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Harbin Ice Festival & Chinese New Year: China |
Jan/Feb 2010 |
| Showcasing both the magnificent ice sculptures of local artists and those from around the world, the Harbin Ice Festival has now been running for over 20 years. Soaking up the vibrant and creative atmosphere of the festival we enjoy the amazing ice works, many built on an awe-inspiring scale, and watch the incredibly dextrous sculptors at work. Ice art subjects can include well-known buildings, animals, gardens and scenes from Chinese folklore. After dark, the sculptures come alive in a dazzling display of light and colour from the thousands of tiny lights lying hidden within. |
| Read more about the Harbin Ice Festival |
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Pushkar Camel Fair: India |
Nov 2010 |
| The picturesque Rajasthani village of Pushkar, surrounded by hills and dunes, provides a stunning setting for the world's largest annual camel fair. The meeting of these animals and their brightly turbaned and colourfully veiled tribes-folk owners brings the arid deserts cape alive and a massive bazaar springs up to trade a myriad of items from lentils to jewellery. As well as the trading, camels, horses and cattle are paraded and raced and a circus and fairground rides entertain the masses. We will spend 2 days at the festival, drinking in the electric atmosphere of this unique gathering. The timing of the fair broadly coincides with a religious festival dedicated to the Hindu creator god Brahma. Pushkar is an important sacred spot for Hindus and during the festival its otherwise tranquil lake is engulfed with thousands of devotees bathing in its holy waters. |
| Trips: Rajasthan - Land of the Maharajahs & Moghul Highlights + Rajasthan - Land of the Maharajahs |
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Voodoo Festival: Benin |
Jan 2010 |
| Benin is the only country in which Voodoo is recognised as the official religion and, on 10th January each year, the town of Ouidah plays host to National Voodoo Day. The festival attracts religious practitioners and people from all over Benin and culminates with a gathering on the ‘way of no-return’ - the slave route to the beach, where the unfortunate victims were loaded aboard the slave ships. We’ll join the local voodoo adepts in honouring their slave ancestors as they began their final journey towards the New World. The echoes and ghosts of those infamous days still reverberate today in Ouidah’s Afro-Portuguese architecture, where we find voodoo temples sharing the same street as Catholic churches. We’ll visit the Python Temple, where Ouidah’s ancient snake cult is still very much in evidence. |
| Trip: Voodoo Villages |
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Day of the Dead: Mexico |
Nov 2010 |
| The origins of the Day of the Dead Festival can be traced back as far as the indigenous people of Mesoamerica. The Zapotecs, Mayans and Aztecs all had ancient rituals for celebrating the deaths of ancestors. The modern day festivities take place on 1st and 2nd November each year when it is believed to be easier for the souls of the departed to visit the living. Relatives gather in cemeteries, where they build private shrines and altars and bring along food, music and other sentimental items. One of the most common symbols of the Day of Dead is the skull which many people wear as masks during parades and festivities. The ceremonies are a fascinating insight into local culture and beliefs that stretch over millennia. |
| Trip: Indian Mexico |
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Paro & Thimpu Festivals: Bhutan |
Mar & Sep 2010 |
| Centred around its impressive dzong (monastic fortress), the Paro and Thimpu festivals see hundreds of Bhutanese gather in a carnival-like atmosphere. Dressed in brightly coloured robes of silk and brocade, the monks' perform a series of visually stunning and highly photogenic dances accompanied by traditional instruments such as cymbals, drums and long horns - all contributing to quite another-worldly atmosphere. Taking up-to-the minute local advice on the timing of different events, we will adapt our itinerary to spend the best part of a day at the festival where one of the highlights is the chance to mingle among the Bhutanese people who dress up in their finest traditional costume for the occasion. The climax of the festivals is the unfurling of a giant Thangka, three stories high. |
| Trip: Land of the Dragon |
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Naadam Festival – in Ulaan Baatar: Mongolia |
Jul 2010 |
| Every summer, Naadam, Mongolia's national games, are held over 2 days in the capital Ulaan Baatar. Still very much a nomadic people, Mongolians from all over the country converge on the capital to participate in and watch the competitions and an atmosphere of festive excitement descends on this normally sleepy city! Horse racing, wrestling and archery are the three age-old events which traditionally measured the courage strength and daring of nomads and warriors alike. Both men and women compete in archery and children, some as young as five, partake in the horse racing. We join the festival at its start in the grand Ulaan Baatar stadium where a colourful opening ceremony takes place before the contests begin. After time here we journey out of the city to join the melee at the horse racing grounds. |
