It is a widely recognized festival to everyone. Colour has many forms at festivals around the world, in pressed flower petals, dyed sawdust, sewn into costume or fluttered into the air on paper. The 10 are listed by the origin of the colour itself and some remain off the regular tour circuit.
Flowers and Petals
Infiorata, Italy
In the town of Genzano, and Spello, for Corpus Christi in June, millions of flower petals are spread in the streets to form vast designs, religious and decorative. Artists work all night and the carpets are walked the next day.
Bloemencorso Zundert, Netherlands
The largest volunteer-organised flower parade in the world, which takes place the first Sunday in September. Huge dahlias covered floats are built by neighbourhood teams (about half a million dahlias per float).
Semana Santa: Carpets, Guatemala
Families in Antigua, during Holy Week, would create dyed sawdust, flower and fruit patterns on the cobblestones, which were left out overnight. Then the processions walk straight over them, and destroy hours of work in seconds. The point is that impermanence is the point.
Costume and Mask
Carnival of Venice
It was played on canals in the weeks leading up to Lent, with fancy 18th-century attire and porcelain masks, in an atmosphere of frosty fog. Many of the most well-dressed participants are unpaid avid fans who design their own attire.
Carnaval de Oruro, Bolivia
An Andean Carnival recognized by UNESCO that is celebrated by thousands of people in an embroidered devil costume with a mask of mirrors with a Diablada parade through a 4-kilometre stretch at 3,700 metres altitude.
Feria de Abril, Spain
Seville, 2 Weeks after Easter. Traje de gitana is worn by women in bright polka dots and horses and carriages are in evidence on the fairground and hundreds of striped tents are set up for flamenco until dawn.
Sky and Light
The festival celebrating kites is held in India.The festival of kites is celebrated in India.
The sky becomes a solid field of kites in Gujarat on each 14th January, during Uttarayan. Rooftops are filled starting at dawn, and after dark, competitive kite-cutting carries on with paper lanterns attached.
Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival, Taiwan
Around the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, when thousands of coloured paper lanterns filled with handwritten wishes float up over a mountain valley to the north of Taipei.
Fête des Lumières, France
Lyon, every December. What started as a candle-lit religious tradition gets thousands of visitors every night as buildings throughout the city are blanketed with huge light projections.
Textiles and Ceremony
Timkat, Ethiopia
Orthodox feast day dedicated to the Baptism of Christ at the beginning of January. Replicas of the Ark of the Covenant are carried by the priests under the dazzlingly embroidered ceremonial umbrellas, and people are garbed in white shamma cloth with woven colour trims. The biggest is at Gondar.
Planning Around Colour
Verify Dates Annually
Most of them are based on the lunar or liturgical calendar, and change annually. Uttarayan and Zundert are the only ones with set dates.
Please arrive on the previous day.Please arrive on the previous day.
Many flower carpets, floats, and lanterns are prepared overnight and the making is often a more interesting part of the event than is the finished product.
Photograph with Permission
A religious procession is not a performance. Do not take photos of people without permission and avoid walking in restricted areas during ceremonies.
Choose a local bookstore for the books and buy them early.Buy early and local.
The small towns festivals, such as Zundert and Genzano, have limited accommodation. If no beds are available in a town near you, stay in another city and travel there.
Protect Your Gear
Pigment, petals and sawdust carry even further than you think. Take a lens cloth and a sealable bag.