Festivals and Celebrations
Love at Burning Man, a Penis Festival, an Uzbek Wedding & Other Stories
Have you ever experienced the sensory overload of Burning Man or watched cultural barriers disintegrate during Holi’s glorious human rainbow? Have you felt the magical effervescence and communal joy at the Thai Lantern festival, watched a procession during a penis festival in Japan, crashed an Uzbek wedding, or spent Christmas away from home baking in 36 degree heat?
“If you concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. You’ll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens… Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.”— Paulo Coelho
Since the earliest days of humanity, festivals and celebrations have been regarded with high importance, yet in recent years we feel more connected to our smartphones and via the internet than each other. As as result the value of opportunities for meaningful, real-world connections with both family and strangers is greater than ever.
At their best, festivals can feel like stepping into dream-worlds in which cultural norms cease to apply—they can feel like turning up the saturation on life.
Check out our map of festival and celebration stories from every corner of the globe, and scroll on to discover each of the individual stories.
1 | An Intersection of Beauty and Religion in Thailand
5 min read · By Shannon O’Donnell · Read this story on Maptia
A close look at the traditions and meaning behind the beautiful lantern release during Thailand’s Yee Ping and Loy Krathong celebrations each November.
2 | Snowflakes, Sake and Igloos
4 min read · By Abi King · Read this story on Maptia
Zig-zagging along the path, our shadows long and wild in the candlelight, we approached one of the full-size igloos, domed and grand with a welcoming amber light. This was the winter festival of ‘kamakura matsuri’, and like all good traditions, its origins remained shrouded in mystery.
3 | Notes on Love Found at Burning Man
9 min read · By Suzanne Roberts · Read this story on Maptia
Out in the desert at Burning Man, I realised I didn’t need metaphors to describe love—whether it is boy-girl, boy-boy, girl-girl, friendship, or families—affection is the outward manifestation of love, and it is all over the playa.
4 | Dust, Drugs and Debauchery?
5 min read · By Curtis Simmons · Read this story on Maptia
I attended Burning Man for the first time this year. I am no longer considered a “virgin”. From the art, the music, and the gifting economy, to its vastness and the temporal nature of this festival, here are a few thoughts about my “first time”.
5 | The Penis Worshippers
4 min read · By Michael Turtle · Read this story on Maptia
From the traditional carving of radishes into phallic shapes, to penis-shaped lollipops, to a giant pink statue of a dong that is paraded through the streets—the penis festival in Kawasaki is an unusual celebration of manhood that has taken place at the Shinto shrine for four centuries.
6 | Thaipusam: Hooking the Flesh and Piercing the Body
2 min read · By Dave and Deb · Read this story on Maptia
The most shocking festival we’ve ever seen is Thaipusam. It attracts two million people who pay homage to the Lord Muruga. Worshippers pierce spikes through their cheeks, and stab hooks in their backs to pull chariots and people, with reins attached to these hooks.
7 | Dahi Handi Celebrations
3 min read · By Sandeepa and Chetan · Read this story on Maptia
Dahi (yogurt) Handi (pot) literally translates to a pot of yogurt! It celebrates his endearing love for all things milk, and the tricks the mischievous, naughty baby Krishna would resort to—just to get his hands on that creamy yogurt his mother would try to hide in vain!
8 | Tet the Lunar New Year
9 min read · By Jodi Ettenberg · Read this story on Maptia
As the Year of the Snake approached, and colourful decorations lined the streets, the fast-paced and fluid city of Saigon was filled with a pre-Tet madness. Lucky enough to live in a house that adopted me as one of their own, my memories are of food and family.
9 | My Big Fat Uzbek Wedding
5 min read · By Matt Evans · Read this story on Maptia
A table awash with lamb and vodka. An impromptu wedding speech. Dancing with other men’s wives. I think I might be a little out of my depth here. And I wasn’t even invited.
10 | Full Moon Party
4 min read · By Cindy Fan · Read this story on Maptia
Young folks flock to Thailand for the famous—or rather, infamous—Full Moon Parties. Considered a rite of passage for backpackers on the Southeast Asia “Banana Pancake Trail”, the Full Moon Party is not for the faint of heart, and probably not for anyone over 30, either.
