It is October. In Texas, that is the month with the best weather. No more 100-degree days sweltering in the heat, no more dripping with sweat from 100% humidity. Now, the temperatures are in the 60s and 70s. I luxuriate in the crisp, cool air. It is truly a balm to my soul. Acorns and brittle leaves crunch under my feet. Honking geese are flying south. Hay bales, pumpkins and scarecrows adorn front lawns. It is time to rejoice! Let’s find out how this refreshing season is celebrated all over the world.
According to Alanna Smith’s Sept. 12, 2017 article “8 Fascinating Fall Festivals Around the World” at travelpirates.com, in America, autumn marks the unofficial beginning of the holiday season. Check out the fun fall festivals below.
Matchmaking Festival
Lisdoonvarna, Ireland
September
What is it about the tiny town — which has a population of about 700 people — that draws tens of thousands of visitors every fall? That would be the Matchmaking Festival, a month-long event that has been around for 150 years.
Come September, single visitors flock to Lisdoon for music, dancing, drinking and the advice of a 70-year old matchmaker who’s been responsible for about 3,000 marriages. All are welcome — there is even a weekend for LGBTQ singles looking for a match.
Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival
China, Taiwan, Vietnam & more September or October
The Mid-Autumn Festival — or Moon Festival — is celebrated in China, Taiwan, Vietnam and surrounding countries. It always coincides with a full moon, hence the name. The holiday is a time for family, thanksgiving, lighting incense sticks, paper lanterns and of course, eating moon cakes. These round pastries are traditionally filled with lotus seed paste, but modern recipes may substitute ice cream. In some places like Hong Kong and Vietnam, visitors may witness an iconic dragon or lion dance.
Chuseok
South Korea
September or October
Chuseok is a three-day celebration that falls around a full moon. Families honor their ancestors and share feasts during this harvest festival. People generally return to ancestral towns in order to pay their respects by maintaining gravesites and laying out special food offerings. They attend wrestling matches, dances and feasts.
Living participants chow down on songpyeon, a sticky rice cake shaped like a half-moon stuffed with sweet fillings and steamed over pine needles. Older merrymakers enjoy a liquor made from fresh rice.
Mehregan
Iran & Canada
October 1 and 2
Mehregan is a harvest festival that has been around for several thousand years. Celebrated in the ancient Persian empire, and now in modern-day Iran and Iranian communities throughout Canada, the festival celebrates friendship, love and gift-giving.
In contemporary celebrations, families will set a table with a colorful tablecloth. Traditional objects placed on the table include the spice marjoram, a frankincense burner, a mirror, candy, flowers and seeds like pistachios and lotus seeds.
National Apple Harvest Festival
Arendtsville, Pennsylvania
October 7-15
For anyone who fancies a true taste of Americana, the National Apple Harvest Festival is the place to be. Apples are about as American as...well, you get the idea.
Celebrating its 53rd year, this festival attracts around 25,000 visitors a day to enjoy rows and rows of vendors, crafts, games and every conceivable apple-based creation. Check out "Cider Press Alley" for sips of both regular and hard cider.
Diwali
South & Southeast Asia
October or November
This five-day festival for Hindu Indians Hindu Indians — as well as Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists — is a celebration of light over darkness. Families cover their houses with candles and string lights and decorate their doorsteps with a mandala-like design called a rangoli. Normally made from colored sand, it is meant to invite Lakhshmi, the goddess of prosperity, into a home. Traditions vary across the region — in Nepal, for example, Diwali involves feeding street dogs and decorating them with flower necklaces.
Guy Fawkes Night
United Kingdom
November 5
If you’ve ever heard the rhyme “Remember, remember, the fifth of November,” then you may have heard of Guy Fawkes Night. In 1605, a group of Catholics conspired to assassinate England’s Protestant monarch, King James I, and install a Cathlolic monarch. Guy Fawkes was a Catholic soldier participating in this conspiracy — called the Gunpowder Plot — to blow up British Parliament and kill the king. But in early November, Fawkes was caught and arrested while guarding a stockpile of gunpowder, and the plot was foiled.
People across Great Britain lit bonfires in a celebration that eventually ballooned into a night of revelry and mischief. While things have calmed down in recent years, you can still find parades, bonfires and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes across the U.K. on November 5.
Loi Krathong/Yi Peng
Thailand
November
This festival is actually composed of two Thai holidays: Loi Krathong, from the southwest, and Yi Peng, from the north. Both fall on the same day, which is normally the first full moon in November. For Loi Krathong, people gather along riverways and launch small floating vessels called krathongs filled with offerings and candles, making a wish as they do so. To honor the goddess of water, Thai people offer the krathongs to rivers, lakes, ponds and even swimming pools, in celebration of hope and light. In Bangkok, you can buy krathongs made of banana leaves, flowers, coconuts or styrofoam and fireworks, music and dance performances give the annual event a festive feeling. For Yi Peng, thousands of sky lanterns, called khom loi, float into the night sky in a gorgeous glowing parade.
According to the article “15 International Fall Traditions You’ll Want to Adopt” at mentalfloss.com, below are some international fall traditions.
