World events calendar · Oct 2026 – Sep 2027

Señor de los Milagros

Lima's month in purple: processions of tens of thousands behind the Christ of the Miracles, and turrón de Doña Pepa everywhere.

Phuket Vegetarian Festival

Nine days of meat-free street food, firecrackers and trance processions from the island's Chinese shrines.

Day of the Dead

Candlelit cemeteries, marigold markets and family altars. Not Mexican Halloween: a welcome home for the dead.

• Oaxaca, night by night →
• The altar, explained →

Hanal Pixán

The Maya Day of the Dead: home altars, cemeteries lit with candles, and mucbipollo baked underground.

Northern lights season

The long Arctic nights are back: the best months to see the aurora are around the equinoxes and in midwinter.

Festival Cervantino

Latin America's biggest arts festival: theatre, music and street performers in a colonial silver town's alleys.

Alebrijes Parade

Giant fantastical creatures in neon colours paraded down Reforma in the run-up to Day of the Dead.

Dussehra

Effigies of the demon king Ravana burned in the evening, and in Mysuru, a palace lit with tens of thousands of bulbs.

Durga Puja

Kolkata builds thousands of pandals, some the size of temples, and the whole city walks from one to the next all night.

Kawagoe Festival

Towering festival floats meet at crossroads in "Little Edo" for musical battles between neighbourhoods.

Jidai Matsuri

A procession of two thousand people in the dress of a thousand years of Kyoto history.

Mexico City Grand Prix

Formula 1 in a former baseball stadium, the loudest grandstand of the season.

Halloween

Costumes, trick-or-treating and, in New York, the Village Halloween Parade. Its roots are the Celtic festival of Samhain in Ireland.

Día de la Canción Criolla

Lima's own music day: valses and festejo in the peñas of Barranco until late.

Diwali

The festival of lights: oil lamps in every window, rangoli at the door, sweets passed between neighbours and fireworks at night.

Independence festivities

Cartagena's own independence day: drummers, cumbia, masked dancers and parades through the walled city.

Autumn leaves

Maple and ginkgo season: temple gardens turn red and gold, and many Kyoto temples open at night for light-ups.

Christmas markets

Mulled wine, wooden stalls and old town squares lit up for the season. About twenty are worth the trip.

Yi Peng

Thousands of paper lanterns released into the night sky over Chiang Mai, the image everyone knows from Thailand.

Loy Krathong

Candlelit banana-leaf boats on the rivers under the full moon, and in Chiang Mai, lanterns rising into the sky.

Dominican Republic Jazz Festival

Free jazz concerts on the north coast and in the big cities, with workshops for local kids.

Constitution Day

The anniversary of the first Dominican constitution, signed in San Cristóbal in 1844: a national holiday.

Buenos Aires Pride

The march from Plaza de Mayo to Congress, one of the biggest Pride days in Latin America.

Fiesta de la Tradición

Gauchos ride into a pampas town for a week of horsemanship, asado and folk music.

Melbourne Cup

"The race that stops a nation": a public holiday in Melbourne and hats everywhere.

Fiestas Patrias (Panama)

Panama's month of the homeland: school marching bands drumming through every town, and four national holidays.

Bonfire Night

Bonfires and fireworks across Britain for Guy Fawkes Night.

Pushkar Camel Fair

Tens of thousands of camels and traders in the Rajasthan desert, with pilgrims bathing in the holy lake.

Monarch butterfly season

Millions of orange butterflies cover the fir forests after flying all the way from Canada.

Revolution Day

The start of the 1910 Revolution, marked with a parade through Mexico City.

Bon Om Touk

The water festival: hundreds of long boats racing on the river, with fireworks and lit floats at night.

Thanksgiving

Family dinners across the country and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade through Manhattan.

Monkey Buffet Festival

Tables of fruit laid out at the old Khmer temple for the town's thousands of macaques.

Christmas & New Year

Warm, dry weeks, Nochebuena dinners and fireworks on the beach at midnight. The busiest weeks of the year: book early.

• Dominican Christmas →
• Punta Cana in December →

Medellín Christmas lights

The alumbrados: the river, the parks and whole neighbourhoods lit up for Christmas, with Velitas night on December 7.

• Medellín in December →

Feria de Cali

The salsa capital's fair: the Salsódromo parade of dancers, concerts and verbenas in every neighbourhood.

