Spring, the key of the happy holidays

Bung Ban Fai is the most striking festival in Thailand, and is also known as the fireworks festival. This tradition celebrates the time of the onset of the rains, which indicates the time of rice planting. They decorate the rockets with the Nagas snake. One of the myths is that when the gods are in love the rains come, to encourage romantic mischief. The Songkran festival is the water party that marks the New Year in Thailand and is one of the most important elements of Thai culture. Thais pour water on themselves to remove their bad luck, and also take the opportunity to clean the Buddha images. Wan Lai is celebrated at the same time as Songkran in Chonburi province, between Bangkok and Pattaya. Thais bring sand to their local temple to make merit and give back to the Earth the sand that was removed by their feet. Held from April 16 to 20, the festival sees Bang Saen Beach transformed into a sand-sculpture gallery of stupendous craftsmanship. You can also celebrate the Thai Day of the Dead, Phi Ta Khon, in which the locals wear masks to represent the myth of the disappearance of Prince Vessantara, who after a long time away, they thought he was dead, but he returned and the joy of the locals was so great that he awoke the dead.

In India spring is also celebrated with joy, during the Rongali Bihu, local children in Assam ride their bicycles from house to house dancing to Bihu songs, which signify the arrival of the new year and people give them sweets. In Puri, the Rath Yatra is celebrated. It is the oldest chariot festival in the world, and takes places in the temple-town Odisha. It is believed that Lord Jagannath, the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu and Krishna, is the only Hindu god who leaves his seat in the temple to visit his devotees. During the festival, Lord Jagannath, along with two other gods, move out of the main temple and travel around the city on the special chariots made for them. Although the most famous of all is the Holi festival, which you will know as the festival of colors. It begins the last full moon of the Hindu lunar month, Phalguna, which usually coincides with mid-February or early March. With this festival, Hindus celebrate the victory of good over evil. It lasts two days, and the first night they build giant pyres and singing and dancing all night around the fire and the next day is when the explosion of color that we all know occurs.

In the UK they have many customs during the spring. The sun arrives to the British lands and with it the festivals. The most recognized festival in the United Kingdom is May Day, celebrated on the first Monday of May and has Celtic origins. Flowers are picked and the doors of the houses are decorated, the streets of the villages are decorated with garlands and children dance around colorful ribbons. Within May Day, you can also celebrate Jack in the Green, a tradition of Celtic origin, which was to cut a tree and fill it with garlands. The English celebrate a particular contest in which people have to dress up in garlands, like a Christmas tree, you can not see any of the body, and almost not even know who was under the costume. This holiday began to be called Jack in the Green. During the spring, the British celebrate very interesting festivals, such as the Gloucester Rolling Cheese Festival. Every year, many people gather to throw four kilos of cheese down Cooper’s Hill, they have to catch the rolling cheese before anyone else.

The year starts with spring in Iran, the beginning of the year is celebrated as the northern hemisphere enters the beginning of spring. Nowruz means new day, and is celebrated both in Iran and in the Persian diaspora. Although it is celebrated on the day spring begins, many people decide to start preparations weeks in advance; performing ritual dances and filling household vessels with water, to attract health and good luck. During Nowruz people visit cemeteries and bring offerings to the dead. This is a holiday celebrating fertility and new life. On the tables of the families are placed offerings, the seven offerings that represent the values of the holiday: fertility, patience, love, wealth, and so on. In 2009, Unesco recognized the Nowruz festival as part of the intangible heritage of humanity, noting that it promotes the values of peace and solidarity. This holiday is als celebrated in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan.

The equinox marks the change of seasons and in Mexico they have a particular way of celebrating spring. According to ancient Mexican worldviews, the arrival of spring signifies the triumph of good over evil, and the elimination of bad energies. The ancient Mexican cultures were great observers of the sky, so when the spring equinox occurred, they visited the great astronomical observatories created by the Mayas and Aztecs to recharge positive energy. Today, many people visit Teotihuacan, climbing the 360 steps of the Pyramid of the Sun. Participants approach the appropriate energy to ask for health. Visitors dress in white and perform rituals of purification and renewal, which consist of raising their arms towards the sun and placing their index finger on the central point of the pyramid. Many visitors also come to Chichén Itzá to enjoy the most important astronomical phenomenon of the year. The pyramid dedicated to Kukulcan serves as a visual symbol of day and night. The sun creates a play of light and shadow of a snake slithering down the staircase.

In the southern hemisphere, spring is celebrated by welcoming the birth of flowers, but starting in September. If you are in Australia, you must visit Canberra’s Commonwealth Park, as it is bursting with life and beauty. For 30 days, from September to October you can enjoy the flowers. Visitors to Australia’s Floriade 2022 can enjoy more than a million flowers, accompanied by live musical performances. Floriade was the idea of landscape architect Christiaan Slotemaker. He began the design in 1986 and based it on a famous garden in the Netherlands. His design concept was the multiculturalism of the Australian nation, so he used both Dutch and Aboriginal floral designs. Floriade is the communion between all the cultures of Australia, it is a new way of bringing people together.

As we have already told, Japan has a beautiful legend about spring. The two lovers turn into cherry trees to be together for eternity. Between late March and early April, cherry blossoms begin to bloom and color the parks all over Japan. It is very common to find entire families visiting Tokyo’s parks to admire the blossoms. Families take off their shoes and sit together to enjoy the pink scenery created by the cherry blossoms. Many events are organized around the Japanese cherry blossom festival to live the authentic experience. Not only the trees and parks are dyed pink, but also the local businesses, schools and all the streets. From north to south, you can see Japan in bloom. Twice a year, the cherry trees bloom again, and visitors can enjoy the beautiful scenery.