June events around the world
Africa
Festival of World Sacred Music, Morocco
The ’beacon of peace from the Islamic world’ hosts a number of varied international acts at this music festival in the medieval city of Fes – past performers include Ravi Shankar, Salif Keita, English chamber choirs, Japanese court musicians and Spanish flamenco artists
Gnawa and World Music Festival, Morocco
Essaouira hosts this festival of world music and that from the Gnawas – a spiritual brotherhood that mixes animist, Berber and Arab influences to create a hypnotic sound
International Roots Festival, The Gambia
This relatively new event in Banjul focuses on black culture – with drumming, music, fashion shows and a film festival
Australasia and the Pacific
Queenstown Winter Festival, New Zealand
More than 30 years old this event marks the start of Queenstown’s winter season with daytime activities such as mountain biking, snowman-making and dog-racing and nighttime music gigs, comedy shows, firework displays and dinner balls
The Dreaming, Australia
Four hundred performers from 120 indigenous nations and language groups perform at this international indigenous festival named after a period in Aboriginal mythology – held at Woodford it’s a great opportunity to learn about non-Western belief systems
Caribbean
Accompong Maroon Festival, Jamaica
Ceremonies and processions with singing, dancing, drumming, feasting and drinking take place throughout the day in St Elizabeth for this festival to mark the signing of a peace treaty and the end of the First Maroon War
Europe
Aix-en-Provence Festival, France
Aix-en-Provence hosts France’s best-curated classical music and opera festival with world-class performers and artists on the stages of some of Europe’s finest music venues, including Théâtre de l’Archevêché
Art Basel, Switzerland
For over five days Basel hosts the biggest arts fair of its kind, attended by the industry as a must and equally loved by amateur collectors and the simply curious – venues across town show painting, sculpture, drawings, installations, video and digital media
Battala dos Vinos, Spain
This full blown water fight replaces the water with wine – specifically Rioja – and the drenching in Biliblio marks a medieval property dispute and dates back 300 years
Bloomsday, Ireland
Celebrating the life of James Joyce, his masterpiece Ulysses and its protagonist, Leopold Bloom, Bloomsday sees Joyceans dress in Edwardian costume and visit locations around Dublin from the novel and many pubs too
Canelli under Attack, Italy
Commemorating the Siege of Canelli in 1613 the town puts on a reconstruction, dressing as the troops of the time, they repel ’invaders’, monks make torchlight processions and restaurants serve period food
Common Ridings, United Kingdom
Scottish Border towns celebrate this little-known festival each summer with dawn patrols on the town’s boundaries on horseback to strengthen ties and camaraderie – a drum and fife band play through the streets to stir locals out of bed and there’s much rum drinking through the day
El Colacho, Spain
This ’baby-jumping festival’ in Castilla y León features men, dressed in red and yellow to depict the devil, jump over several babies in an attempt to draw out any evil spirits – just hope it doesn’t go wrong...
Festa do São António, Portugal
Lisbon celebrates it favourite saint, St Anthony, by decorating streets in coloured lanterns and holding street parties – the event marks the start of other saint-focused celebrations around the country
Festa do São João, Portugal
Portugal’s second city, Porto, holds a spectacular street part to celebrate midsummer, eating, drinking and dancing as they welcome in the city’s saint’s day – marked itself with a regatta of traditional boats on the Rio Douro
Fiesta de Sant Joan, Menorca, Spain
The equestrian event in Ciutadella, Menorca, attracts thousands of people and numerous riders on black stallions who race and joust on the way through the narrow streets, celebrating midsummer and St John
Glastonbury Festival, United Kingdom
Today’s best music festival anywhere, Glastonbury attracts a range of musicians with something for everyone – its setting in a Druid landscape adds to the atmosphere and lends itself to the tree-hugging brigade
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
Independence Day, Iceland
Celebrating the end of 700 years of Danish rule in 1944, this day is marked with children’s parades in the morning and bands playing through the night, while the afternoon is spent socialising in outdoor hot pools
Isle of White Festival, United Kingdom
Held at a different location to the legendary Sixties festival, this commercial event still attracts large acts and big stars, while the atmosphere and weather mark it out from Britain other summer music festivals