New Year's Eve

From Sydney Harbour to Copacabana, the one night the whole world celebrates. Fifteen places, ranked by the kind of night you want.

• Bangkok countdown →

Art Basel Miami Beach

The art world's winter week: the fair at the convention centre and dozens of satellite shows and parties.

Hornbill Festival

All the Naga tribes in one village in the hills: dances, war cries, log drums and very hot chillies.

Hanukkah

Eight nights of candles on the menorah, doughnuts and latkes.

Fête des Lumières

The whole city turned into a light show, and candles in every window on the night of the 8th.

Sinterklaas

The Dutch present night: chocolate letters, spiced pepernoten and poems that tease whoever opens the gift.

Krampusnacht

Men in horned fur costumes and bells chase through Alpine towns the night before St Nicholas.

Día de las Velitas

Colombia lights candles and paper lanterns on every doorstep and pavement to open the Christmas season.

Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe

Millions of pilgrims walk to the basilica of Guadalupe, many singing Las Mañanitas at midnight.

St. Lucia Day

Processions of white-robed singers with candles in the darkest part of the Nordic winter.

Las Posadas

Nine nights of processions re-enacting Mary and Joseph's search for shelter, ending with piñatas and ponche.

Night of the Radishes

Giant radishes carved into nativity scenes and whole villages, shown for one night on Oaxaca's main square.

Parrandas de Remedios

Two halves of a small town compete with giant lit floats and fireworks all Christmas Eve night.

Junkanoo

Street parades of cowbells, goatskin drums and enormous crepe-paper costumes through the early hours.

Kwanzaa

Seven days celebrating African American culture, one candle a night, ending in a feast.

Sydney to Hobart start

The yacht race leaves Sydney Harbour at 1pm with the whole city on the headlands to watch.

Hogmanay

Scotland's New Year: a torchlight procession, a street party under the castle and Auld Lang Syne at midnight.

Whale season in Samaná

Thousands of humpback whales come to Samaná Bay to breed and calve. One of the great wildlife sights of the Caribbean.

Día de la Altagracia

Pilgrims from all over the country walk to the basilica in Higüey, near Punta Cana, for the patron saint of the Dominican Republic.

Duarte Day

The birthday of Juan Pablo Duarte, founding father of the Dominican Republic: a national holiday.

Carnaval de Negros y Blancos

A UNESCO-listed carnival in the Andes: a day painted black, a day thrown white with talc, and huge floats.

Cape Town Minstrel Carnival

Troupes in satin and sequins dance through the city with banjos and drums for the second day of the new year.

Feria de Manizales

The coffee country's fair: concerts, parades and the coffee queen pageant in the mountains.

Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

Whole castles carved from river ice and lit in colour at night, at minus twenty.

Three Kings' Day

The day children get their presents in much of the Spanish-speaking world, with parades of the Three Kings the evening before.

Gualeguaychú Carnival

Argentina's carnival: feathered comparsas parade in a purpose-built carnival stadium every summer Saturday.

Australian Open

The first tennis Grand Slam of the year, with big screens and a summer festival around Melbourne Park.

Ati-Atihan

The mother of Philippine festivals: soot-painted dancers and drums through Kalibo for the Santo Niño.

Pongal

The Tamil harvest festival: rice boiled over in new pots, kolam patterns at the door and decorated cattle.

Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián

Four nights of music, bomba and masks in the blue-cobbled streets of Old San Juan: the end of the Christmas season.

Sinulog

Drums and dancing for the Santo Niño: one of the biggest street parades in Asia.

Timkat

Ethiopian Epiphany: priests carry the tabot under velvet umbrellas, and crowds are blessed with water at dawn.

Thaipusam

Devotees carry kavadis up the 272 steps of the Batu Caves in one of the most intense festivals in Asia.

Tamborrada

Twenty-four hours of drumming: the whole city marches as cooks and soldiers for its patron saint.

Sundance Film Festival

Independent film premieres in the snow, the festival where many of the year's surprise hits first show.

Hay Festival Cartagena

Writers and thinkers in conversation in the colonial squares and churches of Cartagena.

Burns Night

Haggis piped in, poems recited and whisky raised to Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet.

Up Helly Aa

A torchlit procession of Vikings that ends with a longship set on fire.

Australia Day

A national holiday of fireworks on Sydney Harbour and beach barbecues, also marked by many as a day of mourning.

