Valencia, Spain
La Despertà the beginning of Fallas 2009 -The last Sunday in February boasts one amazingly loud display making this one of the most dramatic festivals in the world. Firecrackers in the hands of thousands of people 7:30 am on a Sunday morning. The aftermath is a cloud of smoke and ringing ears.

“The last Sunday in February is a huge, busy day in the city. Not all Sundays are like this. And in Valencia, the last Sunday in February manages to achieve the polar opposite. It’s 7:30 in the morning, and you’re on the streets, in the middle of World War III.

The Despertà is Valencia’s annual wake-up call for Fallas — the region’s most important festival and one of the biggest in the world. At 7am, thousands of people belonging to organized groups (Fallas Commissions) gather at Parterre Park (location) to collect their ammunition bags for an assault on the city’s sleeping populace. And at 7:30am sharp, all hell breaks loose.”

“These freaks just start throwing firecrackers everywhere.
And I’m not talking cute
cherry bombs. This is the real shit. 15 seconds into the “parade”, a piece of shrapnel caught me just under the eye. An ugly, fat kid laughed at me before throwing a mini-grenade under my feet. A zombie-eyed homeless guy snuck up behind me, then offered me a firecracker. I think I screamed, I’m not sure, my ears were reverberating, reality seemed skewed.”source link

Ivrea Carnival

The Battle of the Oranges, Ivrea, Italy
Italy stages its biggest food fight each  February in the Piedmont town of Ivrea, where thousands gather each year before Lent to re-enact a medieval battle by hurling oranges at each other. By the end of it the entire town is awash with Vitamin C.

Orange fetishists are well advised to visit the northern Italian town of Ivrea, 35 kilometers from Turin, on the Sunday before Lent when the townsfolk stage their annual Battle of the Oranges, the country’s largest fruit fight.

It involves around 3,000 revellers on foot and in carts drawn by decorated horses and lasts for three days, after which everyone is covered in pulp and orange juice, and the streets are slippery with squashed orange peel.
The ceremony, part of the town’s historic carnival, marks the rebellion of the people against tyrannical lords who ruled the town in the Middle Ages. Each year a carnival mascot is chosen from the town’s school children to play “Violetta”, a beautiful girl who in medieval times refused the advances of a lord and came to represent the victory of freedom over tyranny.

More at Spiegel-source.



Ivrea Carnival

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Every October in Town of Windsor, Nova Scotia, Lake Pesaquid becomes a spectacle with giant decorated pumpkins sailing across its waters. Along with other Pumpkin related contests the Pumpkin Regatta has become a huge hit in the community. Individuals go to great lengths to carve and decorate their vessels.

Pumpkin Regatta Town of Windsor Nova Scotia

“In the first year of the event, 1999, The Pumpkin Regatta, with an operating budget of $50.00, attracted about 2,000 skeptical spectators who turned out to watch five brave – and no doubt equally skeptical – participants attempt to manoeuvre their hollowed-out giant pumpkins across Lake Pesaquid.

So novel was the idea of racing giant pumpkins that local merchants and local media were quick to get on-side. The 1^st Annual Pumpkin Regatta attracted national attention, and Windsor – “The Little Town of Big Firsts” – could now claim another first – Giant Pumpkin Racing!”

The Big Pumpkin Regatta

This years race took place on October 12th.

More information on the Big Pumpkin Regatta can be found at The official Town of Windsor Big Pumpkin Website

The sport of shin kicking has been around since the 17th Century. First established by Robert Dover in 1612. Shin kicking unfortunately died out in the early 1900’s, although I can’t imagine why? It was reborn in 1951 at Chipping Camden, England. Although the games are not quite as brutal as the earlier versions, I’m sure players are secretly rejoicing that they now prohibit iron capped boots. Players use to prepare for the games by smashing hammers into their shins.

“According to the rule book, only in mid-kick can a player attempt to bring his opposition to the ground, with a ‘stickler’ on hand to make sure a shin is hit before a fall can be scored. Each round features a best of three battle before winners go on to fight other winners – until only two remain.”

The games are held every year on May 31st in Chipping Camden.

 Even though the games have safer guidelines, the video outlines a barbaric ritual that appears to have many spectators. Congratulations to this years Barbarian, Steve ‘The Bull Dog’ Williams the British Shin Kicking Champion of 2008.

source via Sogloss

The Rapa das bestas is an ancient festival in Galicia, Spain. 

The Rapa das bestas is an old practice of ‘Taming the Beasts’ and is thought to date back to the Bronze Age. Men and women alike would wrestle the untamed horses to the ground with their hands and arms to cut their manes and tails.

“People gather all the untamed horses in a corral, where men and women of all ages wrestle them to the ground with their bare hands to cut their manes and tales out and brand them. This fiesta goes on for about three days starting the first Saturday of July.”

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