Europe´s Weird Festivals

The Flour Wars of Galaxidi

Every year at the end of Carnival, the Greek village of Galaxidi erupts in a day-long flour war. Goggles and overalls are recommended. Clean Monday is a heck of a misnomer in the Greek port town of Galaxidi. Indeed, by the time the day comes to an end, the coastal town, located some 200 kilometers west of Athens -- and just down the hill from where the Oracle of Delphi used to predict the future -- is covered in sticky, brightly colored flour. Villagers there mark the end of carnival season and the beginning of Greek Orthodox Lent by throwing over 3,000 pounds of flour at one another.

Italy's Battle of the Oranges

Italy stages its biggest food fight each year in the Piedmont town of Ivrea, where thousands gather each year before Lent to re-enact a medieval battle by hurling oranges at each other. By the end of it the entire town is awash with Vitamin C. Orange fetishists are well advised to visit the northern Italian town of Ivrea, 35 kilometers from Turin, on the Sunday before Lent when the townsfolk stage their annual Battle of the Oranges, the country's largest fruit fight.

Spain's Great Tomato War

It is perhaps the largest food fight in the world. Every year in the tiny town of Buñol, Spain, locals and tourists engage in pitched battle using close to 150,000 kilograms of tomatoes. The tradition has been going on for over 60 years, but no one seems to know how or why it got its star

MALANKA FESTIVAL Witches, Goblins and Nazis in Ukraine

Ukraine's Malanka festival combines various elements of Halloween, Mardi Gras and New Year's. Throw in a couple Nazi uniforms and you have one of the most bizarre festivals that exists in Europe. They begin creeping out of their houses in Ukraine at nightfall on January 13. The date is New Year's Eve according to the Julian calendar, and it is a time when all manner of ghosts, goblins, bears, horses, witches -- and even Nazis -- take to the streets of Ukraine for the festival of Malanka.

TURKEY'S SLIPPERIEST MEN A Thousand Wrestlers and Two Tons of Olive Oil

Every summer for the last 650 years, Turkish men have gathered to see who was the strongest, fastest and slickest of them all. It's called Kirkpinar, and it's the biggest oil wrestling competition in the world.

These are just a few of Europes Weird Festivals

Read about them all....http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,k-7341,00.html

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