Festivals

European Festivals | Festivals in Europe

European Festivals

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The results listed below include links through to festival articles, festival snippets, festival photo galleries, festival videos and festival web sites external to 2camels that relate to festivals in Europe.

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festival articles European Festival Articles

57 festival article(s) returned for Europe

Displaying article(s) 1 to 57 ordered by festival name

Festival Name: Abril Feria - April Fair
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Traditional, Food and Wine, Party
The word 'Spain' invokes images of a most vibrant nation, Latin passion, proud bull-fighters, flamencos, and of course, of Carmen and Don Juan. Seville in the Andalusian region in southern Spain is the very embodiment of the Spanish character and spirit, and its cultural richness is best manifested by the annual week-long festival in this city during the last week of April -- Abril Feria, or April Fair.


Festival Name: Art on Cows
Festival Country: Luxembourg
Festival Type(s): Art, Bizarre
The plaque on the base of the first cow offered little in the way of an explanation - Spledide by Christine Dumbsky. She was a metallic blue beast for the most part, with deep purple hooves and featured two topless pole dancers air brushed on her left flank.


Festival Name: Bedfordshire Medieval Festival
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): Medieval
Fayre opened with a ground-shaking explosion as the gunners from the Compagnie of Saynte Barbara fired their fearsome one-and-a-half tonne siege engine, the Bombard, to let people know that the programme of demonstrations and displays was about to begin


Article Title: Canada Day in London
Festival Name: Canada Day
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): National, Historical, Party
Canadians seldom get vocal about much. There are loads of us in London but we never make ourselves known like our fellow Aussie and Kiwi working holidaymakers. A big reason for that could be that we don't have many events in London to support, but when July 1st rolls around, Canadians flock to the Maple Leaf pub in Covent Garden to show their patriotism.


Festival Name: Cannabis Cup
Festival Country: Netherlands
Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Adult
The Cannabis Cup is a 5 day long celebration of the many wonderful things about marijuana. It's official purpose is to bring cannabis experts together so that they can 'taste' the latest varieties of marijuana and hashish, and vote for the one they like best, much as a panel of wine experts might gather to judge the year's wine offerings.


Festival Name: Cannes Film Festival
Festival Country: France
Festival Type(s): Film, Party
"Dom! Dom!" The crowd around me was going wild as a black car swept past. Through the tinted windows a woman smiled and waved directly to me. She looked vaguely familiar but I could not place her.


Festival Name: Carnival of Venice
Festival Country: Italy
Festival Type(s): Carnival, Street Parade, Party
My Venetian friends had invited me to come to Venice for Carnevale, saying I could use a studio apartment kept for family and friends. This was an offer I couldn't refuse, so I arranged my schedule to be in Venice the last week of Carnevale.


Festival Name: Cheese Rolling
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): Sport - Bizarre, Bizarre, Harvest
Wherever it's origins it's hard to argue that cheese rolling is a sport for the outrageously courageous or at least the dangerously demented. Contestants in the Cooper's Hill event (between Gloucester, Stroud and Cheltenham in the Cotswolds) on the last Monday in May, stand precipitously at the top of a 300 yard hill, that maintains a gradient of two in one for the most part whilst a Master of Ceremonies counts them down.


Festival Name: Cheese Rolling
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Sport - Bizarre, Traditional
I never expected to spend my May Bank Holiday weekend as a participant in one of Europe's wackiest and most dangerous events, but there I was, perched atop a huge, steep, bumpy hill in Gloucestershire as an entrant in the third race of the day, about to throw myself down after a piece of rolling cheese.


Festival Name: Christmas
Festival Country: Ireland
Festival Type(s): Christmas, Religious, Traditional
When I was a little girl, the day after Christmas was almost as much fun as the day itself. It was, and still is, a national holiday in Great Britain and Ireland, which makes a great deal of sense to me; adults get a day off to relax (or recuperate!), kids can look forward to going to the pantomime, and best of all, there's still that magical feeling of good cheer in the air.


Festival Name: Christmas
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Christmas, Religious
The month of December brings a flurry of parties and celebrations, leading up to the culmination of Christmas chaos or cheer, depending on your own personal viewpoint. In Spain, Christmas is celebrated not only on the 25th of December but also includes all the surrounding days from the 24th of December (Noche Vieja) until the 6th of January (Reyes).


