Asia is rich in culture and tradition, which showcases a lot of events and festivals that are still being practiced even up to this day. Their different beliefs, religions, and past experiences have created and developed many festive events. These festivals are fun, colorful, and with historic, symbolic, or religious meanings. Let us take a look at the different and popularly celebrated festivals in Asia.
1. Monkey Buffet Festival. This festival is celebrated in the province of Thailand in Lopburi. The monkeys are symbolic to Thais and the festival is held for them annually around the month of November. It is usually held in the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple with tons of fruits offered just for the monkeys.
2. Konaki Sumo Festival. This festival is also referred to as Crying Sumo Festival. In this festival, babies are given to Sumo wrestler students. Their task is to look at the babies handed to them and the goal is to make them cry. It sounds a little cruel and weird but the main purpose behind this is to wish the babies good health. They believe that babies who cry their lungs out grow up to be the strong ones.
3. Holi Festival. This is a famous festival in India that is usually held in the spring. It is also called the Festival of Colors because of the colorful powdered and water being thrown during the celebration. They start the festival with a bonfire and it represents the Hindu religion’s story of good conquering evil, which is characterized with the burning of Holika.
4. Boryeong Mud Festival. This is celebrated in South Korea, which was just recently practiced (1998). Koreans are known to be very conscious about taking care of their skin and this is one festival where they promote the benefit of Boryeong. They believe that the muds found in Boryeong are rich in minerals that can be used for skin care.