Festivals & Events

A national tradition and one of the five main holidays of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Grape Blessing Day is a Christian holiday dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. The grape blessing is performed after the final liturgy and every present member receives blessed grape to take home. It is a tradition for Armenians not to eat grape that has not been blessed. 

The main state holiday in Kyrgyzstan, Independence Day is celebrated each year on August 31st in recognition of the day the country became an independent state in 1991. The celebration includes a military parade, a national horse games fest, traditional dance shows, concerts and fireworks in Bishkek’s city square.

This festival, also known as the Sacred Thread Festival, involves Hindu men performing their annual change of Janai, a cotton string worn across the chest or the wrist, signalling their initiation into manhood. Females also tie a string around their wrist for protection. During the festival, there is a fair at Kumbeshwor in Lalitpur.

An explosion of color, the three-day Jember Fashion Carnaval in Jember, Indonesia, is a spectacular sight. The city’s main streets are converted into a 2.2-mile catwalk, the longest in the entire world. Visitors are invited to create their own imaginative costumes and vote on the extravagant costumes presented.

This popular week-long festival is a celebration of the culture, heritage and nature of the city of Davao. The people give thanks for their lives and the blessings of the city with joyful parades of floats decorated with flowers. They dress in authentic ethnic costumes, play traditional instruments and hold street dancing competitions.

This popular festival showcases the incredible skills of kite makers from all over Malaysia as well as other countries, as international participants and spectators gather to see their creations color the sky. There are also cultural dance and music shows to be enjoyed as well as delicious traditional food and crafts on sale.

This festival is a celebration of the Hindu god Krishna’s birthday, celebrated throughout Nepal around the end of summer. It involves dramatic enactments of the life of Krishna, as well as fasting, devotional songs, dance, readings of religious scripture, and the exchange of gifts.

Every year, North and South Koreans have a public holiday to celebrate the end of forty years of Japanese occupation. In the DPRK there are spectacular dance and music performances in the city squares. The day also marks the beginning of the Mass Games with an enormous opening ceremony in the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang.

This festival attracts nomadic Tibetan horsemen - or Khampas, and visitors from all over to Litang plain. There are exciting Tibetan pony races in which the riders and traders compete for the honor of owning the best horse. There are also performances, food and craft stalls and other sporting competitions for entertainment.

Instituted in 1994, this public holiday is celebrated on the second Sunday of August and honors the crossbreed of the muskmelon, an important crop for the nation. The day’s festivities include a large display of fruit, melon-related competitions, dance, and music events.