Spring Fests!
After a tough and cold winter period, spring that will warm us up with all its colors is at hand! Along with the revival of nature, the promising spring, which also heals the soul and energy of people, is welcomed all over the world with joy.
As spring makes itself felt in every sense, people from different cultures in various parts of the world celebrate the arrival of spring with festivals and various events to renew their energies with the revival of nature. Flowers, one of the most striking symbols of spring, that we come across while walking on the road, manage to impress us with their colorful images as well as their fragrant scents.
We have listed the spring holidays held in various parts of the world in this period when spring knocks on our door, we feel warm and we want to travel. If you are ready, we are embarking on a journey full of spring breezes…
1-Martenichka Fest, Bulgaria
First, we wanted to start with Baba Marta, which means “March’s grandmother” in Bulgarian, which our neighbor Bulgaria celebrates with the arrival of March.
On the Martenichka Festival, which is based on ancient traditions and is known in the Balkans as well as the Bulgarians, they tie bracelets made of white color symbolizing longevity and red color representing health to their wrists with a humble wish. It is believed that the Martenichka bracelet brings the revival of nature, health, happiness and luck.
They present the symbols called “martenitsa” prepared on the feast day to their friends, wishing them health and strength throughout the year. According to the custom, martenitsas are carried until they see a swallow or stork and are tied to the first tree branch that blooms in spring.
2- Scrambled Egg Festival, Bosnia
Cimburijada, which means Scrambled Egg Festival, is celebrated in the Bosnian city of Zenica on the first day of spring, every year in March, due to the arrival of spring.
The focus of the festival, where thousands of people came together, is eggs, which are the symbol of a new life. At dawn, people gather on the banks of the Bosnian river to eat scrambled eggs. Thus, people gather together to celebrate the first day of spring together. They have breakfast with scrambled eggs accompanied by music and share the fun with their friends, family and guests.
3-Easter, Christian Communities
Celebrated on the first Sunday after the first “new moon” after March 21, Easter is one of the most important and oldest Christian holidays.
Easter which means “to pass without touching” in Hebrew, actually celebrates the resurrection of Jesus on the 3rd day of his crucifixion. For this reason, Easter is also known by the names of Doomsday, Resurrection Sunday or Resurrection Day .
The Easter bunny and the Easter egg made of chocolate stand out as the most important symbols of the holiday. On Easter Day, special buns are made, boiled eggs are dyed, candles are lit, and prayers are recited.
On Easter, which is celebrated differently in each country, parents with small children leave an Easter gift basket at their home, and it is believed that their children are visited by the Easter Bunny. In particular, very entertaining celebration events are organized for children.
4-Marzanna Festival, Poland
On the first day of spring, Poles are making a doll that they call Marzanna and is made of straw. This doll is used to symbolize the cold and gloomy winter season.
During the Marzanna Festival, these babies are roamed along the streets with the crowd and released into the river to symbolize the end of the winter season. With this tradition, which has been going on for centuries, the first day of spring is celebrated by leaving the winter season behind.
In Poland, where a pagan farewell-winter tradition that takes place on the Sunday before Easter continues, the troubles of winter are forgotten with the passing of Marzanna; spring returns with warm air and natural grace.
5- Pancake Day, Russia
Maslenitsa Feast, which changes every year according to the “Great Fast” period of Orthodox Christians, was celebrated this year during the week of March 8-14.
The finale of Maslentisa, of pagan origin, where pancakes called “blini” were eaten, fires reminiscent of Hıdrellezi were lit, and thus the winter was expelled, was the scene of intense celebrations. Blini’s are likened to the sun in terms of their circular shape and warmth, and they represent embracing the summer season.
According to the belief of Russian Orthodox, only raw dairy products, eggs and fish can be eaten for 7 days from Monday. Maslenitsa celebrates the arrival of spring before the 40-day Great Lent, which ends with Easter on May 2.