Lord of Miracles
Lima, Peru
October
El Senor de los Milagros — or the Lord of Miracles — is an annual festival in which Peruvians honor a mural, “Lord of Miracles.” This mural of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion miraculously survived a 1687 earthquake that destroyed the rest of Lima, Peru. To this day, a huge crowd gathers to carry the mural in the streets as a way of honoring the artwork’s religious and symbolic power over destruction. Peruvians also wear purple — to honor nuns who wore purple robes — and feast on skewers of grilled meat, pastries and pumpkin fritters.
Oktoberfest
Germany & other countries around the world
September to October
Oktoberfest is about more than drinking beer. Started in 1810 as a royal wedding celebration for a Bavarian prince and his princess, Oktoberfest has grown into an international fall festival, with events taking place every September to October in cities around the world. In Munich, Germany, Oktoberfest partiers hop between beer tents, watch parades, listen to music, play games and munch on pretzels and authentic German sausages. No need to book a trip to Germany to get in on the action: you can probably find a smaller event in a city near you. Even vegans in Southern California can join in the revelry at a vegan Oktoberfest in Los Angeles, proving that no matter where you live — or what you eat, there’s an Oktoberfest celebration for you.
Chestnut Festival
Collobrières, France
October
Don’t wait ‘til December 24 to break out the chestnuts. In Provence’s town of Collobrières — the so-called Chestnut Capital of the World — locals and visitors alike celebrate the annual chestnut harvest every October with a festival devoted to all things chestnut. Think pies, preserves and marron glacés or candied chestnuts. What to pair with all those nuts? A glass of the year’s newly produced wine, of course.
Our Lady of Nazareth Festival
Belém, Brazil
October
In mid-October, millions of Brazilians gather at Belém to honor a statue of Our Lady of Nazareth. The statue, which allegedly performed miracles in medieval Europe, is the center of attention at the festival, and huge crowds try to get as close as possible to it. Hoping to be blessed by the statue’s religious power, Brazilians even try to touch the rope around the statue. They ride in floats to parade the statue between cities and over a river, finally bringing Our Lady of Nazareth to a cathedral. Brazilians also celebrate with fireworks, music and dancing.
Phnom Penh Water Festival
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
November
Every fall, Cambodians spend three days celebrating the seasonal movement of the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh. After heavy rains back up the river, winds cause the flow of the river to reverse, making the river flood with fish and sediment. The holiday, which usually occurs in early November, brings hundreds of thousands of people together to watch traditional boat races, dance and set off fireworks.
St. Andrew’s Day
Scotland, Barbados, Eastern Europe
November 30
On November 30, Scots pay homage to Saint Andrew, the Catholic patron saint of Scotland by eating, drinking, watching live music and dance shows, marching in parades and attending special events at museums and parks. Because Saint Andrew is also the patron saint of other countries, such as Barbados and a handful of Eastern European nations, St. Andrew’s Day celebrations aren’t limited to the land of haggis and bagpipes. According to Romanian tradition, the night before St. Andrew’s Day should be spent downing a garlic-heavy feast; the seasoning was said to protect the eater from evil spirits.
Movember
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, U.S.
November
In 2003, two friends in Melbourne, Australia, came up with the idea for Movember over beers. They convinced 30 friends to grow their moustaches out for the month of November to raise money for charity. The next year, almost 500 Australians participated, raising around $54,000 for an Aussie prostate cancer organization.
Movember then spread to other countries including New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.; to date, millions of people around the world have participated. Today, the resulting foundation raises money for men’s health issues, focusing on prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health initiatives.
Calan Gaeaf or Welsh Winter’s Eve
Wales, United Kingdom
November 1
Every November 1, the Welsh marked Calan Gaeaf, traditionally considered the first day of winter. The night before, however, was devoted to celebrating Nos Calan Gaeaf, or Winter’s Eve. According to legend, this was a night for the restless spirit of a tailless black sow to roam the countryside, seeking out stragglers who had yet to make it home. Before everyone tucked in for the night, however, revelers gathered around bonfires, feasted and bobbed for apples. Unmarried women would divvy up a porridge made from nine ingredients, with a wedding ring hidden in the pot. Whoever found the ring in her bowl was said to be the next to marry.
Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead
Mexico, Central and South America
November 1-2
In Mexico — as well as parts of Central and South America — people honor their dead friends and relatives on the first two days of November. Although at first glance, Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead may seem macabre, the festival is actually a fun and colorful celebration of life. Mexicans wear bright costumes, dance in parades and decorate their homes with painted skull figurines. People also pay visits to the graves of long-gone family members, setting up altars and leaving flowers, plates of food and trinkets as a tribute.
St. Martin’s Day
Germany
November 11
Every November 11, Germans celebrate St. Martin’s Day, named after St. Martin of Tours, a bishop and Catholic saint who lived in the 300s CE. On this holiday — which honors St. Martin’s work with the poor — children hold handmade paper lanterns and walk down the street singing songs about the saint. After the lantern procession, both children and adults eat goose and Weckmänner, a German pastry shaped like a gingerbread man.
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