Venice Carnival

Masks and costumes in the squares and on the canals, in the city that made carnival famous.

Dominican Carnival

Diablos cojuelos in horned masks swinging vejigas, Santiago's lechones, and a national parade in the capital to close the season.

Independence Day

The day the country declared independence in 1844, at the Puerta del Conde: flags everywhere, in the middle of carnival season.

Lunar New Year

The Year of the Goat: red lanterns, reunion dinners, red envelopes and lion dances, and the biggest travel rush on earth.

Rio Carnival

Samba schools in the Sambadrome by night, and hundreds of free street blocos all over the city by day.

Sapporo Snow Festival

Giant snow and ice sculptures along Odori Park, lit up at night.

Quebec Winter Carnival

Ice palaces, night parades, canoe races across the frozen river and a snowman called Bonhomme.

Virgen de la Candelaria

Forty thousand dancers in devil masks and sequins by Lake Titicaca, one of South America's biggest festivals.

Día de la Candelaria

Whoever found the baby in the Three Kings' cake on January 6 now owes everyone tamales.

Cologne Carnival

The "fifth season": a city in costume for six days, and a parade that throws tonnes of sweets into the crowd.

Busójárás

Men in carved wooden masks and sheepskins scare winter away with noise and a bonfire on the Danube.

Salvador Carnival

Trucks of axé and samba-reggae bands moving through the streets with millions dancing behind them.

Mazatlán Carnival

One of the world's biggest carnivals, along the seafront Malecón, with a naval battle of fireworks.

Cádiz Carnival

Spain's wittiest carnival: costumed groups singing satirical songs on every street corner.

Chiang Mai Flower Festival

Floats covered in orchids and roses, and the city's parks in full bloom in the cool season.

Barranquilla Carnival

Colombia's biggest party and a UNESCO masterpiece: cumbia, marimondas and four days of parades.

Oruro Carnival

The devil dance: masked diablada troupes dancing for hours in the Andes, a UNESCO masterpiece.

Waitangi Day

New Zealand's national day, with waka on the water at the treaty grounds in the Bay of Islands.

Pisco Sour Day

Peru toasts its national cocktail, with tastings in every bar in Lima.

Carnival of Binche

The Gilles in wax masks and ostrich plumes dance from dawn and throw oranges into the crowd.

Super Bowl

American football's final and the most-watched TV night in the USA: parties everywhere, wings and the halftime show.

Trinidad Carnival

J'ouvert at dawn in paint and mud, then two days of soca and feathered mas bands.

Ramadan

A month of fasting from dawn to sunset, with evening iftars that turn whole neighbourhoods into street-food markets.

Mardi Gras

Weeks of parades, beads and brass bands, peaking on Fat Tuesday.

Nice Carnival

Giant floats by night and the flower battle by day on the Promenade des Anglais.

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

Weeks of events ending in the night parade down Oxford Street.

Basel Fasnacht

The lights go out at 4am and lantern-lit pipers and drummers fill the old town for exactly 72 hours.

Yokote Kamakura Festival

Hundreds of candlelit snow huts where children invite you in for rice cakes and sweet sake.

Lantern Festival

The end of the Lunar New Year: sky lanterns over Pingxi, lantern riddles and sweet rice balls.

Maha Shivaratri

The great night of Shiva: all-night vigils, and sadhus by the thousand at Pashupatinath in Kathmandu.

Cherry blossoms

Two weeks when the whole country goes outside: hanami picnics under the trees, and lanterns in the parks at night.

Semana Santa

Candlelit processions in Seville, carpets of flowers in Antigua, and in the Dominican Republic, the year's biggest beach week.

Vendimia

The grape harvest festival: parades of floats with the harvest queens and a show in an amphitheatre in the hills.

Omizutori

Monks run giant burning torches along the balcony of Tōdai-ji's hall every night; catching an ember brings luck.

Jacaranda season

The whole city turns purple: avenues of jacaranda trees in flower along Reforma and in Coyoacán.

Nyepi

The day of silence: the whole island, airport included, shuts down for 24 hours, the night before full of ogoh-ogoh monster parades.

Hina Matsuri

Girls' Day: tiers of dolls in court dress set out at home, and in some towns floated down the river.

SXSW

Music, film and tech in one city: hundreds of bands playing every bar on and around Sixth Street.