11 | New Year’s Eve on Lake Kariba
3 min read · By Rachel Kristensen · Read this story on Maptia
We travelled from all over the world to celebrate. Exploring Lake Kariba’s expansive waters was our plan, but we ended up shipwrecked together on its shoreline instead.
12 | Of Matadors and Modern Festivals
4 min read · By Kiersten Rich · Read this story on Maptia
“Pamplona was rough, as always, overcrowded… It is all there, as it always was, except forty thousand tourists have been added. There were not twenty tourists when I first went there… four decades ago.” —Ernest Hemingway, 1985
13 | Sani Festival—Colourful Victory of Good Over Evil
3 min read · By Sandeepa and Chetan · Read this story on Maptia
A two day riot of colour, dance and music, the Sani Festival is the perfect way to build a social camaraderie among the far flung villages of the Zanskar valley in India.
14 | Festival Crashers
4 min read · By Madeline Scharpf · Read this story on Maptia
Spring and summertime in Tokyo are bursting with celebrations. The city fills with dragons, lanterns, children in kimonos, dance parties in the park and old people carrying gallons of sake.
15 | FIBArk — a rager in more ways than one
6 min read · By Stephanie Glaser · Read this story on Maptia
FIBArk (First in Boating on the Arkansas) is a whitewater festival held in a small Colorado mountain town that will surprise you with the intensity of its fearless river competitors and revelers.
16 | An Italian Festa
4 min read · By Karen Lobban · Read this story on Maptia
During the summer months, colourful festas are a common sight all over Italy. In the small town of Roccella Ionica, that overlooks the sparkling, clear blue waters of the Reggio Calabria region, it is no different.
17 | No Ordinary Christmas
4 min read · By Irene and Rick Butler · Read this story on Maptia
Alpaca, roasted Inca style, brightly decorated altars and angelic choirs in small colonial churches, drums and bells floating in the air—celebrating Christmas in the city of Puno, on the shores of the beautiful Lake Titicaca, made for a memorable way to spend the holiday season.
18 | Dreaming of a White-Hot Christmas
8 min read · By Alanna Freeman · Read this story on Maptia
When you come from a place of frosty, windscreen-fogged winters, where December is a time to wrap up warm and thaw by an open fire at the local old-man pub, a hot Christmas is more than a bizarre concept. It turns your world upside down.
19 | Auf der Reeperbahn (Festival)!
4 min read · By Simona Ardito · Read this story on Maptia
When they told me I would be in Hamburg following the band Fabryka, who should have been playing at Reeperbahn Festival, I was really excited. I didn’t know how much “excited” was a proper word…
20 | Holi in Mathura
6 min read · By Phil Gribbon · Read this story on Maptia
I knew I wanted to take photos of Holi in India, and asked the Internet where she thought I should go. Mathura was the answer.
21 | Barranco Celebrates Señor de Los Milagros
2 min read · By Crystal Palmer · Read this story on Maptia
As one of the longest religious celebrations in the world Señor de los Milagros takes over the streets of Lima. Honoring the Lord of Miracles and Cristo Moreno was a vibrant, musical, lively ongoing experience in the streets of my Barranco neighborhood.
“Love at Burning Man, a Penis Festival, an Uzbek Wedding & Other Stories” (tweet this here) and feel free to @mention any festival loving friends!
For now, just a small group of founding storytellers are contributing to Maptia, many of whom you can thank for the wonderful stories shared here today. At this early stage, we’re only able to send a limited number of new invites each week. However, if you already have a food-related story about a place in mind and absolutely can’t wait to get started, then send a 200-word snippet and photo for the first story you would like to tell to stories@maptia.com,and we will be delighted to shuffle your invite right to the front of the queue.
A version of this post originally appeared over on the Maptia Blog, and all of the hand-drawn goodness in this post was created by Ella Frances Sanders, now our In-House Illustrator at Maptia.
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