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Rediff.com  » News » PIX: Add colour to life with world's messiest festivals
This article was first published 10 years ago

PIX: Add colour to life with world's messiest festivals

August 01, 2013 11:03 IST

Image: People play in the mud during the Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon beach in Boryeong
Photographs: Lee Jae-Won/Reuters

Take a look at some of the world's festivals that need you to let your hair down and simply have good time

Boryeong Mud Festival

The Daecheon beach in Boryeong, South Korea, plays host to millions from around the world who seek a break from their daily routine and just want to have pure fun.

The purported benefits of a good soak in the mud are most likely not the reason most people head to this beach. There's mud wrestling, mud sliding and swimming in, you guessed it, mud.

Coloured mud is also produced for body painting. A large stage is erected on the beach, which is used for live music, competitions and various other visual attractions.

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Boryeong Mud Festival


Photographs: Lee Jae-Won/Reuters

Tourists take pictures with a mobile phone after playing in the mud during the Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon beach in Boryeong.

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Songkran

Image: Elephants spray water at children in celebration of the Songkran water festival in Thailand's Ayutthaya province
Photographs: Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters

Songkran festival, which falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, is celebrated as the traditional New Year's Day.

The most obvious celebration is the throwing of water on others. Thais roam the streets with containers of water or water guns. Revellers stand on roadsides with garden hoses or large new plastic trash cans filled with water (usually ice cold) that is used to drench pedestrians and vehicles.

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Songkran


Photographs: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

Revellers enjoy foam and splashing water during Songkran Festival celebrations in Bangkok.

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Els Enfarinats

Image: Revellers take part in the battle of 'Enfarinats', a flour fight in celebration of the Els Enfarinats festival in Ibi, Spain.
Photographs: David Ramos/Getty Images

Citizens of Ibi annually celebrate the festival with a battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers. The battle takes place between two groups, a group of married men called 'Els Enfarinats' which take the control of the village for one day pronouncing a whole of ridiculous laws and fining the citizens that infringe them and a group called 'La Oposicio' which try to restore order.

At the end of the day the money collected from the fines is donated to charitable causes in the village. The festival has been celebrated since 1981 after the town of Ibi recovered the tradition but the origins remain unknown.

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Els Enfarinats


Photographs: David Ramos/Getty Images

A Reveller takes part in the battle of 'Enfarinats', a flour fight in celebration of the Els Enfarinats festival on December Ibi, Spain. 

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Orange Battle

Image: A member of a rival team is hit by an orange during an annual carnival battle in the northern Italian town of Ivrea
Photographs: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters

The Battaglia delle arance is an age-old celebration and the largest food fight in Italy. Thousands come together at Ivrea to participate in this year's 'fight'.

Dressed up as Middle Age kings' guards, a group of men ride in a horse-drawn carriage and pelt 'foot soldiers' with oranges as thousands of people gather to re-enact a Middle Age battle when the townsfolk of Ivrea overthrew an evil king. In a strange twist, instead of swords and cross bows, these days the weapons of choice are oranges.

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Orange Battle


Photographs: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters

Italians hold an orange battle during a carnival in the northern Italian town of Ivrea.

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Glastonbury

Image: Festival goers play baseball, batting a beer can with a wellington boot, on the first day of Glastonbury music festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset
Photographs: Olivia Harris/Reuters

Glastonbury Festival is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world.

The festival aims to encourage and stimulate youth culture from around the world in all its forms, including pop music, dance music, jazz, folk music, fringe theatre, drama, mime, circus, cinema, poetry and all the creative forms of art and design, including painting, sculpture and textile art.

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Glastonbury


Photographs: Olivia Harris/Reuters

Gary Wright and Jon Williams wear light costumes in Shangri La field at Glastonbury music festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset.

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Holi

Image: Hindu devotees covered in coloured water and powder sit in a temple during "Lathmar Holi" at the village of Nandgaon in Uttar Pradesh
Photographs: Vivek Prakash/Reuters

Colours of all hues, the smell of 'gulal' and joyous spirit pervade the streets in India as people step out to celebrate Holi. Revelers tumble out on the streets with gulal and colour-filled pichkaris to celebratethe festivalof Holi and welcome the beautiful spring season.

Holi is celebrated in every part of India and many regions across the world in their own traditional ways.

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Holi


Photographs: Vivek Prakash/Reuters

A boy sprays coloured foam during Holi celebrations in a lane near the Bankey Bihari temple in Vrindavan, in Uttar Pradesh.

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International Pillow Fight

Image: People fight with pillows during International Pillow Fight Day in Budapest
Photographs: Laszlo Balogh/Reuters

On International Pillow Fight Day, massive pillow fights breakout in cities around the world.  

Hundreds of participants gathered in North Point Park in Cambridge to battle with pillows for the The International Pillow Fight Day 2013 in Boston. Participants hit random strangers with pillows.

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International Pillow Fight


Photographs: Laszlo Balogh/Reuters

People fight with pillows during International Pillow Fight Day in Budapest.

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World Bodypainting Festival

Image: A model poses during the annual World Bodypainting Festival in Poertschach
Photographs: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters

World Body painting Festival, which was held at Poertschac, Austria, is a one of a kind event in the world.

It draws the best two hundred body painting artist teams and models, as well as tens of thousands of visitors, from all over the world every year.

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World Bodypainting Festival


Photographs: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters

A model poses for photographers during the annual World Bodypainting Festival in Poertschach.

 

 

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