According to tradition, each day of the holiday has a different meaning. Snowball fights, family gatherings and various community events are held during this one-week holiday.
At the end of the week, “Lady Maslenitsa”, a scarecrow made of straw representing the winter season, is burned to say goodbye to winter.
6-Venice Carnival, Venice- Italy
Venice, Italy’s dream city, is famous for its canals that connect to each other, the romantic gondolas that roam these canals, and the Venice Carnival, which lasts for 11 days in February every year. This beautiful city is already magnificent, but during the Venice Carnival, where everyone walks in masks and colorful costumes, it takes on a more impressive and mysterious state.
The origin of the Venetian Carnival is thought to be based on the celebration of Eostre, a spring goddess in Pagan culture. In this carnival, which is believed to be associated with Easter, Venetians celebrate the arrival of spring by organizing masquerade balls. It is thought that the reason for wearing masks at these parties held on the winter solstice is to eliminate the class difference.
With various competitions, shows and parades, Venice hosts this unique festival, which is colorful and carefully prepared every year on the streets.
7-Sechseläuten Festival, Switzerland
Sechseläuten is a centuries-old tradition in Zurich at the beginning of spring. Alongside the historical costumed guild members, bands, horses, flowers, flags and the “Böögg” characterize the festival. Sechseläuten, Switzerland’s biggest spring festival, is celebrated on the third Monday of April.
The main symbol of the festival is a snowman named Böögg, representing the winter season and made of grass. The main character Böögg Grossmünster is lit just in time for the church’s six o’clock bell. During the festival, the pile of wood under the snowman is ignited and the fires are expected to reach the head of the model and explode it. It is believed that if Böögg’s head explodes within the first 6-10 minutes, the summer season will be dry and sunny. If the eruption occurs after 10-15 minutes, a rainy summer season is expected.
8-Fallas Festival, Valencia- Spain
Celebrating the Las Fallas Festival, which is held every year in March, with all the fuss, Spain’s crazy city Valencia is flooded by tens of thousands of participants from the towns and cities of the region during the festival and turns into a giant theater stage during the festival.
Although the stories of the origin of the festival, which has been celebrated for centuries, differ from each other, it is basically to celebrate the arrival of spring. The puppets exhibited in different districts and squares of the city are capable of impressing not only children but also people of all ages with their gigantic sizes and colors. Medieval clothes are worn at the street parties held in the city.
Fallas Festival week begins with a march to honor St. Joseph. Paper statuettes filled with fireworks are burned during the celebrations. The word fallas also refers to these objects burned at the festival.
9-Whuppity Scoorie Festival, Scotland
Whuppity Scoorie is a traditional festival from the early 19th century, held on 1st of March in Lanark, Scotland, to celebrate the arrival of spring.
During the Whuppity Scoorie Festival held on March 1 every year, children run around the Church of St. Nicholas making noise with balls made of crumpled paper hanging around their heads. Children running clockwise for three laps fight for the coins thrown by the members of the Community Council hosting the event. .
People in the town believe that this way they get rid of evil spirits before the spring season starts.
10-Bollenstreek Flower Parade, Netherlands
The Flower Parade, which is held every year in April to welcome spring, is one of the most prominent events of the country, which leaves the city of Noordwijk in South Holland on Saturday and ends in the city of Haarlem on Sunday.
This ceremony, which takes place with a long journey between cities, is a parade that hosts colorful images of bands and dancers, with vehicles made of bulbous flowers such as hyacinths, tulips and daffodils. Thousands of people take to the roads to watch these beautiful flowers, which are almost 42 kilometers long.
11-Walpurgis Night, Northern Europe
As the eve of May 1, April 30 is a traditional holiday celebrated as Walpurgis Night in Northern Europe and Scandinavia. On the night that connects April 30 to May 1, fires are lit, songs are sung, witch costumes are worn, pranks are made, and noise is made. It has been celebrated in many countries for centuries by pre-Christian traditions as fertility and the beginning of summer. In Germany, Walpurgis Night is celebrated by wearing costumes, pranking people and making loud noises to keep evil at bay.
