Festivals of the world: where to go in January

Sep 6, 2012 11:13:39 PM

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This is an excerpt from Lonely Planet’s A Year of Festivals.

Festivals are a living, dancing museum of cultures and traditions in an increasingly globalised world. There is no better place for travellers to understand a country than an event where it proudly celebrates its individuality, whether through music, camel races or monumental food fights.

The top festivities for January are listed below. Start the year with a bang, a drum, a chant, a bath, etc.

Junkanoo

Location: Nassau, Bahamas.
Dates: 1 January and 26 December
Celebrated throughout the country, Junkanoo is at its wildest best in the capital city, Nassau, where the first ‘rush’ (as the parade is known) takes place on Boxing Day and the second on New Year’s Day. Read more.

Kaapse Klopse (Cape Minstrel Carnival)

Location: Cape Town, South Africa.
Dates: Starts 2 January, and goes for a month
Cape Town’s largest carnival is a noisy, joyous and disorganised affair featuring marching troupes adorned in practically every colour of satin, sequin and glitter. Read more.

Carnaval de Blancos y Negros (Carnival of Blacks & Whites)

‘Museo del carnaval, Pasto, Colombia‘ by Carlos Adampol. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike

Location: Pasto, Colombia
Dates: 5–6 January
One of South America’s oldest festivals, Pasto’s piebald celebration dates back to the time of Spanish rule, when slaves were allowed to party on 5 January, with their masters showing approval by painting their faces black. Read more.

Bikaner Camel Festival

Location: Bikaner, India
Dates: Varying dates in January (during the 10th month of the Indian lunar calendar)
Held over two days, it’s a homage to the humped ones. There are camel races, camel rides, camel tugs-of-war, a camel pageant, dancing camels, competitions for the best decorated camel and the best camel haircut, and even a camel beauty contest. Read more.

Festival in the Desert

Location: Essakane, Mali
Dates: Second weekend in January
For three days a year, a desolate patch of Saharan sand, 65km north of Timbuktu, hosts ‘the world’s most remote music festival’. Read more.

Voodoo Festival

Location: Ouidah, Benin.
Date: 10 January
The celebrations begin when the supreme voodoo priest slaughters a goat to honour the spirits, and are marked by much singing, chanting, dancing, beating of drums and drinking of gin. Read more.

Yamayaki

‘Wakakusayama Yamayaki’ by Sam Sheffield. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike

Location: Mt Wakakusa-yama, Nara, Japan
Date: Second Sunday in January
Winter in the Japanese region of Kansai would seem a good enough excuse for one of the world’s biggest bonfires, but in Nara they point to history as the reason for setting alight an entire hill each year. Read more.

Black Nazarene Procession

Location: Quiapo, Manila, Philippines
Date: 9 January
The miracle-wielding Black Nazarene is a life-size statue of Christ carved from ebony. It was brought to the Philippines from Mexico in the 17th century and placed in Manila’s Quiapo Church in 1767. Read more.

Ati-Atihan

‘parade01′ by martiniko. Creative Commons Attribution

Location: Kalibo, Philippines.
Dates: Third week in January
The amazing Ati-Atihan is the Philippines’ biggest, wildest and best Mardi Gras, a week-long street party that rages from dawn to dusk, peaking on the third Sunday in January. Read more.

La Tamborrada (Drum Festival)

‘Tamborrada infantil‘ by Bichuas (E. Carton). Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike

Location: San Sebastian, Spain.
Date: 20 January
At the stroke of midnight a flag is raised in Plaza de la Constitucíon and regiments of soldierly drummers begin parading through the resort town, banging and thumping at drums and barrels to celebrate (or wake from the dead) the city’s eponymous patron saint. Read more.

Timkat (Epiphany)

DSCF0534‘ by Giustino. Creative Commons Attribution

Location: Fasilidas’ Bath, Gonder, Ethiopia
Dates: 18–20 January
Ethiopia’s most colourful festival commemorates Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan and is celebrated around the country, though it’s most spectacular in the former capital of Gonder. Read more.

Need more festivals? Here’s a list of further events in January:

Accompong Maroon Festival (Accompong, Jamaica; 6 January) Celebrates the ongoing legacy of the Maroons (descendants of runaway slaves) with traditional dance, song and Maroon war drums.

Rose Parade (Los Angeles, USA; 1 January) www.tournamentofroses.com Cavalcade of floral floats along Pasadena’s Colorado Blvd, followed by the Rose Bowl football game.

Polar Bear Swim (Vancouver, Canada; 1 January) Welcome in the New Year on English Bay Beach, joining hundreds in an ice-cold winter dip.

Winter Festival (Moscow, Russia; 25 December-5 January) Outdoor funfest in which competing teams build elaborate ice sculptures in front of the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum and on Red Sq.

Kite Festival (Jaipur, India; 14 January) Celebrated all over India on Makar Sankranti, it’s most spectacular in Jaipur where, Kite Runner–style, participants compete to cut down each others’ kites in a crowded sky.

Gangasagar Mela (Sagar Island, India; 14 January) Hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims converge to bathe en masse at the point where the Ganges meets the sea.

Vogel Gryff (Basel, Switzerland; 12, 20 or 27 January) www.vogel-gryff.ch, in German Symbolically chases away winter from Kleinbasel, with three key figures – the griffin (Vogel Gryff), the savage and the lion – dancing to a drum beat on a raft on the Rhine.

Dubai Shopping Festival (Dubai, United Arab Emirates; dates vary in January) www.dubaishoppingfestival.com Month-long shoppers’ bonanza in Arabia’s retail ringleader.

Tamworth Country Music Festival (Tamworth, Australia; culminating on last full weekend in January) www.tamworthcountrymusic.com.au Ten-day festival featuring more than 700 artists.

World Buskers Festival (Christchurch, New Zealand; mid-January) www.worldbuskersfestival.com Ten-day gathering of the world’s best street performers.

Sundance Film Festival (Utah, USA: beginning on the third Thursday in January and running for 10 days) www.sundance.org/festival The USA’s largest independent film festival.

International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (Monte Carlo; from the third Thursday in January) www.montecarlofestivals.com, in French. Clowning around for 11 days in the cashed-up principality.

See festivals in other months of the year here.

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