10 weirdest festivals in Europe

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Do you like to have an unusual time traveling? Here's a list of 10 of the weirdest festivals in Europe that you can visit. You won't believe what some people are willing to do just for the sake of having fun.

Eh, Europe, you have brought a lot of new things into this world: culture, food, drinks, democracy, Eurovision. But besides that, you gave people a number of the most unusual festivals on planet Earth.

These holidays are so unpredictable and varied that everyone can find something funny in them. How do you, for example, offer to raft down the river on a pumpkin? Or take part in the tomato battle? Or maybe you would like to swallow a meter of black pudding? All this is, and even more …

Here are 10 of the most unusual, in our opinion, festivals in Europe that you can visit.

Swamp Diving Championship, UK

Today, swamp swimming is a popular international competition, for which hundreds of participants from all over the world gather. This event takes place at the end of August in Lanourtide Wells, Wales.

The competition is a swim in two ditches filled with water and connected by a peat bog. According to the rules, participants should not use their usual swimming styles, but they must wear fins, a mask and a snorkel.

Those who are not good at swimming are offered to cross a peat bog about two meters deep by bicycle.

Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race, UK

It is not joke! The boats are really made from pudding (flour, water and eggs). True, they are varnished on top to repel water. And then they are floated down the river. Children with paddles control these flimsy constructions.

This kind of competition was invented by a certain Simon Thackrei when he was looking at the water. The guy thought it would be great to go down the river in a pudding boat. He brought his idea to life, and it stuck.

The event takes place in early June in the small town of Browby, North Yorkshire.

Pumpkin Festival, Germany

If you've ever dreamed of rafting down the river on a pumpkin, then you should visit Ludwigsburg in Germany in the fall.

In total, about 400 thousand pumpkins of 500 different types are involved in this holiday. These pumpkins are used to assemble different figures on a given theme. For example, last year's themes are Jurassic Park (pumpkin dinosaurs), Egypt (pumpkin pharaohs) and the ocean (pumpkin whales).

If the exhibition is not enough, you can take part in boat races, where giant pumpkins are used instead of floating means. Such pumpkins can weigh up to 300 kilograms, so the swim turns into a competition for those who stay afloat longer and do not turn over.

La Tomatina, Spain

This is one of the most famous unusual festivals in the world. And one of the craziest holidays ever. The food battle takes place on the last Wednesday of August in the small town of Buñol, near Valencia.

Participants gather in the central square at 11 am and the Palo Jamon game begins. The object of the game is to climb to the top of a two-story tall, soapy pillar and drop down the pork leg that is anchored at the top.

As soon as someone succeeds, the tomatoes are unloaded from the trucks and the real carnage begins. The chaos lasts exactly an hour, then for a few more days the streets of the city are washed of tomatoes.

Keep in mind: if you want to attend this event, do not wear clothes that you would be sorry to throw away.

Cheese Run, UK

Presumably, once upon a time, a man of genius climbed to the top of Coopers Hill and thought: "It would be great to throw down nine pounds of cheese and run after them!" There is also a version that the festival is associated with an ancient pagan rite: things were rolled down the hill to make the soil fertile.

Today, history is not so important, because this annual spring festival attracts more than 15 thousand people who want to participate in the chase of cheese.

Basically, each race is like this: cheese is thrown from the top of a mountain, participants fall and roll down the hill after him, and ambulances await everyone below.

Naturally, the number of injuries is huge, so the further fate of this event is now being decided by the health and safety authorities.

El Colacho, Spain

Another unusual ritual comes from Spain, more precisely, from the town of Castillo de Murcia. One man, a local, is given the dubious honor of disguising himself as the devil, going out and jumping over the rows of babies laid out on the road ahead of time. Interestingly, the life of children depends on the strength of this person's legs, so this is a very responsible task.

Why do they do this in Spain?

It all started in 1620 on the Catholic Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. The ritual is designed to protect newborns from diseases, the evil eye and evil spirits.

Wife Transfer Championship, Finland

To win the competition in Sonkajärvi, you need to get your wife to the finish line the fastest. But this is not just another race in a straight line, this is an obstacle course. The track is replete with fences, heaps of sand, there is even a pool that you need to swim across.

The task is further complicated by the fact that only a few ways of carrying wives are allowed: the fireman's way (the wife is on the shoulder) and the Estonian way (the wife hangs upside down, clasping her husband's neck with her legs, and holds her husband's waist with her hands).

What is the prize, you ask? The winner gets as much beer as his wife weighs.

Orange battle, Italy

At this festival, the inhabitants of the small town of Ivrea dress up in medieval costumes and reproduce an ancient battle. True, only oranges are allowed as weapons.

According to the legend, this festival symbolizes the uprising of the inhabitants of the city against the cruel tyrant. The people who throw oranges from the carts are the tyrant's guards, and those below are the revolting townspeople.

Pig Festival, France

The village of Tri-sur-Baise is known throughout France for producing the highest quality pork. And it is no coincidence that the La Pourcailhade pig festival originated here, which takes place every second Sunday in August.

There are many entertainments on this holiday. For example, you can try different foods, participate in choosing the best pig costume, place bets in a pig race, and participate in a speed sausage eating competition.

But the main highlight of the festival is the battle of pig breeders, where the jury evaluates all stages of the pig's life on the farm: from birth to ham.

By the way, on the same holiday, there are competitions in eating black pudding. Participants must eat one meter of this very delicacy.

Fire Festival, UK

The most unusual fire festival in the world - Up Helly Aa - takes place in the city of Lerwick, Scotland.

At the end of January, for one day, this city is filled with people disguised as Vikings. These people are pulling a drakkar - a Viking warship - in its life size through the streets. After the drakkar is delivered to the appointed place, it is burned.

By the way, for these purposes a new ship is built every year. When the boat turns to ashes, there are mass festivities with dancing and drinking. They run all over Lerwick and continue until the early hours of the morning.

Which festival would you like to attend?