Festival Name: Common Ridings - Hawick
Festival Country: Scotland
Festival Type(s): Traditional, National, Party
For centuries the Scottish border towns of Hawick, Jedburgh, Lauder and Selkirk have been keeping a watchful eye on their southern neighbours, the ever-so-meddlesome English. In years past these Common Ridings of the Scottish border were horseback patrols to ensure those southerners knew where their boundary ended and the Scottish frontier began.


Festival Name: Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Festival Country: Scotland
Festival Type(s): Fringe, Performing Art, Comedy
The Fringe is an immense gathering of artists, musicians, dancers and actors coming from over 40 countries to perform in over 250 venues. Search for a show on the Fringe website and you will have to sift through a mere 1,909 shows. It would take five years, three months, and 25 days to see every performance in the Fringe 2005 back to back.


Festival Name: Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Festival Country: Scotland
Festival Type(s): Fringe, Comedy, Performing Art
To anyone except the actor, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is annual paradise. For five frantic weeks the elegant seaside city of Edinburgh resigns itself to theatrical hijack. From all corners of the globe dramatic and musical troupes descend on Scotland's capital to tempt, cajole, and dazzle the spectator into parting with their pounds: in exchange for laughter, tears, derision, and amusement.


Festival Name: Feast of St. Anthony
Festival Country: Portugal
Festival Type(s): Traditional, Religious, Cultural
The storeowner told me they were the "brides of St. Anthony," and it was part of the saint's feast day traditions. He said the city hall traditionally hosts the bridal couples for free if they are poor.


Festival Name: Flamenco
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Dance - Latin, Music - Traditional, Dance - Folk
This thrilling vociferation appeared to inspire the fiery black haired women dancers as they stamped the stage floor with wild uncontrolled passion. Beautifully costumed, their tight-bodice multi-coloured dresses flaring at the hips and covering petticoats with countless ruffles matched the carnations in their hair.


Festival Name: Galway Races
Festival Country: Ireland
Festival Type(s): Sport - Equestrian, Party
Throughout Ireland people of all ages and occupations prepare for the Galway Races with a fervour that is almost religious in its intensity. Budgets are planned, holidays are arranged and business is scheduled to conform with the sacrosanct dates of the annual week-long festival.


Article Title: Game of the Bridge
Festival Name: Game of the Bridge
Festival Country: Italy
Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Re-enactments, Historical
Rival teams from different quarters of Pisa fought for symbolic possession of a bridge over the Arno River. In those times, the games often degenerated into brutal and bloody man to man fighting.


Festival Name: Glastonbury Festival
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): Music - Rock, Party, Music - World
I want to be buried in mud, rained on in the dance tent by human feces, surrounded by deliciously bizarre people, and maybe (hopefully) catch some of the world's best electronic music performers along the way.


Article Title: Hogmanay
Festival Name: Hogmanay
Festival Country: Scotland
Festival Type(s): New Year, Party
Hogmanay is the traditional Scottish New Year's Eve festival celebrated on December 31. It is a huge affair which often includes many celebrations and parties for which tickets are sold.


Festival Name: Il carnevale d'Ivrea - Ivrea Carnival
Festival Country: Italy
Festival Type(s): Carnival, Bizarre, Party
That fight for liberty is recreated with the Battles of the Oranges, which substitute stones. Italy exceeds its production quota of oranges as agreed within the EEC (the European Economic Community) , so the excess needs to be destroyed (just to keep up the retail price). My co-citizens cooperate in the difficult path towards a unified Europe by helping to smash some oranges.


Article Title: Bathtubs on the River
Festival Name: International Regatta of Bathtubs - La Regate des Baignoires
Festival Country: Belgium
Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Sport - Bizarre
The hot sun of a mid-August day beats down on a motley flotilla as it makes it way down the River Meuse through the town of Dinant, Belgium. One of Europe's lesser-known festivals, La Regate des Baignoires, the International Regatta of Bathtubs, was, as the local tourist board cheerfully admits, a promotional stunt dreamed up to bring visitors to this sliver of a town wedged between steeps cliffs and the Meuse River about an hour from Brussels.


