Would you want to finish winter with a festive fistfight? Perhaps burning a replica Viking longboat is more your style? To be honest, it feels like there's a winter festival for almost every taste - check out...
- The Cordova Iceworm Festival
- Takanakuy, a Festive Fistfight
- Ursul, the Bear Dance
- The "Frozen Dead Guy Days" Festival
- The Night of the Radishes
- The Dongzhi Festival
- Up Helly Aa
- The Conconully Outhouse Races
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| Would you wan to go racing in one of these? (back_road_ramblers) |
The Cordova Iceworm Festival
Like something straight out of a fantasy novel, Alaskan iceworms emerge from glacier ice to feast on algae and bacteria. These invertebrates are the only macroscopic animal known to live inside glaciers, wriggling free of their homes to feed when temperatures are right. When they do emerge, you can find as many as fifty of the inch-long black creatures in a square foot!
It was these strange creatures that caught the attention of the residents of Cordova, who were looking to bolster their spirits with a new winter festival. Founded in 1961, the celebration includes fishing, dog handling and skiing contests... along with a giant iceworm puppet that's operated like a Chinese dragon. There's even a beauty pageant, leading to the crowning of the "Iceworm Queen!"
Takanakuy, a Festive Fistfight
It's not uncommon for arguments and even spontaneous brawls to break out during winter festivities, but in Peru controlled fights are encouraged as a way to resolve grievances.Takanakuy (when the blood is boiling) allows any pair to enter the ring and have a short fight against the object of their ire. Referees stand guard over the bouts, and biting or striking a downed opponent is strictly forbidden. Fights typically only last a minute or so, beginning and ending with a handshake or hug.
The idea behind this is actually quite simple. By airing grievances and having a short sparring match in a controlled environment, tensions that have built throughout the year can be vented without any real harm!
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| I feel sorry for the bears... (Pexels) |
Ursul, the Bear Dance
There's some debate over how old the Ursul (bear dance) of the Roma is. Some claim it's an ancient tradition harking back thousands of years and intended to see off the winter, but others believe it emerged from the "dancing bears" used as street entertainment in the 1930s.
Either way, folk in rural Romania (the tradition also seems to be spreading) dress up in bear-skin costumes and parade through the streets, dancing, drinking and generally having a good time. It's not a cheap investment though - a costume can cost 5000 euros!
The "Frozen Dead Guy Days" Festival
They didn't mess around with the name of this one - the "Frozen Dead Guy Days" festival was inspired by the story of a dead Norwegian man who once had an interest in cryonics.
When Bredo Morstoel died in 1989, his body was packed in dry ice and shipped to a cryonics facility in California. It spent four years in liquid nitrogen before his own family sought to start up their own cryonics facility - and naturally, his body was moved to Colorado to be a part of it. He ended up frozen in a shed behind the family home.
Unfortunately his family ran into legal issues - trouble with visas and an impending eviction put the frozen man at risk of being defrosted, and local law forbade keeping human body parts in the home. Fortunately for the frozen man, a local reporter stepped in and persuaded the town authorities to make an exception for Bredo.
The town leaders decided to capitalize on public interest generated by the situation with an annual festival, but the 20000-strong crowd proved a bit much for the 1500-resident town. Eventually Bredo was moved to the old ice house of the Stanley Hotel, which already had links to "The Shining" by Stephen King.
The festival consists of a number of connected events, including a themed bar crawl, costumed dances and coffin races. Arguably this a spring festival rather than a winter one, but I felt that it fit the theme!
The Night of the Radishes
Many places use plant-based decorations for Christmas... but the citizens of Oaxaca in Mexico carve decorative radishes!
Known as the night of the radishes, competitors make sculptures and tableaus from the red vegetable. The government grows the radishes to ensure fairness, and themes are frequently religious - the entries can range from caricatures to cemeteries or even recreations of art like da Vinci’s "The Last Supper."
The festival has roots in holiday markets, where vegetable sellers would try and arrange their produce to be more appealing. Seeing how popular the art-form was, governor Francisco Vasconcelos made it an official contest in 1897.
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| I can think of worse ways to fend off the cold... (rootport) |
The Dongzhi Festival
Dongzhi (winter's arrival) is a celebration of the Chinese winter solstice. Events include worshiping the heavens and ancestors along with consuming rice wine, dumplings and glutinous rice - it's been going since the time of the Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE.)
The dumplings actually hold a fair amount of folkloric significance. The short days of winter were thought to offer little in the way of "yang energy" so foods "rich in yang" were favored - a bit like a vitamin supplement for the spirit.
The dumplings are also said to offer protection from frostbite (particularly of the ears.) One legend tells of an ancient doctor known as Zhang Zhongjing who handed out dumplings on the winter solstice, wrapping mutton and Chinese medicine in the dough and serving them in soup as protection from the cold.
Up Helly Aa
The Shetland isles off the coast of Scotland were once colonized by Norsemen - and a tradition stemming from that is the fire festival "Up Helly Aa."
One islander takes the role of a Viking Jarl for the day, clad in full costume and accompanied by a squad of other "Vikings." Other squads come dressed in whatever costume they feel like - as long as they have torches to burn.
After a day of festivities the Jarl takes the helm of a replica longboat, which is subsequently dragged through the streets by his squad with an honor guard of torch-bearers. The ship is taken to a pre-prepared site, where the jarl disembarks and the blazing torches are thrown in.
Though the modern incarnation of the festival is a mere 140 years old, elements of the celebration can be traced back twelve centuries!
The Conconully Outhouse Races
Sled and toboggan rides are a classic use of winter snow, but if you head to Conconully in the USA you can take part in an outhouse race.
Each year participants construct and race outhouses throughout the town. The rules are pretty simple - boxes must be made from wood or metal and mounted on two skis, be at least 5ft high and have at least three walls and a roof. Crucially, they must also feature a toilet seat and paper rolls.
Teams of consist of two pushers and one rider, and can participate in several versions of the event. Options range from an obstacle course to one where the pushers wear buckets over their heads and rely on the directions of the rider!
Thanks for reading, for more wintry wonders, try...