Festivals around the world

Festivals around the world,
As long as people have lived together in communities, festivals are unavoidable, it seems we have had a longing to celebrate together as a group. Festival celebrations take place in all cultures, all over the globe and for lots of different reasons. Religion, music, food...etc
Many of the world’s biggest festivals have their basis in religion. A special occasion of feasting and celebration, feasts have long been used by religious followers to honor Gods. Some of the most famous religious festivals include Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Passover, Easter, Holi and Eid al-Adha, which all serve to mark out the year.

Let’s see some of the colorful festivals

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The Holi Festival in India is definitely the most colorful. Also known as the Color Throwing Festival, it takes place in March every year. It is observed by Hindus and Sikhs, with bonfires being lit and colored powder and water being thrown at one another for a truly unforgettable sight.

Holy week procession of Semana Santa in Antigua: To mark the start of Holy Week, towns throughout Guatemala host celebrations featuring giant floats with enormous statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, wafting incense, and sumptuous costumes. Here, local residents Line Street after street with intricately woven alfombras (carpets), all made by hand using flowers, brightly dyed sawdust, and palm fronds, and planned months in advance.

​Songkran in Bangkok  welcoming of the Buddhist New Year in Thailand. It’s also celebrated across Southeast Asia, albeit under different names and on slightly different dates. the festival’s best known for its water fights. Wide water fight, with entire communities hitting the streets with water pistols, water balloons, and buckets of water to hurl at each other.

The Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival is one of the largest Buddhist festivals in Myanmar. The festival is held from the first day of the waxing moon to the third day after the full moon of Thadingyut, or September and October in the western calendar. The celebrations continue for more than 20 days around the lake in an ornate, gilded barge pulled by traditional longboats and manned by hundreds of rowers. The barge stops for a night at each village around the lake, where it’s welcomed with music, dancing, feasts, and a ceremony in the village monastery. 

In January or February each year, Québec City embraces the cold as residents and visitors take to its brightly illuminated streets for a warming winter festival. For two weeks, the carnival features two night-time parades led by its cheerful mascot, Bonhomme (‘good-natured man’), whose huge ice palace is built and sculpted specially each year and acts as a focal point for the festivities.

Source: Willi-Blog post, UNESCO, Traveler blog posts

Todays Massk Family Coffee Break Reminder:
"Live every day positive, turn your life in to every day as if it is a festival of celebration".
We Ethiopians are experiencing every day a holiday witness by our colorful  coffee ceremony.