Festival Name: Isle of Iona Festival
Festival Country: Scotland
Festival Type(s): Local, Party
Visitin' yer unsestors r ye?' The driver asked as I gratefully climbed into his clapped out old van. I ignored his mistaken questioning. A mistake caused by my red hair, a mistake I was hearing all the time in Scotland. 'Are you going as far as Tobermory?' I asked hopefully, by way of a response. I was going to the 'capital' of The Isle of Mull, the third largest island in the Scottish Hebrides.


Festival Name: La Tomatina
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Party, Traditional
As history spells it out, what began in 1944 as a simple tomato fight between a group of friends in the town's main square - the Plaza del Pueblo - has turned into arguably the worlds largest food fight. Actually, there is very little to argue about.


Article Title: Las Fallas de Valencia
Festival Name: Las Fallas
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Street Parade, Party, Fireworks
I awoke to the sound of firecrackers or explosives at the very least. This was merely pre-Fallas, a warm-up for the enormous celebration yet to come. The fiesta was a week away, yet very much on the minds of every Valencian.


Article Title: Love Parade
Festival Name: Love Parade
Festival Country: Germany
Festival Type(s): Music - Electronic, Party, Dance
Love Parade is the largest techno gathering in the world. The tradition started 10 years ago with a few hundred ravers and has grown to a million and a half people. That's right: 1.5 million people.


Festival Name: Lulworth Castle Medieval Festival
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): Medieval, Historical
Lulworth Castle is a gem though, with round towers at each corner, every child's picturebook vision, and the Festival was arranged to take full advantage of this with the Arena right in front of the main entrance. I had rented a holiday cottage in the village for the weekend, and arrived on the Friday afternoon.


Festival Name: Luminara and Historical Regatta of Saint Ranieri
Festival Country: Italy
Festival Type(s): Sport - Water, Traditional, Historical
Around 9:30 PM on June 16th, the eve of feast day of Saint Ranieri who is the patron saint of Pisa, the buildings along the Arno River are transformed into a fantastical fairyland setting.


Article Title: Midsummers in Sweden
Festival Name: Midsummer
Festival Country: Sweden
Festival Type(s): Traditional, Summer, Party
I've discovered that Scandinavian summers are different to those in Australia. For instance, they have a middle. The middle in this case being Midsummer, a festival celebrating the longest day of the year, which in this part of the world can be pretty much an entire day.


Festival Name: Montà Food and Wine Festival
Festival Country: Italy
Festival Type(s): Food and Wine, Wine, Food
It was on my very first trip to Italy where I stumbled on this food and wine tasting adventure to rival all others. An annual celebration - 2003 being its tenth anniversary - it was only by chance that I happened to be in Italy during the last weekend of May to catch up with two old school friends from Australia, one of whom was Italian.


Festival Name: Notting Hill Carnival
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): Carnival, Street Parade, Party
But all that changes on the August bank holiday weekend as the Notting Hill Carnival - Europe's largest street party and second only in the world to Rio's Carnaval - swings and sways its way into W11.


Festival Name: Oktoberfest
Festival Country: Germany
Festival Type(s): Beer, Party
Imagine six million liters of beer, enough to fill a small lake or pour a glass for every man, woman and child in Germany. Add a few thousand traditionally-clad, voluptuous Bavarian waitresses carrying up to 22 liters of beer at a time, the equivalent of 66 12-ounce bottles.


Festival Name: Ommegang
Festival Country: Belgium
Festival Type(s): Medieval, Historical, Re-enactments
Brussels' Grand Place is packed with spectators, including the Royal Family and their guests, for the annual Ommegang, or 'walk about' in Dutch, the major annual event in the city since 1549. Although historians believe it began as a religious ritual in the 14th Century, the huge parade and festival is now devoid of religious connotations and focuses on local folklore and heritage.


Article Title: Papa in da House
Festival Name: Papal Audience
Festival Country: Holy See
Festival Type(s): Religious
Pope Benedict XVI may not have the same instant charisma of his rock-star-meeting, sunglass-wearing predecessor, but he can still pull a crowd and knows how to work the adoring masses into a frenzy


Article Title: Respect
Festival Name: Respect Festival
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): Multicultural, Music - World, Music - Varied
It was a beautiful summers day in London and I was on the way to RESPECT - an Anti-racism and Multicultural Festival. This annual event has been held in July, for the past 2 years in various parks around London. This year the festival was held in Victoria Park, Hackney.


