Harvest Festivals

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.

Gawai is an annual festival held every June in the longhouses of lowland tribes in Sarawak. It is a national event, promoted by local brews and municipalities, but in reality everyone leaves the cities empty to return home or visit friends. Gawai is a harvest festival, a New Year celebration, religious ritual and family reunion all at the same time.

Some countries call it Harvest Festival; there is a Harvest moon. Others note the autumnal equinox as a sign of the changing seasons. Here in China, they call it the Mid-Autumn festival, celebrated during the full moon that falls between the mid-September and mid-October. On this night of the full moon, tradition says that you sit outdoors with your family throughout the night, admiring the moon, talking, and eating special sweet cakes called Moon Cakes.

What is a Humungus Fungus you ask? Several years ago a "humungus fungus" (a GIGANTIC mushroom) was discovered in the Crystal Falls area. It weighs roughly 11 tons and covers 37 acres.

Out on the tundra, eyes level with the humps of juniper and blueberry bushes, I crouched and surveyed the horizon. The violet, burnt orange, purple, and brick red rolled in waves to the fading blue sky. Sunset on the far eastern reaches of Siberia.