Eid al-Fitr

The end of Ramadan: prayers, new clothes, family visits and feasts.

Las Fallas

Giant satirical sculptures fill the streets, then all burn on the last night.

St. Patrick's Day

Parades, green rivers and pubs full of music for Ireland's patron saint.

Ultra Music Festival

The big electronic music festival on Miami's waterfront during Miami Music Week.

Spring equinox at Chichén Itzá

The late sun draws a shadow serpent down the steps of El Castillo, as the Maya builders intended.

Nowruz

The Persian New Year: spring cleaning, the haft-sin table and family visits.

Holi

The festival of colours: everyone in the street throwing coloured powder and water.

Tulip season (Keukenhof)

Seven million bulbs in flower, with the striped tulip fields around Lisse at their best in mid-April.

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival

Korea's biggest blossom festival, with tunnels of cherry trees along a stream and a railway line.

Songkran

Thai New Year: the whole country in a water fight, and quiet temple blessings in the mornings.

Coachella

The desert music festival: two identical weekends of headliners under the palm trees.

Feria de Abril

A week of flamenco dresses, sevillanas, horses and casetas on the fairground.

Feria Nacional de San Marcos

Mexico's biggest fair: concerts, palenque cockfight-ring shows, and a whole city out until dawn.

Takayama Spring Festival

The spring twin of Takayama's autumn festival: gilded floats and puppet shows under the cherry blossom.

Wan Lai

Pattaya's own Songkran, days later than the rest of Thailand: a last huge water fight on Beach Road.

Boston Marathon

The world's oldest annual marathon, with the whole route lined with people shouting runners home.

Moros y Cristianos

Three days of mock battles, armies in silk and armour, and gunpowder in the streets of a hill town.

New Orleans Jazz Fest

Jazz, blues, gospel and zydeco on a dozen stages at the racetrack, with crawfish bread in between.

Anzac Day

Dawn services and marches remembering those who served, then two-up in the pubs in the afternoon.

Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata

Accordion kings compete in the home of vallenato, Colombia's most-loved music.

King's Day

The whole country in orange: street markets, boat parties on the canals and music everywhere.

Golden Week

Four national holidays in one week: Japan's busiest travel time, with carp streamers flying for Children's Day.

Corpus Christi

A national holiday in the Dominican Republic, with processions from the churches and a long weekend at the beach.

Mother's Day

One of the biggest family days of the Dominican year: Sunday lunches, flowers and every restaurant full.

Kentucky Derby

"The most exciting two minutes in sports": big hats, mint juleps and the first race of the Triple Crown.

Lotus Lantern Festival

Tens of thousands of glowing lanterns paraded down Jongno for the Buddha's birthday.

Patios de Córdoba

Private courtyards covered in geraniums open to the public for a flower competition.

Cinco de Mayo

The 1862 Battle of Puebla, marked with parades in Puebla (and far bigger parties in the USA than in Mexico).

Rocket Festival

Homemade bamboo rockets launched to ask the sky for rain before the rice is planted.

Cheung Chau Bun Festival

Towers of buns climbed at midnight, and children carried above the crowd on stilts in a floating parade.

Kanda Matsuri

One of Tokyo's three great festivals: a day-long procession from Kanda Myōjin through Akihabara and Nihonbashi.

Vesak

The Buddha's birth, enlightenment and passing, with lanterns, temple visits and free food stalls.

Cannes Film Festival

The red carpet on the Croisette and twelve days of premieres on the Riviera.

Eurovision Song Contest

Europe's song contest: three nights of shows and a week of parties in the host city.

Sanja Matsuri

One of Tokyo's wildest festivals: portable shrines bounced through the streets of Asakusa around Sensō-ji.

Eid al-Adha

The feast of sacrifice at the end of the Hajj: prayers, shared meat and family visits.

Aoi Matsuri

A slow procession in Heian-period court dress, with ox carts hung with hollyhock leaves.

Chelsea Flower Show

Show gardens built in a few weeks for five days in London, the year's biggest gardening event.

Monaco Grand Prix

Formula 1 through the streets and the harbour of the world's second-smallest country.

Qoyllur Rit'i

Tens of thousands of pilgrims climb to a glacier at 4,800 metres, dancing through the night.

Vivid Sydney

Light shows projected onto the Opera House sails and across the harbour, with music and talks.