Festival Name: Sagra di'Pinolo - The Pine Nut Festival
Festival Country: Italy
Festival Type(s): Food, Food and Wine
A couple of years ago, on our last evening in Florence, our friend Monique crammed us into her Fiat and took us for a short drive, just a few minutes away from the city. The place was Chiesanuova, the time was mid-June, and the celebration was the Sagra di'Pinolo -- the Pine Nut festival.


Article Title: Festival of San Fermin
Festival Name: San Fermin
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Traditional, Party
The Festival of San Fermin, first made famous outside of Spain by Ernest Hemingway in his novel 'The Sun Also Rises' (also known as 'Fiesta')


Festival Name: San Fermin - Running of the Bulls
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Party, Sport - Bizarre
My stomach was churning, my palms sticky, my heart smashing at the inside of my ribcage. I put on a brave face. Strange to think that I'd paid to be here.


Article Title: Santa Run
Festival Name: Santarun
Festival Country: Wales
Festival Type(s): Sport - Bizarre, Christmas
Surreal was not the right word. The sea of crimson that stretched behind me deserved something more than that. This was more of a crazed hallucinogenic trip, a dream that I could wake up from at any second. This was either the work of a madman or a genius. But, as they say, 'when in Rome...'


Article Title: A Homage To Sevilla
Festival Name: Semana Santa
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Cultural, Religious, Traditional
Semana Santa represents a pulsating celebration of Easter and is as much of a sacred tradition to the proud Andalucians, as the rather more barbaric pastime of Bullfighting.


Article Title: Russian Around Aarhus
Festival Name: Ship Ahoy Festival
Festival Country: Denmark
Festival Type(s): Maritime, Historical, Re-enactments
Bellowing out his command loudly in Russian from right behind my ear, the captain sharply snaps me from my momentary lull in the baking Baltic sun.


Festival Name: Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Day
Festival Country: Ireland
Festival Type(s): Religious, Traditional, Cultural
Throughout the British Isles and in many European countries, the day before Ash Wednesday - Shrove Tuesday - is commonly known as Pancake Day. As children, we loved watching the Pancake Races. Usually, the contestants were housewives. Each of them carried a skillet which contained a large, very thin pancake. The idea was for the women to race to the finish line, tossing their pancakes as they ran. It was hilarious - especially when a stray pancake landed where it wasn't supposed to!


Article Title: Siena Palio
Festival Name: Siena Palio
Festival Country: Italy
Festival Type(s): Sport - Equestrian, Sport - Bizarre, Traditional
It was Palio, the biggest event in a Sienese year. When the local contrada's (districts) take to the track with their finest horses and race for a coveted silk banner. When horses become Gods, passions are high and the square fills with the excitement of a race for glory.


Festival Name: St. Michael's Carrots - The Feast of St. Michaels
Festival Country: Ireland
Festival Type(s): Religious, Traditional, Cultural
On the afternoon of the Sunday preceding Michaelmas, women and girls in the Hebrides gather St. Michael's wild carrots. But they don't just dig them up haphazardly - a very special ritual must be observed.


Festival Name: St. Patrick's Day
Festival Country: Ireland
Festival Type(s): Religious, Party, Food and Drink
All over the world, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated with elaborate parades; families tuck into the traditional dinner of corned beef and cabbage; and, in the pubs, the green beer flows swifter than the River Shannon. It's odd to think that just a short time ago, none of the most popular customs we often take for granted even existed.


Festival Name: Starkbierzeit - Strong Beer Festival
Festival Country: Germany
Festival Type(s): Beer
Have you heard of Starkbierzeit? It's German for 'strong beer festival,' an event held every March in Munich. For two weeks, Münchners take a break from Lenten self-denial, breweries bring out their most potent beverages, and beer halls throw noisy parties with Bavarian food and entertainment. Locals call it their 'fifth season.'


Festival Name: Summer Festival of El Vendrell
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Summer, Traditional, Cultural
There is a really special Catalan destination that combines sun and sand with a twist of magic for four days at the end of July. The Festa Major of Vendrell (Summer Festival) celebrates the day of Saint Anna on and around the 26th July in true Mediterranean style.


