Release the madness
Mazda magazine
Published on Thursday March 1, 2007
Festivals are a time to let out the pent-up frustrations of our daily lives. Chris Alden rounds up the world’s wildest and most furious.
1. Holi, India
You’re standing in your Indian hotel room, staring at yourself in the mirror, and wondering what on earth is staring back. There is multicoloured dye all over your face, your clothes, your hair – even coming out of your ears. You’ve no idea how this stuff is
going to wash off. But you’ve a smile on your face, and no wonder. You’ve just experienced your first Holi.
Holi is the Hindu “festival of colours” – celebrated each March all over India, but with special fervour in the north. The night before, people meet in the streets and build huge bonfires – thought to commemorate the burning of a demoness, Holika, who perished after using her immunity from fire for an evil purpose. Then, on the day itself, they smear a dye called “gulal” over the faces of friends and strangers, and – shouting “Holi Hai!” – they throw balloons filled with coloured water at everyone they meet. In Haryana in the west, they form human pyramids to smash pots of buttermilk that are suspended in the air.
No one knows the origin of Holi, but the festival is thought to herald the arrival of spring, and celebrate the triumph of good over evil. One story describes how the god Krishna, who had blue skin, asked his mother why his beloved Radha had paler skin than
him. His mother said it didn’t matter: if he painted her face with dyes, it could be any colour at all.
Holi is a kind of leveller: a time when people of different ages and backgrounds throw aside their inhibitions, if only for a short time. Travellers can only join in.
March 3, 2007
2. Puck Fair, Killorglin, Ireland
It’s not every day you attend the coronation of a wild animal – but for the inhabitants of Killorglin in the west of Ireland, it’s the most normal thing in the world. Each year they celebrate “Puck Fair”, a three-day festival in which the guest of honour is none
other than a goat from the nearby hills.
But before you can crown a goat, you’ve got to catch one – so a week or so before the festival, the town sends a team of goat-catchers out to lasso a male goat and bring him
back. Not any old billy will do: it has to be a fine specimen, with huge horns and a healthy coat. But once they’ve got their goat, a girl known as the “Queen of Puck” will crown the animal – which becomes “King Puck” for the remainder of the party. The new
member of royalty is placed in a high cage in the centre of the town, where he is fed on grass, cabbage leaves and water – while watching his subjects drinking and dancing until the small hours every night.
But the goat’s reign cannot last forever. On the final day of the festival the goat is dethroned – and a midnight firework display brings the festival to a close.
August 10-12
3. Il Palio, Siena, Italy
The scene: the vast 13th-century Piazza del Campo in the city of Siena, filled with thousands of excited Italians in the height of summer. The competitors: 10 racehorses, each wearing the symbol of one of the historic “contrade”, or wards, of the city – be it Aquila the eagle, Pantera the panther, or Lupa the wolf. The aim: to run round the square and become the horse to finish first – regardless of whether your jockey is still on board – and to take home “Il Palio”, a banner for the victor in the wildest and craziest
horse race in the world.
As the jockeys wait on the start line for the race, they are putting the finishing touches to months of preparation – often arranging last-minute deals between rivals to block a fellow rider out of the running. These rivalries may be historical – Aquila and Pantera, for example, are traditional enemies – though with 17 contrade in the city and two races a year, not everyone gets to race every time. For that extra bit of help, locals from each district will have brought their horse into a local church that morning to be blessed – an event worth watching in itself.
The race itself is over in just over a minute – at which point the contrada with the winning horse will become the scene for a riotous victory celebration that will last deep into the night. But so everyone gets to join in the fun, every contrada holds a “rehearsal” party the night before the race – just in case.
July 2, August 16
4. Naked festival, Japan
If you’ve never seen thousands of nearly naked men indulging in a mass bundle on a freezing night, then you’ve never been to Okayama in Japan. The temple at Saidai-ji near the city is home to this most strange of festivals, the “Hadaka Matsuri”, in which the 10,000 men – each wearing only a Sumo-style loincloth to protect their modesty, and chanting “Wasshoi! Wasshoi!” – first run through freezing cold water, then do battle over a pair of sacred scented sticks called “shingi”, which are tossed into the crowd at midnight by a Shinto priest. In case you’re thinking of trying it, be careful: there are no rules of any kind, and injuries are commonplace.
Just to make things even more dangerous, the lights are turned off at the stroke of midnight – and the odd decoy charm is thrown into the crowd, to give the men something else to fight over. But if by some miracle you find the all-important shingi and put them
in a box called a “masu”, you’re the “lucky man” and are blessed with a year of happiness – and your feat will be repeated on Japanese TV for days to come.
February 17 2007
5. Rocket War, Chios, Greece
Easter in Greece is traditionally celebrated with fireworks and midnight church services, but if you happen to find yourself in the village of Vrotandos, on the island of Chios, then you’d better take cover – as people in two rival parishes celebrate by aiming their
fireworks at the opposing faction’s church. Villagers sound sirens to let bystanders know that the rockets are about to be fired – then shoot them across the village, the aim being to hit the bells of Ayios Marcos (St Mark’s) or the clockface of Panayia Erethianis, as mass is celebrated inside. Upwards of 25,000 rockets are released in a single night.