Some people hang blessed leaves in their homes to ward off evil spirits, or leave pieces of bread called ankenschnitt sprinkled with butter and honey for hunting dogs as an offering.
12-Holi Day, India
Holi is a popular ancient Hindu spring festival. The festival represents the victory of good over evil, love and forgiveness. The festival, which originated in India, is mainly celebrated in this region. However, it also spread to other parts of Asia and the Western world through the Indian subcontinent.
Holi Festival, one of the biggest festivals of Indian culture, takes place on the last full moon of winter.
The religious basis of Holi Feast, which celebrates the return of spring, is based on the legend of Holika. Every year, with the fire of Holika, which is re-lit for Holika’s soul, people dance in the streets as good wins over evil. The main purpose of this holiday is to celebrate nature and thank it for giving it to us.
On Holi, people dress in green and blow colored powder at each other with bamboo pipes. Children also accompany the adults by adding joy and fun to Holi with their water guns. During all these events, a colorful image befitting spring fascinates everyone.
Holi celebrates the arrival of spring, the end of winter, and love, and for many it is a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and mend broken relationships.
13-Sakura (Hanami) Festival, Japan
Hanami literally means watching flowers and its origins date back more than a thousand years, when aristocrats enjoyed looking at beautiful cherry blossoms and wrote poems.
It is a Japanese tradition that welcomes spring and delights in the beauty of sakura (the Japanese term for cherry blossoms). Sakuras are considered the flower of spring, symbolizing the time of renewal. The sakura tree is considered sacred and is considered a cultural symbol of Japan. In ancient times, people believed that Gods lived in these trees, and it marked the festival of hanami, the beginning of the year, and the crop time of rice.
Japan’s cherry blossoms (sakura) festival takes place across the country from the end of March to the beginning of May. The Japanese greet spring by organizing parties under the trees with the Hanami Holiday, which has been going on for centuries.
14-Cherry Blossom Festival, South Korea
Jinhae city, Gyeonghwa Station and old railway tracks at Yeojwacheon Stream are among the most famous places in South Korea where you can see cherry blossoms.
Due to the Cherry Blossom Festival, it becomes one of the most popular attractions in Korea during the spring, attracting millions of travelers and visitors from all over the world.
These popular places are beautifully decorated with lights that illuminate the pink cherry trees at night. Cherry blossom festival is held in different cities in the near future. Dates in some cities are planned for 2023 as follows.
- Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival Period: March 25~April 3
- Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Festival Period: March 31~April 2
- Maisan Mountain Flower Festival Period: Not yet announced for 2023
- Hwagae Cherry Blossom Festival Period: March 31~April 2
- Gyeongpo Cherry Blossom Festival Period: April 4~9
- Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival: April 4~9
- Seokchon Lake Cherry Blossom Festival: To Be Announced
15-Songkran Water Festival, Thailand
Songkran Festival is one of the most famous festivals in Southeast Asia. The festival, which is celebrated in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, as well as in some regions of India and China, is also known as the Water Festival. This festival, which symbolizes the coming of the new year according to the calendar used in Southeast Asia, is celebrated with great enthusiasm every year between 13-15 April.
As the water poured in the festival represents purification from sins and evils; It is turned into an entertainment activity by wishing for better, cleaner, more successful, richer and better relationships. In this festival, which coincides with the spring months when they celebrate the Thai New Year, the main roads are closed and crazy water fights are made.
This period when fireworks used to drive away evil spirits are prepared, houses, shops, streets are cleaned, new clothes are bought, is the scene of the celebrations of enthusiastic crowds all over these countries, as a public holiday is declared in the countries where the festival is celebrated.
