Festivals you have to attend at least once in a lifetime

La Tomatina, Spain

La Tomatina is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, Spain, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes. Since 1945 it has been held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Buñol.

Usually, the fight lasts for an hour, after which the whole town square has been covered with tomato paste. Fire trucks then hose down the streets and participants often use hoses that locals provide to remove the tomato paste from their bodies. Some participants go to the pool of “los peñones” to wash. Afterwards, the village cobblestone streets are completely clean due to the acidity of the tomato disinfecting and thoroughly cleaning the surfaces

Until a few years ago the numbers visiting the Tomatina festival were large but manageable. However, in recent times the event has become a victim of its own success with upwards of 50,000 people trying to cram themselves into this small Valencian town which has inevitably caused security concerns. As a result the town council of Bunyol have been forced to limit numbers by issuing tickets to those wishing to take part. Tickets cost €10 each and can be reserved and printed out on the Bunyol Town Council website.

Día de Muertos, Mexico

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico.It is acknowledged internationally in many other cultures. The multi-day holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died, and help support their spiritual journey.

In 2008, the tradition was inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) 2017 in Mexico will begin on Tuesday, 31 October and end on Thursday, 2 November. Prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century, the celebration took place at the beginning of summer. Gradually, it was associated with October 31, November 1 and November 2 to coincide with the Western Christian triduum of Allhallowtide: All Saints' Eve, All Saints' Day, and  All Souls' Day.

Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas, honoring the deceased using calaveras, aztec marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.Visitors also leave possessions of the deceased at the grave.

Originally, the Day of the Dead as such was not celebrated in northern Mexico, where it was unknown until the 20th century because its indigenous people had different traditions. The people and the church rejected it as a day related to syncretizing pagan elements with Catholic Christianity. They held the traditional 'All Saints' Day' in the same way as other Christians in the world.

Carnaval, Rio, Brazil

Carnival of Brazil (Portuguese: Carnaval do Brasil, IPA:  is an annual Brazilian festival held between the Friday afternoon (51 days before Easter) and Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter. On certain days of Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival," from carnelevare, "to remove (literally, "raise"),meat.

Carnival in Sao Paulo 2017 began on

Friday, 17 February and ended on Sunday, 5 March.Carnival is the most famous holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions. Except for industrial production, retail establishments such as malls, and carnival-related businesses, the country unifies completely for almost a week and festivities are intense, day and night, mainly in coastal cities.Rio de Janeiro's carnival draws around 5 million people, with 400,000 being foreigners.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year,also known as the "Spring Festival"in modern Mainland China, is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Celebrations traditionally run from the evening preceding the first day, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first calendar month. The first day of the New Year falls on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February.

In 2017, the first day of the Chinese New Year was on Saturday, 28 January, initiating the year of the Rooster.Friday, 16 February,Chinese New Year 2018. The New Year festival is centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and customs. Traditionally, the festival was a time to honor deities as well as ancestors.

Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore,Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mauritius and Australia,and the Philippines.Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors.It is one of the world's most prominent and celebrated festivals, with the "largest annual mass human migration in the world".

Boryeong Mud Festival - South Korea

The Boryeong Mud Festival is an annual festival which takes place during the summer in Boryeong, a town around 200 km south of Seoul, South Korea. The first Mud Festival was staged in 1998 and, by 2007, the festival attracted 2.2 million visitors to Boryeong.

The mud is taken from the Boryeong mud flats, and trucked to the Daecheon beach area, where it is used as the centrepiece of the 'Mud Experience Land'.

The mud is considered rich in minerals and used to manufacture cosmetics. The festival was originally conceived as a marketing vehicle for Boryeong mud cosmetics. Although the festival takes place over a period of around two weeks, it is most famous for its final weekend, which is popular with Korea's western population. The final weekend of the festival is normally on the second weekend in July.

White Nights Festival - St. Petersburg, Russia

The "Stars of the White Nights is a series of classical ballet, opera and orchestral performances at the Mariinsky Theatre and the Mariinsky Concert Hall, as the essential part of the White Nights Festival in St.Petersburg. During the festival, there are daily evening performances at the Mariinsky Theatre (either ballet or opera) and almost daily evening performances at the Mariinsky Concert Hall (either classical concert or opera-in-concert).

The "Stars of the White Nights Festival" runs from May through July (usually from the last week of May till the 2nd half of July) at the Mariinsky Theatre and the newly built Mariinsky Concert Hall - one of the best-sounding halls in the world.

Holi - India

Holi is a Hindu spring festival celebrated in India and Nepal, also known as the "festival of colours" or the "festival of love".The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships. It is also celebrated as a thanksgiving for a good harvest. 

It lasts for a night and a day, starting on the evening of the Purnima (Full Moon day),which falls somewhere between the end of February and the middle of March.

 The first evening is known as Holika Dahan or Chhoti Holi and the following day as Holi, Rangwali Holi, Dhuleti, Dhulandi, or Phagwah.

Holi celebrations start on the night before Holi with a Holika Dahan where people gather, perform religious rituals in front of the bonfire, and pray that their internal evil be destroyed the way Holika, the sister of the demon king Hiranyakashipu, was killed in the fire.

The next morning is celebrated as Rangwali Holi – a free-for-all festival of colours,where people smear each other with colours and drench each other. Water guns and water-filled balloons are also used to play and colour each other Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders. The frolic and fight with colours occurs in the open streets, open parks, outside temples and buildings. 

Groups carry drums and other musical instruments, go from place to place, sing and dance. People visit family, friends and foes to throw coloured powders on each other, laugh and gossip, then share Holi delicacies, food and drinks. Some customary drinks include bhang (marijuana), which is intoxicating.In the evening, after sobering up, people dress up and visit friends and family.

Pingxi Lantern Festival - Taiwan

The Taiwan Lantern Festival is an annual event hosted by the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taiwan to celebrate the Lantern Festival.

There are many activities all over Taiwan during Taiwan Lantern Festival. During the Taiwan Lantern Festival, thousands of sky lanterns light over Pingxi District in Taiwan.

 In Yanshui District, the firecrackers ceremony of Wumiao Temple is also one of the important activities.[citation needed]. The Tainan Yanshui Fireworks Display ("beehive of fireworks") was originally celebrated to ward off evil and disease from the town. The Taipei Pingxi Sky Lanterns were released originally to let others know that the town was safe. These lanterns are decorated with wishes and images relating to the owner. These two events are known together as "Fireworks in the South, Sky Lanterns in the North."

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a yearly festival of hot air balloons that takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA during early October. The Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day event, and has over 500 balloons each year. The event is the largest hot air balloon festival in the world.

The Balloon Fiesta began in 1972 as the highlight of a 50th birthday celebration for 770 KOB Radio. Radio station manager Dick McKee asked Sid Cutter, owner of Cutter Flying Service and the first person to own a hot air balloon in New Mexico, if KOB could use his new hot-air balloon as part of the festivities.

The Balloon Fiesta grew each year for decades, and today is the largest balloon convention in the world. The number of registered balloons reached a peak of 1,019 in 2000, prompting the Balloon Fiesta Board to limit the number to 750 starting in 2001,citing a desire for "quality over quantity". The limit was changed to 600 in 2009 — citing recent growth in the city and a loss of landing zones.  On any given day during the festival, up to 100,000 spectators may be on the launch field where they are provided the rare opportunity to observe inflation and take off procedures. Countless more people gather at landing sites all over the city to watch incoming balloons.