August events around the world
Africa
Cure Salée, Niger
This traditional festival in the Agadez region comes just after the rains and sees men take part in a male beauty pageant, decorating their faces with paints to accentutate their best features
Famadihana, Madagascar
Malagasy culture is firmly rooted in respect for its ancestors and this ritual sees the living exhume the dead, rewrapping them in scarves and spraying them with perfume – the crowd will dance as they pass the bodies overhead, then sit in contemplation with them before returning them to their tombs with offerings
Maherero Day, Namibia
The Herero put on traditional dress and parade through Okahandja to commemorate their war dead following conflicts with tribal rivals, the Nama, and near extinction from German colonialists – all the stranger then that the women’s costumes are based on German missionaries
Maralal Camel Derby, Kenya
The remote town of Maralal is taken over by dozens of camels in the lead up to this highly competitive event where the handlers race them over 42 kilometres – visitors can take part in an amateur race around town
Australasia & Pacific
Mount Isa Rodeo, Australia
The most remote inland city in Australia, Mount Isa, hosts this big rodeo event each August – people come from across the country and overseas, while other activities include a music festival and beauty pageant
Caribbean
Crop Over, Barbados
Bridgetown marks the end of Barbados’ sugar harvest with a spectacular festival of parades, calypso concerts and rum-based parties
Europe
The Big Chill, United Kingdom
Drawing in around twice as many revellers as Latitude in July, this music festival by Eastnor Castle remains relatively relaxed and features alternative and acoustic bands, world music, dance DJs and up and coming acts
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, United Kingdom
Ashton Court acts as the staging post for this four-day hot air balloon extravaganza in which hundreds of balloons – some weird and wonderful – are launched skywards, while motorbike stunts, camel racers and musicians perform on terra firma
Cowes Week, United Kingdom
Around 1,000 boats for 8,000 competitors head to Cowes on the Isle of Wight each year for this eight-day regatta, the biggest in the world – and lots of live music, drinking and parties take place all week in town
Dragacevo Trumpet Festival, Serbia
This is the world’s largest trumpet festival in the world and each year the huge variety in acts and styles is put on show on various stages, while at the same time other art and cultural events take place throughout town
Edinburgh Festival, United Kingdom
The largest arts festival in the world includes three weeks of music, opera, dance and theatre in venues around the city – meanwhile the Edinburgh Fringe is put on at the same time and attracts similar crowd numbers to its cutting-edge, experimental routines
Gäuboden Volksfest, Germany
More than one million people descend on Straubing in the centre of the Gäuboden region for the country’s second largest beer festival after Munich’s Oktoberfest – food stalls, band stages, fairground rides and sausages are also on offer
Glyndebourne Festival Opera, United Kingdom
A beautiful, 700-year-old stately home in Glyndebourne hosts this festival of six operas throughout the English summer, with the very best international singers, conductors and orchestras performing and some exquisite picnics
Gotland Medieval Week, Sweden
For one week Gotland commemorates a mid-fourteenth century battle with the Danish, with music, dance, medieval markets, and, at its centre, a jousting tournament, before culminating in a huge banquet with jugglers and fire-eaters
Il Palio, Italy
Siena’s holds its legendary bareback horserace each year in July and August, in which participants from opposing districts take a two-minute dash around the boundary of the Piazza del Campo – celebrations continue through the night
Inter-Celtic Festival, France
About 350,000 people head for Lorient, one of the largest Celtic gatherings anywhere, for this celebration involving around 4,500 musicians, singers, dancers, artists, film-makers and other performers
International Bagpipe Festival, Czech Festival
This four-day festival is dedicated to the various forms and styles of bagpipe blowing, with a procession at its centre through Strakonice to the castle, where most of the other events take place
La Pourcailhade, France
The Pig Festival in Trie Sur Baïse sees the town celebrate everything to do with pork – some events include the Piglet Race, a Black Pudding Eating competition and a Pig Squealing Championship – for human mimics
La Tomatina, Spain
One of the most raucous, and certainly messiest, festivals in the world, this event in Buñol sees 30,000 people fill the streets to hurl 130,000 kilos of over-ripe tomatoes at one another in an hour-long food fight
Notting Hill Carnival, United Kingdom
Over the August Bank Holiday weekend the streets of London’s Notting Hill fill with one of the world’s largest carnivals and processions – the smells of jerk chicken waft through the air, soca and reggae form a beat, and revellers blow on their whistles
Salzburg Festival, Austria
One of Europe’s most acclaimed arts events, Salzburg’s music festival is highly focused on Mozart, but includes plenty of other genres, some modern day, as well as a number of theatre productions
Sziget Festival, Hungary
This music festival takes place over one week on a lovely green island in the middle of the Danube – big name acts like Radiohead play alongside home-grown Hungarian bands, making it one of the cross-genre festivals anywhere
Verona Opera Festival, Italy
The 2,000-year-old Arena di Verona – the Roman amphitheatre once a stage to gladiators and medieval games -hosts spectacular opera performances in the land of the maestro and diva from June to August
Westmann Islands’ Festival, Iceland
This music festival is held on a volcanic outcrop just off Iceland’s south coast – all smoking volcanoes, big bonfires, drinking and dance
Far East
Chung Yuan, China
Held halfway through the ’Ghost Month’, the Chinese hold this party to appease the spirits – lanterns appear everywhere, hung up or floating on water, chairs are reserved for the dead at banquets and operas, and pyres are burnt at night
Qi Xi, China
The Chinese equivalent of Valentine’s Night sees girls try to impress potential partners by showing off their skills in various domestic tasks and colourful processions
Indian Subcontinent & Indian Ocean
Esala Perahera, Sri Lanka
This 1,600 year old ten-day festival honours the Buddha’s tooth with a series of spectacular night time parades by drummers, dancers, torch bearers, whip-wielders, fire-eaters and more than a hundred costumed elephants
Onam, India
Kerala celebrates the harvest with a festival of music, dance and food, centred on snakeboat races – in which up to 150 rowers compete to win and look good
Latin America
Bumba Meu Boi, Brazil
This event was the origin for Boi Bumba and takes place in São Luís, northeastern Brazil, and is a song and dance spectacular to commemorate a farmhand and his wife saved from execution by shamans and healers
Festival of the Assumption of the Virgin, Mexico
This is Pamplona’s Running of the Bulls for real men, apparently – Huamantla spends two weeks partying in the lead up to the Assumption of the Virgin – which is itself celebrated by a flower-strewn procession – before bulls are let loose in nine locations for four hours of mayhem
North America
Elvis Week, United States of America
Memphis, Tennessee, celebrates the anniversary of the death of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll with various events around Graceland, such as trivia treasure hunts, music and film nights and a massive merchandise and memorabilia fair
