Lets Celebrate!

Phallus Festivals

 

Head to Greece or Japan to see how people can create a fuss over male genital. Licking penis-shaped candies, parading with a giant penis, sitting on carved wooden phallus; everything is done with aplomb at the annual Kanamara Matsuri festival in Kawasaki, Japan. A phallic shrine once worshipped by prostitutes attracts hordes in this festival of fertility and fun.
In Lerissa, Greece a similar celebration is held before Easter. Come prepared because you can be goaded to kiss model penises or made to sit on phallus-shaped thrones as locals sing raunchy numbers.

Hole-y Festivals

Chants, prayer songs and feasts almost make Thaipusam like other Hindu festivals held in honor of a deity from its huge pantheon of Gods. This Tamil festival takes a different turn when devotees start piercing their skin and face with skewers. The pain is looked up to as a test of endurance and love for Lord Murugun.

Naked Festival

January in Japan is as cold as in other northern parts of the hemisphere. But the freezing temperature does not deter thousands of men running in the streets with nothing but a loincloth on them. Hadaka Matsuri is a festival for ritual purification held in different forms across Japan. In Inazawa, men in loin cloths struggle to touch a naked man called Shin-otoko for good luck. These naked festivals are fun events but with undertones of spiritual significance.

Color-Throwing Festival

This is the only Hindu festival where people do not dress up for the occasion. In fact, the oldest of clothes are dug out from wardrobes in preparation for a huge color-throwing festival called Holi. In this spring festival associated with Lord Krishna, people play with colorful powders called gulal. Wet colors are also used in many parts of India. Food and drinks laced with a local cannabis plant called bhang are served during the festival feast.

Fish-Swallowing Festival

At the outset, let us make it clear that this is not your “regular” food festival. Yes, the festival involves consuming fish but the difference is that they are still alive! The last Sunday of every February, residents of Geraardsbergen in Belgium celebrate during the Krakelingen festival, which commemorates an unsuccessful siege of the city. Besides throwing bread rolls, the locals gulp down small wriggling gray fishes called grondeling soaked in red wine. The ceremony draws protests from animal rights activists who want to substitute live fish with fish-shaped marzipan.