Indianapolis 500

Three hundred thousand people at the Brickyard for the biggest single-day sporting event in the world.

Festa Junina

Bonfires, forró dancing, corn dishes and square dances across Brazil's northeast.

Dragon Boat Festival

Long boats with dragon heads racing to drums, and sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves.

São Paulo Pride

One of the largest Pride parades in the world, filling Avenida Paulista.

Phi Ta Khon

The ghost festival: villagers in painted masks of coconut-tree bark dance through a mountain town.

Santo António

Lisbon's biggest night: grilled sardines, paper garlands and street parties in every old quarter.

Matariki

The Māori new year: remembering the dead, sharing food and stargazing.

Juneteenth

The end of slavery in the United States, now a federal holiday, with cookouts and parades.

Mexico City Pride

Hundreds of thousands march from the Angel of Independence to the Zócalo.

Glastonbury

Five days and a hundred stages in the fields of a dairy farm: the UK's most famous festival.

Fête de la Musique

Free music on every street corner on the longest day of the year.

Noche de San Juan

Midsummer night: bonfires on the beaches, jumping waves at midnight for luck.

São João

Porto's all-night party: plastic hammers on heads, grilled sardines and fireworks over the Douro.

Inti Raymi

The Inca festival of the sun, re-enacted at the fortress of Sacsayhuamán above Cusco.

Parintins Festival

Two rival teams, Garantido in red and Caprichoso in blue, stage giant shows on an island in the Amazon.

Montreal Jazz Festival

The world's largest jazz festival, with hundreds of free outdoor concerts downtown.

Midsummer

Maypoles, flower crowns, herring and dancing under a sun that barely sets.

Roskilde Festival

Northern Europe's biggest music festival, a non-profit city of tents outside Copenhagen.

NYC Pride March

The march down Fifth Avenue that ends Pride month, on the anniversary weekend of Stonewall.

Wimbledon

Grass courts, strawberries and cream, and the queue: tennis's oldest Grand Slam.

Batalla del Vino

A wine fight on a hillside: thousands in white soaking each other in red wine at dawn.

Merengue Festival

Bands on the Malecón and the whole capital dancing the national rhythm.

Fiestas patronales de Santiago

The city's patron saint festival: music, fairs and processions in the heart of the Cibao.

Gion Matsuri

Towering wooden floats pulled through Kyoto, the high point of a month-long festival.

Tour de France

Three weeks of the world's biggest bike race, free to watch from any roadside, finishing in Paris.

Hakata Gion Yamakasa

Teams race one-tonne floats through Fukuoka at 4:59am, the end of two weeks of festival.

Festival d'Avignon

Theatre in the Popes' Palace and over a thousand fringe shows in every hall of the walled city.

Candle Festival

Giant beeswax sculptures carved for the temples, paraded through town on floats.

Great Migration river crossings

Over a million wildebeest crossing the Mara River past the crocodiles.

Calgary Stampede

Rodeo, chuckwagon races and the whole city in cowboy hats for ten days.

Montreux Jazz Festival

Two weeks of concerts on the shore of Lake Geneva, with free stages along the promenade.

Palio di Siena (July)

Ninety seconds of bareback horse racing around the Piazza del Campo between the city's districts.

Fourth of July

Independence Day: parades, barbecues and Macy's fireworks over New York.

San Fermín

The running of the bulls, white clothes and red scarves, and nine days of street party.

Independence Day (Argentina)

Locro stew and empanadas on the national day, the 1816 declaration in Tucumán.

Naadam

The three manly games of Mongolia: wrestling, archery and horse races ridden by children across the steppe.

Bastille Day

A military parade on the Champs-Élysées and fireworks over the Eiffel Tower.

Boryeong Mud Festival

Mud wrestling, mud slides and mud baths on a beach on Korea's west coast.

Tomorrowland

The fairy-tale electronic music festival in a park near Antwerp, with fans from every country on earth.

Salzburg Festival

Opera, concerts and theatre in Mozart's city, the summer's most famous classical festival.

Festa del Redentore

Venetians dine on boats in the lagoon and watch fireworks over San Marco until midnight.

Santiago de Cuba Carnival

Cuba's oldest carnival: congas, comparsas and the drums of the east filling the streets at night.

Guelaguetza

Dances and dress from the eight regions of Oaxaca, on the hill above the city.