The festival has been going on since the 19th century, but fires and injuries are not uncommon, so adopt a vantage point in the nearby hills – and watch the mayhem from a safe distance. And if you’re planning to come, be aware that Greek Easter is not always the same day as English Easter – although in 2007, they coincide.
April 8 2007
6. Las Fallas, Valencia, Spain
Valencians often live in the shadow of their neighbours from Barcelona – but not in the third week of March, when they celebrate “Las Fallas”, or “The Fires”, one of the noisiest and most spectacular fiestas in Spain. Locals from all over the city build
hundreds of huge satirical effigies known as “fallas”, mounted on boards stuffed with firecrackers; then, after four days of parties, parades and earth-shaking firework displays, they set fire to them at midnight on the cacophonous final day.
Las Fallas began life as the celebration of the feast day of Saint Joseph – he’s the patron saint not only of the city of Valencia, but also of carpenters. In medieval times, it is said that the craftsmen would burn offcuts to celebrate the coming of spring, but
these days they fare better out if it: there is an entire industry devoted to making the “ninots”, or figurines, that make up the completed fallas. Each ninot is elaborately carved from wood, wax and papier mache, and may depict a political figure, a cartoon
character or celebrity – and the best ninot in the city is saved from the flames by popular vote.
But Las Fallas is about more than just the burning of the fallas. Each day during the festival, the city enjoys a “mascleta” in the main Plaza del Ayuntamiento – a daytime firework display that has to be felt to be believed, and leaves the square filled with
smoke and your ears reverberating with the noise. There are also marching bands, parades – including one, the Ofrenda, in which thousands of “falleras”, female representatives of Las Fallas, march through the city in traditional costume to bedeck a Madonna with flowers – and there are street parties going off at all times of day and night. Go, enjoy it – but pack some ear plugs, just in case.
March 1-19, 2007
7. Festival of the Snake-Catchers, Cocullo, Italy
On March 19 each year, at the same time as Valencians are preparing to burn months of fruitful labour to ashes (above), the villagers of Cocullo in Abruzzo, Italy, are indulging in a ritual no less strange – and no less dangerous. The locals of this Italian
hamlet spend their St Joseph’s day in the fields around the village, catching snakes; a ritual they continue to follow for several weeks, in preparation for the bizarre “snake festival” they hold later in the year.
On the first Thursday in May, the town awakes to firework barrage at 8am – and then at midday, a procession is held to honour St Dominic, thought to have power over snakes. Villagers take their snakes and put them round their necks, and parade behind a stone statue of the saint. The snakes – all in theory non-poisonous – are then draped around the statue – before being released back into the fields for another year.
May 3 2007
8. La Tomatina, Buñol, Spain
There is little in life more satisfying than throwing a tomato at someone and hearing it go splat – but as an adult, there aren’t many opportunities to indulge such pleasures. Enter La
Tomatina: a vast, officially sanctioned tomato fight that takes place in the town of Buñol on the fourth Wednesday of August.
The start of the festival is as bizarre as the main event. Officials dangle a ham from the top of a greased pole – and only once an athletic lunatic has climbed up and removed it can a cannon sound for the games to begin. Truckloads of tomatoes are driven among the crowds – your cue to paint the town, and its people, red.
No one can say for sure how La Tomatina started, but anyone can tell you that if you give 40,000 people 100,000kg of tomatoes and tell them to make their own fun, the result will be a mess. Shopkeepers protect their storefronts from the onslaught, while people wear as little as possible to avoid ruining their clothes – but after an hour or so of mayhem, the cannon is sounded and the clean-up job begins. Water cannons are fired into the streets – and revellers go to the river to cool off.
August 29 2007
9. Pamplona bull run, Spain
A third of the examples in our list occur in Spain, and there’s a reason for that: the Spanish are mad for festivals, and the festivals are as mad as they are. But nothing is as mad as the most famous of all Spain’s festivals: the “running of the bulls” in the Basque town of Pamplona.
The bull-run, or “encierro”, was never intended to be the focal point of the festival – bulls were being transferred to the ring for the bullfights, when people started to run alongside – but these days it’s the main event. At the sound of a rocket at eight o’clock
in the morning, six fighting bulls and a herd of tame steers are released into a cordoned-off half-mile of streets on the way to the ring – and people attempt to run for a distance of around 50 yards in front of the fast-moving animals, before getting out of their way as they run past. It’s highly dangerous, and in the past century 14 people have been killed, so if you are thinking of running, take advice from the locals: don’t do it drunk, and if you fall over, stay down – it’s better to be trampled than gored.
Animal rights campaigners say the Pamplona bull run is cruel to animals – and they’ve introduced their own anti-bullrun, the “running of the nudes”, in which people run the course without clothes (or bulls). But as a spectacle and a test of nerve, the
more famous encierro is still perhaps the most emblematic festival in all Spain.
July 7-14 2007
View Chris Alden's journalism portfolio
Commenting is closed for this article.
All content © Chris Alden. Original design by Andy Brockie, adapted by Chris Alden over the years.