Lajkonik Festival, Poland
Commemorating a thirteenth century legelnd of a Krakow raftsman defeating a Mongolian warrior, the event sees one local dress in Mongolian robes and ride a hobbyhorse through town – dancing and greeting crowds
Midsummer Celebrations, Finland, Sweden, Estonia
Finland celebrates midsummer with a clear-out of the home, birch sprig decorations, bonfires of scrap wood and parties – Sweden decorates ’maypoles’ and dances round them – Estonia extends celebrations into Jaanipäev for four days of mayhem and numerous events
Prague Spring Music Festival, Czech Republic
Over three weeks in May and June Prague hosts a delightful classical music festival in which the best stars perform to devoted audiences – meanwhile the capital itself provides the perfect romantic backdrop to proceedings
Regatta of St Ranieri, Italy
Pisa holds a 1,500m race along River Arno for four rowboats, decorated to represent different districts, which ends when they cross the line and one crewmember scales the mast to reach a silk banner
Regatta of the Four Maritime Republics, Italy
A pageant and boat race, held to commemorate past success, takes place between the four maritime republics of Italy – Amalfi, Genoa, Pisa and Venice – with the crowd dressing in period costume
Romeria del Rocio, Spain
The most spectacular Andalucian holy pilgrimage sees a million people come to pay respect to the statue of the Virgin of the Dew, which is paraded after mass – the event has a fairground and family atmospher
Royal Ascot, United Kingdom
Royal Ascot is the race meeting of the year, all showy hats, champagne and binoculars – lasting five days, Thursday is Ladies’ Day and also when the most prestigious race of the 30, the Gold Cup is run
Schützenfest, Germany
Germany’s largest municipal fair takes place each year in Hanover and includes a number of events – kids activities, decorated floats, fireworks, marching bands and civilised drinking
Sónar, Spain
Around 80,000 electronica aficionados descend on Barcelona to discover new musical genres such as ’digital concretism’ at venues like the Museum of Contemporary Art while at night the city becomes clubber heaven
Summer Solstice, United Kingdom
Stonehenge attracts the largest crowds of those that want to see in dawn with white-robed druids, while similar celebrations take place at Avebury, Edinburgh and the Ring of Brodgar on the Orkney Island
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
White Nights, Russia
For four weeks in June and July the sun never quite sets on St Petersburg, leaving a pearly twilight in which restaurants and bars stay open, streets stay busy and concerts, theatre and ballet are performed
Wimbledon, United Kingdom
The fortnight-long grand slam tennis tournament, the only one on grass, runs through the last week of June and first of July, and apart from the tennis, there’s lots of strawberries and cream and lashings of Pimm’s
Far East
Duanwu Jié, China
Colourful boats take to China’s rivers, decorated to look like dragons to take part in races which commemorate a poet-statesman, Qu Yuan, who hurled himself into the river in 278 BC attempting to protect his land and people
Indian Subcontinent & Indian Ocean
Chariot Festival, India
This is the biggest festival of its kind, with a huge chariot for each deity celebrated – Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra – which is pulled by thousands from the Jagannath temple in Puri to outside town and back again
Hemis, India
Held in order to honour the founder of Tibetan Buddhism, this event is most spectacular in Hemis, Ladakh, where parades and masked dances celebrate the triumph of good over evil
Latin America
Boi Bumba, Brazil
A two-day boat trip from ’nearby’ Manaus takes revellers to this remotest of festival on an island deep in the Amazonian jungle, which also happens to be one of South America’s greatest, all parades, pageantry and dancing
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
Inti Raymi, Peru
Marking the winter solstice, this event, important since Inca times, now attracts 200,000 people to a three-hour ceremony at Sacsayhuamán that re-enacts Inca rituals amongst the ruins
Los Diablos Danzantes, Venezuela
Fuelled by rum, dancers dress as devils and revel madly to mark Pentecost in mix of African heritage and Christianity – church services and parades are further efforts to ward off evil and cleanse the community, with Caracas putting on a good show
North America
Pride Week, United States of America
A flamboyant parade down Fifth Avenue, New York, follows a week of parties held to demonstrate the pride of the gay community in itself and lifestyles – as well as the ability to throw a good party
