Festivals & Events

This public holiday marks the day the National Workers Party was founded, which has ruled North Korea ever since. People travel to the Party Founding Museum to hear the original recording of Kim Il Sung’s inaugural speech. There are performances of traditional dances in public squares and the closing ceremony of the month-long Mass Games.

This annual festival is held every autumn in the Goychay region and celebrates the pomegranate’s traditional uses and symbolic meaning. The fruit is symbolically linked to long-term productivity and abundance in energy. During the festival, the pomegranate’s different uses in cooking is showcased by local cooks and restaurants.

An astonishing 50,000 camels converge on the tiny desert town of Pushkar, in India's state of Rajasthan for the Pushkar Camel Fair. For five days, the camels are dressed up, paraded, shaved, entered into beauty contests, raced and traded. It's a great opportunity to witness a true traditional Indian festival.

For one day each year, the Tamu market in Kota Belud expands and welcomes visitors from all around for the annual grand market carnival festivities of the Tamu Besar. As well as all the usual local food and crafts, there is a parade of Bajau horsemen, an exciting water buffalo race and a popular beauty pageant.

This October festival celebrates the diversity and history of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia and includes open-air concerts of traditional music and cultural events in Old Tbilisi. The festival was created at the initiative of Eduard Shevardnadze, then the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, to honor the capital and counter attendance at religious events as part of his program to overcome "manifestations of nationalism" through introducing new "socialist traditions". 

Marking the day Buddha returned from spending lent in heaven, Thadingyut Festival, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated for three days during the month of October throughout Myanmar. The final day is the climax as the festival goers release balloons into the sky and shoot off fireworks at night.

This festival, also known as Deepwali, takes place over five days in Nepal’s Terai region. All of the country’s ethnic groups celebrate this festival, worshipping the gods, as well as animals like the crow, cow, and dog, celebrating with lights being lit inside and outside of homes, and auspicious local snacks.

One of India’s most famous Hindu festivals, the Diwali of the Gods is celebrated in Varanasi, in India’s Uttar Pradesh, 15 days after Diwali. The steps of the ghats on the banks of the Ganges river are lit with over a million earthen lamps to honor the Ganges and its goddess. Houses are also decorated with lamps and fireworks are lit.

This annual festival takes place in Angono to celebrate San Clemente, the Patron Saint of fishermen. Wearing fishermen’s clothes, men parade through the streets with huge papier mache puppets. The ‘Higantes’ are placed in floats upon reaching Laguna Bay and set adrift. Finally, the image of San Clemente is returned to the church.

Coinciding with the full moon festival, visitors flock to Taunngyi from far and wide to celebrate on the night of the full moon. Balloons in the shapes of animals, including horse, ox, pig, owl and elephant are lit up and released into the night sky as an offering to the Gods and Nats, to ward off evil spirits.