Festival Name: Summer Solstice
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): Solstice, Pagan, Folk
Me, I haven't rebounded on Earth since the Stones. Not yet. I'm a day back and my head is still somewhere on that wind, rain and mist-filled Plain of Salisbury. The Y2K solstice party seemed to be full of good vibes.


Festival Name: The Championships - Wimbledon
Festival Country: England
Festival Type(s): Sport - Racquet, Traditional
As far as sporting festivals go they don't come much purer than the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club's annual Championships, at Wimbledon.


Festival Name: The Dance of the Horned Man
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Traditional, Dance - Folk, Cultural
A world away from the black garbed cross bearers of Barcelona's streets are the ruby red, horned dancers of Cornella del Terri, a small town located 113 kilometres north of Barcelona in the region of Girona.


Festival Name: The Festival of Sant Jordi at Montblanc
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Medieval, Traditional
According to the Catalan historian, Joan Amades, the walls of Montblanc are the origin of Catalonia's most famous legend Sant Jordi, celebrated throughout Catalunya on the 23rd of April.


Festival Name: The Festivals of Valls
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Traditional, Cultural, Bizarre
One of the loveliest aspects of Catalonia, or certainly one of the most striking, is its capacity for local celebration. The Catalans are good at blowing their trumpets or more correctly stated the "gralle", an oboe like traditional Catalan instrument used in all the local festivities including Sardanas, Human Castles (Castellers) and the town parades of giants and puppets.


Festival Name: The Patum
Festival Country: Spain
Festival Type(s): Traditional, Dance - Folk, Medieval
Barcelona simmers in June day time heat as the refreshing evenings grow steadily longer. Firecrackers left by teenagers in street rubbish bins explode late at night, reminding us that the longest day of the year celebrated on the eve of Sant Joan, the 23rd of June, is only just round the corner.


Article Title: Sampling Umbria Jazz
Festival Name: Umbria Jazz Festival
Festival Country: Italy
Festival Type(s): Music - Jazz
The Algiers Brass Band from New Orleans is marching down Corso Vannucci, the main street of Perugia in Italy, led by a grand marshall with purple feathers


Festival Name: Vappu
Festival Country: Finland
Festival Type(s): Traditional, Party, National
Finland's Carnival-style celebration of Vappu is one of Europe's best kept party secrets as hundreds of thousands take to the streets of Helsinki to usher in Spring


Article Title: Venice Carnevale
Festival Name: Venice Carnevale
Festival Country: Italy
Festival Type(s): Carnival, Street Parade, Party
I went to Venice for two nights during Carnevale and stayed a week. The only reason I left was because it ended. I felt like a character in Ernest Hemmingway's "The Sun Also Rises", unable to decipher day from day or hour from hour.


Festival Name: World Body Painting Festival
Festival Country: Austria
Festival Type(s): Art, Bizarre
Colors fly in a weeklong event known as the Mecca for body painting. A quaint Austrian town plays host as artists from around the world come to feast their eyes on the wonders of nature and all who are naturally painted.




festival snippets European Festival Snippets

34 festival snippet(s) returned for Europe

Displaying snippet(s) 1 to 34 ordered by festival name

Festival Name
Festival Country
Scotland
England
Bosnia and Herzegovina


festival photos European Festival Photo Galleries

188 festival photo gallerie(s) returned for Europe

Displaying photo gallerie(s) 1 to 188 ordered by festival name

Festival Name
Festival Country
Luxembourg
Netherlands
England
England
Finland
England
Ireland
Scotland
Scotland
England
Finland
Belgium
Germany
Germany
Germany
Belgium
Finland
Finland
Czech Republic
Finland
England
Spain
England
England
Finland
Finland


festival videos European Festival Videos

49 festival video(s) returned for Europe

Displaying video(s) 1 to 49 ordered by festival name

Festival Name
Festival Country
Portugal
Netherlands
England
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Germany
Germany
Netherlands


festival websites European Festival Links

537 festival link(s) returned for Europe

Displaying link(s) 1 to 537 ordered by festival name

Festival Name
Festival Country
Netherlands
Netherlands
Switzerland
Serbia and Montenegro
England
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Switzerland
Netherlands
Switzerland
England
England
Germany
Ireland