Weird Festivals

Holi
Mumbai, India
What better way to celebrate the end of winter than with a rowdy water fight? Revelers at Holi, also known as Rang Panchami and celebrated throughout much of India in March, throw water and colored dyes at anyone and everyone who happens to be out in the street—or better put—within range. Watch out!

SPAMARAMA
Austin, Texas
In this city known for its weirdness comes the SPAMARAMA, celebrated in early April every year for three decades. This Pandemonious Party of Potted Pork celebrates all things SPAM. Check it out for SPAM cooking contests, a SPAMALYMPICS, SPAM music and much more SPAM-demonium.

Songkran Festival
Bangkok
This public holiday in mid-April marks the traditional Thai New Year, a day of cleansing. Held at one of the hottest times of the year in Thailand, the holiday has turned into a good-natured water fight, with revelers throwing water balloons, shooting water guns or hiding in a corner ready to surprise a passerby with a drenching.

Thaipusam
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
At this Hindu festival, many devout believers will undergo various burdens to demonstrate their devotion. Some will offer up containers of milk, while others go so far as to pierce themselves through their cheeks, tongue or back. It’s a mystery why there is little bleeding or pain, and observers watch in awe. The festival takes place every year in late January or early February.

Mountain Moonshine Festival
Dawsonville, Georgia (about 45 minutes north of Atlanta)
Late every October, raise your mason jars to the days of prohibition and moonshine-running through the mountains of northern Georgia. Visit a re-creation of a still, walk through an auto show and listen to stories about famous moonshine men who evaded the law to bring people the white lightning.

Las Fallas
Valencia, Spain
Las Fallas is like an entire city on fire, festivalgoers say. This week-long festival in mid-March celebrates Saint Joseph's Day with loud music, partying, exploding firecrackers—and fire. Many people dress in traditional costumes, though modern costumes are also common. Events culminate with huge pyrotechnic displays, with papier-mache figures blazing.

Hemingway Days
Key West, Florida
Sure, there's normal stuff like short-story readings, exhibits honoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and a marlin tournament, but there's also a “running of the bulls,” dramatizations and a Hemingway look-alike contest. Imagine walking into a bar and being greeted by 20 middle-aged men who all look alike: stocky with thick white beards. The festival takes place in mid-July every year.

Interstate Mullet Toss
Pensacola, Florida
It isn't exactly what you think, but still odd. Maybe Alabama has an overabundance of dead fish (the mullet), but for no discernable reason, the main event at this beach festival, held in April, is to stand on the Alabama side of the border and see how far you can throw a fish into Florida. Good times.