Bizarre Festivals of Europe

Article by: Tom Parkinson, June 2006

snorkelling | pigs | matchmaking | duck race | turnips | camel wrestling

When it comes to odd festivals, it seems Finland rules the roost. Who can compete with a country that hosts the world championships of wife-carrying, mobile-phone throwing, crowbar walking, swamp soccer, sauna endurance, air guitar and pea-eating? Merry old England is not far behind, fêting everything from wells and hobby horses to liars, toe-wrestlers and horn-dancers. Nobody really knows where this compulsion to honour the obscure comes from, but it seems that the smaller and colder the settlement, the harder its inhabitants try to come up with unusual ways to amuse themselves...

We've scoured the continent's calendar of craziness for the finest, freakiest festivals from here to New Year, so get out your diary and prepare to be bemused.

 

July - World Mountain-Bike Bog-Snorkelling Championships, Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales

Apparently, being the smallest town in Britain just wasn't enough for Llanwrtyd Wells. Some bright spark decided to dig a 60-yard ditch in the nearby Waen Ryhdd swamp and hold sporting events in it, the most bizarre of which is the mountain-biking race. Contestants dive in with snorkels and customised bikes for two lengths of the 6-foot-deep trench, an undertaking just as soggy as it sounds. Competition is stiff - the current record is just 48 seconds! Anyone can enter, and previous years have seen stag parties, men in suits and even dogs join in with the top contenders.

If that's not enough swampy goodness for you, Llanwrtyd Wells has now declared itself Britain's 'Home of Green Events', promoting a whole slew of perplexing competitions. Following the boggy biking, there's a triathlon and a single-discipline event for bog-snorkellers in August. Keen athletes can also take part in the Man Versus Horse races, morris dancing in the forest, or any of several beer festivals, including the Real Ale Wobble. See http://llanwrtyd-wells.powys.org.uk for full details.

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August -La Pourcailhade, Trie Sur Baïse, France

La Pourcailhade is France's national Pig Festival, held in the main town of the country's prime pork-rearing region on the second Sunday of August. The humble porker is everywhere, from jolly displays in local shop windows to stalls of meaty produce, but it's the competitions that really draw the crowds.

The Piglet Race pits the speediest runts against each other while grown men choke down great lengths of congealed blood in the Black-Pudding-Eating Competition

The Piglet Race pits the speediest runts against each other while grown men choke down great lengths of congealed blood in the Black-Pudding-Eating Competition. The festival has also seen the creation of a world-beating 500m sausage. Most entertaining though is the prestigious Cri du Cochon, where entrants vie to produce the most convincing pig impersonation. Don't think you can get away with just a few abstract grunts and snorts though: the experts have it down to an art, and each effort must correspond to a specific moment in piggy life, from the harsh squeals of birth to the intense snorts of porcine pleasure...

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September - Matchmaking Festival, Lisdoonvarna, Ireland

It's hard to imagine the Irish having problems with the opposite sex, but this lively festival has its origins in the 19th century, when young laddies and lasses had very few places where they could meet, greet and flirt in a socially acceptable manner. To that end the role of professional matchmaker was fulfilled by travelling street-fair dealers who knew everyone and so could introduce potential mates in a seemly manner at the annual festival (and make sure no one unsuitable had a crack at the landowners' daughters). Today the spa town of Lisdoonvarna, in County Clare, holds a similar month-long event devoted to drinking, dancing and generally celebrating in mixed company. There are parties every weekend and events such as amateur horse races, speed dating, the International Barbecue Championship and the climactic crowning of the winners of the Mr Lisdoonvarna and Queen of the Burren contests.

See www.matchmakerireland.com for full details.

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October - Entenrennen, Tübingen, Germany

Entenrennen means 'Duck Race' in German, but don't expect to see many feathered friends in attendance here - the competitors jostling down the scenic waters of the Neckar are the yellow rubber bath-tub variety. It's like an inventive version of the lottery, where you buy your numbered ticket from a stall before the race then join the crowds around the bridges and riverbanks to watch as 7000 rubber duckies are emptied into the river. First to float past the post wins their lucky patron a €1000 holiday voucher, with plenty of other prizes for runners-up.

Join the crowds around the bridges and riverbanks to watch as 7000 rubber duckies are emptied into the river

And believe it or not, Tübingen isn't the only German town to hold these races. The idea apparently originated in Canada, but the Germans have adopted it wholeheartedly: the national duck-race 'season' starts in March, with over 160 events taking in towns such as Erfurt, Bielefeld and Göttingen as well as smaller villages, and dedicated companies help organise corporate duck events.

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November - Räbechilbi Turnip Festival, Richterswil, Switzerland

Now in its 102nd year, this small town on Lake Zurich must be the only place in the world to celebrate the humble turnip or sugar beet. Amazingly, though, the festival has nothing to do with eating - the focal point is a spectacular evening procession of glittering floats, each one a vast 'sculpture' made using thousands of candles and, yes, turnips. Put together by local clubs, schools and societies, the artworks can be anything from roses and elephants to three-dimensional renditions of the Acropolis. The parade currently uses around 50,000 candles and 26 tons of turnips, even more than when it made the Guinness Book of Records back in 1998.

As well as the parade itself, local houses and buildings along the route are decorated with lavish illuminations and a variety of musical events take place in the evening. And sorry, Blackadder fans, but you'll have trouble spotting one shaped like a thingy.

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December/January - Camel wrestling, Aegean Coast, Turkey

They may not be part of the EU yet, but Turkey's bid to join the community of daft celebrations is assured with this battle of the beasts. After being dressed in traditional costume and paraded through the streets, specially bred and overfed 'fighting camels' are pitted against each other in a bid to make their opponent flee, scream or fall. The neck is the crucial muscle, as the camels interlock like ungainly giraffes and grapple away. Animal lovers shouldn't worry, though: in practice it's the eastern equivalent of Switzerland's famous cow fights, and the hilariously un-gory bouts usually result in one (or both) competitors running away, causing entertaining amounts of excited chaos as they stampede through the voluble ranks of spectators.

Contests take place in the winter months all around the Aegean coast, with some of the best-known at Aydin, Mugla and Izmir; sadly the famous Selçuk championships, traditionally held in the ancient amphitheatre of Ephesus, are no longer permitted for conservation reasons.

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