Meet the World’s Strangest Festivals: Goat Throwing, Giant Omelets, and More

Meet the World's Strangest Festivals: Goat Throwing, Giant Omelets, and More

The world’s strangest festivals cause people to do weird things. Just imagine throwing goats or creating giant omelets, and you have the idea.

Do you want to eat testicles from large animals? Are you ready to learn the rules of a brand-new sport that doesn’t seem real? The crazy thing is that people gather every year to do some of these things, and some of the world’s strangest festivals date back hundreds of years, showing the need to gather and do odd things in public.

Cheese Rolling

One of the most popular but still strange festivals takes place at Cooper’s Hill in The UK every year. During this festival, a giant wheel of cheese is rolled down a steep, muddy hill with people chasing the cheese to the bottom. The fastest person to the bottom of the hill wins the honor of taking home the wheel of cheese. This festival dates back 200 years and is an annual event with an interesting prize: a massive wheel of cheese that’s been covered in grass and mud.

Rolling Wood

What is our human fascination with rolling things? In Japan, there are two of the world’s strangest festivals that both celebrate rolling wood. One is called Onbashira, and the other is called Danjiri Matsuri. These festivals are celebrated with people rolling large wooden objects through crowded streets. Danjiri are decorated wooden carts built by carpenters that showcase their skill, which makes this festival seem a lot like an American parade. The biggest difference is the carts often reach high speeds, topple over, and can actually kill people during the festival.

Summer Redneck Games

Leave it to the good ol’ USA to have a festival called the Summer Redneck Games. This festival is celebrated in East Dublin, Georgia, and features games that you would only expect to find in a festival of its name. Some of the events include the Cigarette Flip, Mud Pit Belly Flop, Hubcap Hurling, Big Hair, and a Wet T-shirt Contest. This festival is relatively new compared to some of the others, originating in 1996 in response to the hosting of the Olympics in Atlanta. This festival attracts thousands of people every year.

Baby Jumping

Babies are small, precious, and harmless, but somehow Spain found a way to put infants in harm’s way with a Baby Jumping festival. This is easily one of the world’s strangest festivals, dating back to 1620. The idea is to take a running leap and clear the babies that are located beneath the jumping area. This tradition features men dressed like the devil jumping over rows of babies laid out on a mattress. The symbolism is chasing away evil to clear a path for a healthy life.

Finnish Sauna World Championships

Finland takes its time in the Sauna seriously, and the world championships of such an event are held each year. The temperature begins at 110C and increases from there. Water is poured on the rocks every 30 seconds until only one person remains and is able to walk out on their own. Everyone else has basically melted away. This seems like it would remain a local event, but competitors come from 20 countries to attend this annual event in Heinola, Finland.

Mosquito Killing World Championships

Most of us think of Finland as a cold country with frigid temperatures, but during the summer, it can get hot and humid, making it the perfect place for some bloodsucking mosquitoes. This championship is held in Pelkosenniemi, and competitors have five minutes to kill as many mosquitos as possible. There are other such events involving these vampire-like bugs, such as competitions held in Italy and Canada during the summer months. Mosquitoes don’t seem to ever go away, but at least we have one of the world’s strangest festivals celebrating their death and demise.

Bullfighting on a Rope

This event is held in Portugal and features bulls held back by a rope while brave men taunt the bull by running up close enough to touch it. This might seem mean, but in Spain, bulls are killed in bullfighting, which means this might be the more humane way for people to interact with these massive, powerful, and angry beasts. On the island of Terceira in the Azores, kids run on the beach with the bulls, which seems strange, but it works for them.

These are only a few of the world’s strangest festivals, giving you some idea of just how odd and unique the human mind can be in its quest to offset boredom with some wonderful frivolity.

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