Real traveling is a total living experience – mingling among the crowds, sampling the local dishes and participating with people in their festivals – not as an observer but as one of them. This is the essence of true travelling. To do this you need not go far off. The diversity of the world and the particularity of the holidaying destination provide you with ample of opportunities to do so.
You just need to cast away the mould of shyness from your being and you will make your stay in the host country worthy moments of remembrance all your life. Here are a few places you would like to be and see the vibrancy of cultures there:
- The Traena Music Festival
The location is strange for a festival of sublime voices and vocal cords. The festival takes place in an icy location in the Treana Archipelago of Norway. Here the singers from all across Norway and even from the surrounding countries converge and get a free stage concert under the all-day-all-night arctic summer. The island is cut off from the mainland and the only mode of getting there is by boat.
- Chonburi Buffalo race
The festival celebrated in Thailand is one unique cultural event reflecting the rural agrarian life of the country. The festival takes places in October at Chonburi, a town located about 100 kilometers from Bangkok. The seven-day revelry sees a series of cultural programs. But the star attraction of the program is water buffalo race in which the riders bareback on the buffalo, with no saddles and just native ropes to hold on to, and control the movement of the buffaloes.
- Hornbill festival
India is a country of diversity and many colors, and the sheer range of festivals that the country celebrates makes quite an impression. This amazing tribal festival is prevalent among the traditional forest dwelling tribes of northeast India. Nagaland, a State in India hosts this traditional festival in the month of December. The festival is a mélange of religious ceremonies, trade, festivity, sport and display of cultural assets and martial arts of the people of Nagaland. The weeklong festival is a definite treat to the eyes and music to ears for those who wish to experience a slice of tribalism in its grandest exhibition.
- Gerewol festival
The African continent, the birthplace of humankind is also home to some of the most amazing festivals in the world. Sample Gerewol festival in Niger is an annual gathering of Wodaabe tribesmen, a nomadic people from Sahel desert. The festival is dubbed as Male Pageant Show, and not for fewer reasons, as the men attending the festival paint themselves artistically in decorative patterns. They then dance before a crowd of females showing off their colors as well as dancing skills, in the process wooing them. This is a weeklong festival and makes for an interesting study of the tribal ways in Africa.
- Festival of Snows
Ok, we have seen the singing festival of Norway, taking place on the fringes of the Arctic, but this one is on a different level. Celebrated in Peru, the high Andes Mountains at a level of 4,700 feet above the seal levels provides setting for this festival. The festival started in the late years of 18th century to celebrate the appearance of an image of Jesus.
Others relate the festival to the ancient tribal God of the Incas – Apus. The festival is a riot of colors with the people in traditional costumes bedecked with decorated motifs lining up across the mountain trail for its celebration. The journey to the point of festival is arduous, made mostly on foot and riding beasts of burden. Music, festivity, makeshift markets, all makes the festival a wonderful affair.
These amazing festivals celebrated in less accessible parts of the world will definitely regale you, if you chance to attend one of them. So get in your boots and be ready to celebrate the diversity of the world.