Top 10 Nocturnal Festivals
Fireworks
blast colors through the black skies during Japan’s Chichibu Yomatsuri, held
every December 90 minutes outside Tokyo.
Photograph
by Kyodo News/AP
From the
National Geographic book Sacred Places of a Lifetime
- Noche de la Primavera, Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City welcomes the arrival of spring in style.
All through the night, the streets and plazas pulse with music and dancing.
Mexican folk rhythms mingle with Latino pop, while acrobats, theater troupes,
and animators entertain the revelers until dawn.
- Noche de Brujas, Veracruz, Mexico
Catemaco’s annual celebration, the Night of the
Witches, is a spectacle of all things magical. Witches, wizards,
fortune-tellers, and healers gather together, stalls are set up, and the streets
bustle with activity. For the right money, you can cast a spell, bestow a
curse, or cure your ills with herbs.
- New Year’s Eve, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
On the last night of the year, more than two million
revelers flock to Copacabana Beach to watch the fireworks and dance the samba.
Just before midnight the locals, dressed mostly in white, cast out offerings to
Iemanjá, the Goddess of the Sea. Perfume, flowers, and rice are set adrift in
paper boats while thousands of floating candles light up the night sky.
- Chichibu Yomatsuri, Chichibu City, Japan
Six ornate floats, each representing one of the city’s
protective gods and decorated with lanterns, tapestries, and carvings, are
hauled on ropes by hundreds of chanting devotees toward the city hall. Stalls
selling snacks and rice wine line the crowded streets, and fireworks blast
colors through the black skies.
- Lantern Festival, China
On the 15th night of the first month of the new
Chinese year, towns and villages across China are bathed in the glow of lanterns.
Traditional red-paper globes take their place among illuminated butterflies,
dragons, and birds, each posted with a riddle–those who solve the puzzles win a
prize.
6. Tet, Vietnam
New Year’s Eve in Vietnam, where families await
midnight with expectation, is a time of renewal. Houses are swept clean and
festooned with colorful decorations. Those who stay at home whisper prayers for
their ancestors, while in the parks, there are celebratory firework displays.
Throughout the country the troubles of the past year are forgotten.
- Laylatul-Bara’ah, Pakistan
The Night of Salvation falls in Sha’aban, the eighth
month of the Islamic calendar. It is a time for the faithful to repent to Allah
and seek pardons for their sins. Some spend the night at the mosque, others
visit the cemetery to pray for the departed. It is also a time for fasting.
- Jani, Latvia
The residents of the Latvian town of Kuldiga mark the
start of midsummer, or Jani, by running naked through the streets. Elsewhere,
they don crowns of flowers or oak leaves and celebrate with medicinal
Jani-herbs and bonfires. These are lit before sunset and stoked until dawn.
Specially prepared straw torches are used to drive away evil spirits.
- San Juan, Spain
During the Festival of San Juan, Spain is ablaze with
fire and music fills the streets. People spend the afternoon building bonfires
that burn throughout the night to welcome in the summer. According to
tradition, jumping over a bonfire three times on San Juan night will burn all
your troubles away.
- Summer Solstice, Glastonbury, England
Glastonbury Tor (or hill) has been sacred for
millennia, its legend dating back to Arthurian times. Now this mystical hill,
rising strangely above its flat surroundings, is a focal point for the Druid
community and the setting for their solstice ceremony. On Midsummer’s Eve,
hundreds of people gather on the Tor in a circle–children throw petals, holy
water is sprinkled, and the service is blessed with fire. Source Article
www.nationaltrust.org.uk, www.glastonburytor.org.uk
www.nationaltrust.org.uk, www.glastonburytor.org.uk
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