16-Mexico Carnival, Mexico
The most famous examples of Mexican Carnival are held in Mazatlán and Veracruz, but each region has its own minor variations in traditions. You see something a little different from what people normally see as a carnival, as if you’ve mixed parades, parties and some elements of traditional Mexican holidays with a circus! It’s a great time where elaborate costumes and fun dominate and people can have a few days of fun!
It is also a very famous country for Mexican Carnivals, which hosts many fun and colorful festivals throughout the year.
The most famous examples of Mexican Carnival are held in Mazatlán and Veracruz, but each region has its own minor variations in traditions. It’s possible to encounter a lot more than what people normally see as a carnival, as if you’ve mixed parades, parties and some elements of traditional Mexican holidays with a circus. It’s a great time where elaborate costumes and fun dominate and people can have a few days of fun!
This carnival, which is one of the most popular festivals in Mexico, is celebrated in various ways by 225 communities in the country. A fun parade accompanied by music is held at the carnival. In the Mexican Carnival, which lasts more than a week, the feast where various flavors are presented is accompanied by fun dances in local colorful costumes.
17-Semana Santa, Guatemala
The Easter week celebrated in Guatemala is called Semana Santa (Holy Week). In this holiday, which is celebrated splendidly every spring, elaborate parades are held on the streets of Antigua with fancy costumes and wooden floats.
These 50-kilogram wooden buoys are carried by many people as part of the spring celebrations. The cobblestone streets are covered with carpets made of flowers. It is possible to see Mayan motifs on these colorful flower carpets.
18-Tulip Festival, Canada
The Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa as a gift to Canadians, who housed Princess Juliana and her daughters for three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in the Second World War.
Later, the city of Ottawa became famous for its tulips, and in 1953 the Ottawa Board of Trade and photographer Malak Karsh organized the first Canadian Tulip Festival.
Since then, more than a million tulips have been exhibited at the Tulip Festival, which celebrates the arrival of spring for 3 weeks in May every year.
In this festival, which is the largest tulip festival in the world, large tulip exhibitions are held all over the city. The biggest of these exhibitions are at the Commissioners Park on the shore of Dow Lake and along the Rideau Canal with 300,000 tulips.
19-Flower Festival, Australia
Since Australia is located in the Southern Hemisphere, spring comes to them in September. They, too, greet spring with the Flower Festival they organize in September every year.
This one-month festival is held in Canberra, the capital of Australia. More than a million flowers surround the Commonwealth Park in Canberra and fascinate everyone with its beautiful colors.
Concerts, art performances, horticultural workshops and various events are held this spring festival.
20- Nowruz Festival, Anatolia and Central Asia
Nowruz Festival, which is accepted as the “beginning of the new year”, “herald of spring”, “nature festival” and has a history of more than 18 centuries, continues to be celebrated with rituals.
On this special day, which literally means “new day”, it is believed that a new year begins with the revival of nature and that the whole year will pass as it is spent with abundance, abundance, cooperation and solidarity.
Due to the fact that the Huns organized festivals in the spring in the 3rd century BC in Chinese sources, Nevruz, which dates back to those years, is also considered the day of the Turks’ exit from Ergenekon.
In 2010, at the request of Afghanistan, Albania, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Turkey, 21 March was officially accepted as “International Nowruz Day” by the United Nations.
In different countries, the arrival of spring is celebrated with enthusiasm with various celebration shows and events in its own frame. It maintains its existence in many geographies from Central Asia to Anatolia with its content that provides social unity, solidarity and cooperation.
The spring, which we missed throughout the winter and warms us, has come with its beautiful colors. With the awakening of nature, the revival and colorful atmosphere and spring celebrations have awakened us from hibernation and blossomed. It sounds like you’re going to explore far away lands, isn’t it?
If you are one of those who say that spring has come, I am filled with positive energy, I can’t stand still, and if you want to have a completely different experience by experiencing these special spring festivals in their unique culture, contact us now! Our private jets will always be ready for you. You just enjoy the comfortable journey…
Happy Spring Festivals…