25 Amazing Cultural Traditions With Roots Going Back (26 Photos)

How many peoples, countries and cultures, so many traditions. Some seem so strange and unusual! But for some it's perfect. normal and in order. Here is a collection of interesting holidays, festivals and customs of different countries.





1. Hair Freeze Contest. Yukon, Canada



This is how they celebrate the arrival of the winter season: they dip their heads in hot springs and wait until the hair turns into icicles. The funnier get a hairstyle from frozen hair, the cooler.

2. Cheese Rolling Down the Hill Championship. Gloucestershire, England





It's an annual event, the Coopershill Cheese Race. It is held on the last Monday of May and gathers a lot of spectators.

3. Festival of jumping over babies. Castrillo de Murcia, Spain



Locals bless babies born last year allowing the "devil" to jump over them. No injuries were reported. it a tradition that dates back to the 1600s.

4. Boot Throwing Championship, Finland



Nobody argues that shoes should be worn on the feet, but the Finns there is a traditional sporting event of throwing a boot. Feel free to called one of the strangest sports.

5. Midsummer Day, Lithuania



In Lithuania, this holiday celebrates the arrival of the summer season. On this day girls should wash themselves with fresh dew. Toward evening the youth gathers around campfires in the countryside and in the cities to make wishes wishes and throw bags of spells into the water to make their wishes fulfilled. Young couples roam the forests in search of flowering fern.

6. A feast for monkeys. Lopburi, Thailand



Lopburi has a tradition of preparing treats for the local monkeys. It is believed that this will bring good luck to the region and all its inhabitants.

7. Radish carving festival. Oaxaca, Mexico



This tradition dates back over 120 years. Locals carve figurines and statues made from radishes grown by them and show them to neighbors and guests region.

8. Polterabend. Germany



Wedding tradition in Germany: the day before the wedding, friends and family gather to smash a pile of dishes in front of the happy couple's home. Entrance there are plates, flower pots and anything in general. Thereafter newlyweds clean up the mess, laying a solid foundation for their future.

9. Marie Lwyd, Wales



Welsh Christmas customs such as Mari Lwyd date back to the first half of the nineteenth century. Decorated horse skull poop on broom. It seems to be the head of some terrible horse, because the man, holding a stick, draped with a sheet. The horse stops and knocks to all doors. When the door is opened, the people accompanying the "horse" begin to sing and ask permission to enter the house.

10. Groundhog Day, USA



Predicting the future is hard for people, no one can do it with 100% accurate, but animals are more predictable. In the United Groundhogs in the States predict when winter will end. If the groundhog sees shade, warm weather will have to wait a little longer.

11. Cinnamon shower for singles. Denmark



The Danes play tricks on people with spices. If you don't get married before 25 years old, you will be sprinkled with cinnamon. And if you're over 30, maybe black pepper add.

12. Tomato fights. Bunol, Spain



This is La Tomatina, an annual celebration, a real tomato massacre. AT whole trucks of overripe tomatoes go and the city coverschaos. They say it's a great psychological relief.

13. Playing live chess. Marostica, Italy



Every two years in September, a game of chess is held here, with pieces for which people perform. A very colorful sight. The custom goes away roots in the 15th century.

14. Thaipusam Festival. India



This Hindu festival is celebrated at the beginning of each year by people from Tamil community. It is held on a full moon night and is dedicated to Lord Murugan, god of war. Participants of the festival pierce different parts of the body long silver pins. All for the good of the gods!

15. Sausage Throwing Day. Rapperswil, Switzerland



On Shrovetide Tuesday at exactly 15:15 a large crowd of children and adults gathers in front of the city hall of Rapperswil. When the mayor asks "All my are the guys here?”, the children shout loudly and clearly: “one, two, goat’s leg!”. Then the mayor and council members throw sausages at the crowd from open windows, loaves of bread and pastries.

16. Dance of the frog on the day of the summer solstice. Sweden



To rhythmic music, the celebrants dance around the maypole, jumping like frogs and using movements that represent body parts, which frogs do not have.

17. Witch burning festival. Czech



Every year, the Czechs hold a witch-burning festival made of straw and hay to ward off the evils of winter and protect themselves from the cold.

18. Orange battle. Ivrea, Italy



Something very special happens in Ivrea every year three days before Mardi Gras. strange. Local residents are divided into nine separate groups, put on military equipment and for several days they throw at each other oranges, trying to destroy the other teams. Origin of this game unknown.

19. Russfairing. Norway



Russefairing is a traditional holiday for Norwegian high school students in last spring semester. Students who take part in celebrations are known as Russ. They wear colored overalls (usually red, blue or black). Some form groups called bus, car or van (often making a name or logo). happy holiday regularly link drunkenness and civil unrest. All this continues without interruption for two weeks.

20. New Year's festival of fireballs. Stonehaven, Scotland



Fireworks are set off all over the world on New Year's Eve, and here fireworks are in use. balls. People gather around them and celebrate the holiday. They say that this the tradition dates back to the Viking Age.

21. Festival of scrambled eggs. Zenica, Bosnia



To welcome the arrival of spring, the locals prepare scrambled eggs according to in the morning, and the rest of the day is spent for entertainment, relaxation and parties.

22. Regatta baths. Dinan, Belgium



This tradition began in 1982. What's happening? Kilometer race along the river Meuse on floating devices, consisting of which includes a bath. It is recommended to decorate bathtubs in order to more interesting to watch the participants.

23. King Pak Festival. Killorglin, Ireland



This oldest and most unusual festival in Ireland takes place in the outback, in small town. A wild goat named Pak for three days becomes King Pak. He's in a cage on a raised platform in the town square, from where he can watch everyone.

24. Cherry Pit Spitting Championship. Michigan, USA



The championship takes place every year at the Tree-Mendus fruit farm in Michigan. for almost 50 years now. You need to eat a cherry and spit out the stone as much as possible farther. You can’t clap your hands on your cheeks, helping yourself, you can’t use any props.

25. Danube race for the cross. Romania



Romanians have one of the strangest customs in Europe: young the guy swims in the icy river, and a hundred or more spectators watch how an Orthodox priest throws a cross into the water. If the swimmer can return cross to a safe place, he will be lucky throughout of the year.