zanzibar 22 July 2001 Every year
The Mwakakogwa Festival happens every year in July-August the exact date depends on the moon in the town of Makunduchi in the south of Zanzibar. It is the local "New Year" - a celebration of the end of the old growing season and the beginning of a new one.
Throughout the day, the women of the village accompany proceedings with song and dance. This is strongly influenced by the Middle East.
Tunisia
International Arts Festival - Carthage
6 July - 16 August 2001. Every year
Although this event is intended as Tunisia's premier international arts festival, its most interesting components include examples of fusion between local, more traditional forms of music and dance and more mainstream, international styles.
Particular examples include forms of Tunisian music mixed with jazz.
Traditionalists, however, can enjoy productions of many works, including international theatre and ballet performances in the well-preserved Roman amphitheatre of this illustrious ancient site. Carthage was the capital of the Phoenician empire which reached its zenith in the 3rd-4th centuries AD.
Turkey
"Yagli Gures" - Edirne
4-10 July 2001. Starts 1st Tuesday of every July
This event's title belies a sport over five centuries old. Oil-coated wrestling or "Yagli Gures" was devised as a means of training troops, but it has become a popular spectacle with champions becoming national celebrities.
The sport was invented in Kirkpinar. Nowadays, a large stadium beside the town of Edirne on the Greek-Turkish border is the location for an annual summer wresting festival where over 1000 wrestlers come to participate in the week-long "sudden death"-style competition.
United Kingdom & Northern Ireland
Edinburgh Theatre Festival - Scotland, Edinburgh
5-27 August 2001. Every year
While the official Edinburgh Theatre Festival shows rather more 'highbrow' work, the Fringe festival is not so. Mainly comprised of theatre, but increasingly becoming a forum for new comedy acts and cabaret, the Edinburgh Fringe can be a place to discover excellent new productions by unknown writers and artists or to watch amateurs.
The Vegetable and Flower Show - England, Beamish
8-9 September 2001. Starts 1st Saturday of every September
From an early 1800s manor house to the industrial developments of the early 20th century, Beamish Open Air Museum charts life in the North of England, brought alive by actors in period costume. Visitors become part of the action as they enter the museum's recreated traditional houses, farms and shops.
Féile an Phobail - Northern Ireland, West Belfast
August
This August come dancing and singing and revelling in the largest community festival in Ireland.
Whether you are from Buenos Aires or the Bronx, Ballymena or Ballyjamesduff, whether you céilí, rock or reggae, speak Irish, Euskadi, Cockney or Quechua, - be in West Belfast!
USA
The Arts Festival - Miami
17-19 February 2001.Every year
Arguably one of the finest arts festivals in the whole of the USA, Bank of America Coconut Grove Arts Festival is also one of the oldest, largest and most diverse.
Despite its tremendous growth since its birth in 1963, the emphasis is still on chat between exhibitors and art-lovers.
Concerts, particularly by top jazz artists, and the incredible selection of ethnic and international food, shows this festival is not just devoted to art. Children are made very welcome and art workshops are available for them. The festival attracts about 850, 000 visitors to Coconut Grove over President's Day Weekend, combining both the cultural and partying elements of Miami.
The Celtic Classic Highland Games and Festival Bethlehem
29 September - 1 October 2001. Every year
The largest Celtic Heritage festival in North America, held in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Celtic Classic is run by Celticfest, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Celtic culture
and attracts nearly 200,000 visitors.
St Patrick's Day - New York City
17 March 2001
5th Avenue, hosts the largest street parade in New York every St Patrick's Day as thousands of Americans of Irish descent march in celebration of their Faith. St Patrick b. 386AD, the Patron Saint of Ireland, was responsible for introducing Catholicism into Ireland and the parade honours his memory.
The parade itself consists of hundreds of visiting marching bands from every county in Ireland and all over the USA.
Tournament of Roses - Pasadena
1 January 2001
Each New Year's Day attention is focused on Pasadena, California for its annual Tournament of Roses. In a celebration that's more than a century old, the New Year is welcomed with a festival of flowers, music and sports.
Venezuela
The Feast of John the Baptist
23-25 June 2001. Every year
The Feast of John the Baptist is celebrated in Venezuela with wild dancing. The Feast has been associated with purification rituals through water and fire, erotic rites and divination since time immemorial.
Venezuelans have been celebrating it with a mixture of paganism, African ritual and Roman Catholicism for centuries.
Zambia
Music Festival - Lusaka
23 June 2001. 4th Saturday of every June
20,000 people to turn up this free festival in Lusaka, which features every kind of music that Zambia has to offer.
Every year the festival has a theme.
Zambia has many different tribes and tribal life is still very important in the rural areas. Each tribe has a different musical heritage and there will be several groups of dancers performing. The dances will have originally accompanied some communal activity, such as hunting or fishing, or a social ritual, such as marriages, births or deaths.
The Umutombuko - Mansa
23-29 July 2001 Every year
The Umutombuko is a celebration of a glorious martial history by the Lunda tribe.
Chief Mwata Kazembe led his people east out of the Congo and into what is now Zambia. On the way they defeated numerous tribes in battle.
After each success they celebrated the victory, which they called Umutomboko.
Every year the Lunda tribe celebrate these victories and commemorate the great chief with a two day festival. The women of the tribe bring gifts of beer and food to the chief, who then goes to pay homage to the ancestral spirits.
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