Esala Perahera

Torch-lit processions of dancers, drummers and robed elephants carrying the relic of the Buddha's tooth.

Independence Day (Colombia)

Flags on every balcony and a military parade for the 1810 cry of independence in Bogotá.

Sumidagawa Fireworks

Twenty thousand fireworks over the Sumida river, with the crowds in yukata on every bridge.

Tenjin Matsuri

A procession of a hundred boats on the river by lantern light, then fireworks over Osaka.

Fiestas Patrias (Peru)

Peru's independence: flags on every house, a military parade in Lima and anticuchos in the street.

Restoration Day

A national holiday marking the war that restored Dominican independence from Spain in 1863-1865.

Feria de las Flores

The silleteros parade, flower farmers carrying huge flower arrangements on their backs.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The world's largest arts festival: thousands of shows in every room in the city.

Hungry Ghost Festival

Offerings burned on the street and getai shows staged for the spirits, with the front row left empty.

Nebuta Matsuri

Giant lit paper warriors on floats, with dancers jumping and shouting "rassera" around them.

Sziget Festival

A week of music on an island in the Danube, in the middle of Budapest.

Sendai Tanabata

Shopping streets hung with huge paper streamers for the star festival, Japan's most famous Tanabata.

Petronio Álvarez Festival

The music of Colombia's Pacific coast: marimbas, viche cocktails and Afro-Colombian food.

Tango BA Festival y Mundial

The world tango championship, with free classes and milongas all over Buenos Aires.

Awa Odori

Japan's biggest dance festival: troupes dancing through the streets every night of Obon.

Obon

Families welcome back the spirits of their ancestors with lanterns and bon-odori dances.

Feria de Málaga

A week of sweet wine, flamenco and verdiales, by day in the old town and by night at the fairground.

Aste Nagusia

Bilbao's big week: fireworks every night, street stalls run by the city's comparsas, and Marijaia waving from the balcony.

Independence Day (India)

The flag raised at the Red Fort, and kites flying over every rooftop in Delhi.

Palio di Siena (August)

The second Palio of the summer: the same race, the same rivalries, the same packed square.

Krishna Janmashtami

Krishna's birthday: midnight prayers, and in Mumbai human pyramids climbing to break a pot of curd.

Onam

Kerala's harvest festival: flower carpets, snake-boat races and a feast on a banana leaf.

La Tomatina

An hour-long tomato fight in the streets of a small town near Valencia.

Venice Film Festival

The oldest film festival in the world, on the Lido, with the stars arriving by water taxi.

Omagari Fireworks

Japan's national fireworks competition: the best pyrotechnicians in the country over the rice fields.

Notting Hill Carnival

Europe's biggest street festival: Caribbean steel bands, sound systems and jerk chicken.

Burning Man

A temporary city of seventy thousand in the desert, built for art and burned at the end.

Día de las Mercedes

The feast of Our Lady of Mercy, patroness of the Dominican Republic, with pilgrims at Santo Cerro near La Vega.

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ten days of giant Ganesh idols, ending with crowds carrying them into the sea at Mumbai's beaches.

Owara Kaze no Bon

Silent dancers in straw hats move through a lantern-lit town to the sound of a kokyū fiddle.

Independence Day (Brazil)

Military parades in every capital and the Esplanade in Brasília for the 1822 cry of independence.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Mooncakes, lanterns and family gatherings under the year's brightest full moon.

Chuseok

Korea's harvest holiday: the whole country travels home for songpyeon rice cakes and ancestral rites.

Kishiwada Danjiri

Four-tonne wooden carts hauled around corners at a run, with a man dancing on the roof.

Mexican Independence Day

El Grito: the president rings the bell on the Zócalo at 11pm and the whole square shouts back.

Thimphu Tshechu

Masked monks perform sacred dances in the courtyard of the capital's dzong.

Fiestas Patrias

Chile's independence: fondas, empanadas, cueca dancing and a long weekend.

Oktoberfest

Sixteen days of beer tents, brass bands and lederhosen on the Theresienwiese.

Berlin Marathon

The fastest marathon course in the world, finishing through the Brandenburg Gate.

La Mercè

Barcelona's own festival: human towers in the Plaça Sant Jaume, giants, fire runs and free concerts.

Meskel

A huge bonfire topped with a cross is lit on Meskel Square to mark the finding of the True Cross.