The best festivals worldwide

Where’s the party? Could be in Thailand, China or the expansive Nevada desert…If you love festivals, you could be travelling all year round. We’ve created a special edition showcasing the best festivals worldwide for iFly. 

The Day of the Dead

A celebration in honour of the dead: “Día de los Muertos” (in Spanish) unites families with their deceased loved ones every year. It’s huge in Mexico, although it’s also celebrated throughout South America.

Día de los Muertos is seen as a day upon which the spirits of loved ones return to earth to be with their families. It’s not a gloomy or morbid occasion; rather it is a festive and colourful celebration of the lives of those who have passed on. The festivities start once a year on the evening of 31 October, but the official holiday falls on 2 November.

The tastiest Food Festivals

Eager to take a trip with a culinary edge? Then you can’t miss at a Food Festival.

Travel to Italy in autumn for the white truffle feast or see how genuine BBQ masters prepare the best ribs at the Toronto Ribfest in Canada. Not keen on meat: the locals in Thailand organise a completely vegetarian festival every year in October called “Tegasan Gin Je!”

Diwali

The smell of incense wafts through the streets, cries of joy echo and fireworks light up the night sky. During Diwali, the festival of light, darkness is banished from India and every corner of the country glows with light. Diwali literally means “row of lamps” and during the festival people place “deepa” (clay lamps) outside their homes and shops. The lamps symbolise the inner light that protects from spiritual darkness. Diwali is one of the most important Hindu festivals and certainly warrants planning a trip to India around this time.

Burning Man

Is Burning Man an arts festival? A temporary city? A social experiment? Or just a bunch of hippies having fun in the desert? If you have the answer, please share. Even after 30 years, the festival in the Black Rock Desert, in the American State of Nevada, cannot be pigeonholed. But, one thing’s for sure: Burning Man is totally unique. There’s no other event on earth where self-expression and community spirit merge to form such a crazy creative stir fry. Tens of thousands of enthusiasts gather each year in the Nevada Black Rock Desert to create a temporary city: Black Rock City. A city that vanishes completely from the earth’s surface but a week later.

Burning Man (photo by Scott London)

Curious to read the full articles touched on in this selection of festivals?

You can flip through them here at your leisure:

iFLy KLM Magazine: Festivals

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