| Trip: Land of the Great Khan |
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Naadam Festival – in Karakorum: Mongolia |
Jul 2010 |
| Every summer, Naadam, 'Mongolia's national games', are held over 2 days. This takes places not only in the capital Ulaan Baatar, but also at a number of more rural locations on a more intimate, and some would say, less commercial scale. We plan to enjoy the festivities at Karakorum, a small settlement in the steppelands where nomadic Mongolians from the surrounding area will converge to participate in and watch the competitions. Horse racing, wrestling and archery are the three age-old events which traditionally measured the courage strength and daring of nomads and warriors alike. Both men and women compete in archery and children, some as young as five, partake in the horse racing. We join in the festivities on both days – events will be taking place over a small area and the timetable will be left flexible at what is sure to be an enjoyable and incredibly photogenic event. |
| Trip: Land of the Great Khan |
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Ladakh's Hemis Festival: India |
Jul 2010 |
| The courtyard of Hemis Gompa, the largest and wealthiest Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, is the stage for its famous festival, a colourful pageant held to celebrate the birthday of Guru Padmasambhava, founder of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery's monks perform a series of visually stunning masked dances and sacred plays to the accompaniment of cymbals, drums and long horns. The intricate brocades and tapestry of their robes and the brightly painted, often fierce-looking masks worn by the monks to represent the guardian divinities of the Buddhist world, all combine to help create another-worldly feel to the spectacle. We plan to spend the best part of one day at the festival where one of the other highlights is the chance to mingle among the Ladakhi people who dress up in their finest traditional clothes for the occasion - be sure to bring your camera along! |
| Trip: Little Tibet |
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Ladakh's Phyang Festival: India |
Jul 2010 |
| Stunningly sited on a small hilltop not far from Leh, Phyang Gompa (monastery) is the setting for a colourful annual festival. Sacred in their meaning, a series of visually stunning masked dances and sacred plays are performed by the monasteries monks, to the accompaniment of cymbals, drums and long horns. The intricate brocades and tapestry of their robes and the brightly painted, often fierce-looking masks worn by the monks to represent the guardian divinities of the Buddhist world, all combine to help create an other-worldly feel to the spectacle. We plan to spend the best part of one day at the festival where one of the other highlights is the chance to mingle among the Ladakhi people who dress up in their finest traditional clothes for the occasion - be sure to bring your camera along! |
| Trip: Little Tibet |
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San Anton Festival: Spain |
Jan 2010 |
| Taking place every January in the Andalucian village of Canillas de Albaida, the San Anton festival is a great opportunity to experience the exuberance of a typical rural Spanish fiesta and is especially important to local animal owners. A life-sized statue of San Anton, the village’s patron saint, is paraded through the streets on a flower strewn ox cart to the village centre. On the saint's behalf, the village priest blesses hundreds of domestic animals brought here from far and wide. The majority of these are the renowned Andalucian horses of which the people are immensely proud. As the horses are blessed with a sprinkle of water they race away up the road: it is quite a sight! After the saint returns to his chapel the party begins in earnest – fireworks, music and dancing, local specialities are cooked and consumed long into the night along with plenty of wine. |
| Trip: Moorish Trails |
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Timkat Festival: Ethiopia |
FESTIVAL DEPARTURE FULL |
| The Ark of the Covenant may have been Indiana Jones' ultimate conquest, but it is also Ethiopia's holiest relic, believed to lie within the sacred city of Axum and watched over night and day by a devoted guardian. Every year replicas of this famous Ark, known as tabots, are paraded around towns throughout the country during one of Ethiopia's most colourful festivals, Timkat. In this, the world's second oldest Christian country, vibrantly dressed Orthodox priests use these tabots to sanctify pools of water, which are then used to bless the awaiting multitudes. It is a truly memorable time to be in Ethiopia and this departure is scheduled to coincide with the festival in the ancient city of Lalibela, among the rock-cut churches which are surely one of the world's most remarkable archaeological sites. |
| Trip: Blue Nile & Lalibela |
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