Pirate Invasions and German Glühwein

Pirate Invasions and German Glühwein

Start your November on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, where—from October 23 to November 9—you’ll find enormous and elaborate sand sculptures filling the beach as part of the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition. As many as 100 sculptures, by artists from around the world, are expected to turn the mile-plus coastal walk into an outdoor museum. In a far more formal setting, Cairo Opera House is home to the Arabic Music Festival from November 1 to 10, as some of the finest Arabic singers, instrumentalists, and ensembles in the world converge on the Egyptian capital.

Festivals Around the World: A Male Beauty Pageant and Indian Idols

Festivals Around the World: A Male Beauty Pageant and Indian Idols

Argentina has welcomed its fair share of Italian immigrants down through the years. So it’s fitting that natives of the southern- Italian city of Naples will celebrate the tango with the Tanotango Festival from September 4 to 7. Theaters, bars, and streets across this ancient city will be packed with dancers, demonstrations, and music. Take a visit to the Cape Coast, Ghana, on September 6 to catch Oguaa Fetu Afahye, when local chiefs dressed in traditional garb lead a procession through the streets imploring the gods to keep the town healthy.

Festivals Around the World: Rambles, Sacred Music, and Oil Wrestling

Festivals Around the World: Rambles, Sacred Music, and Oil Wrestling

Visit the old royal capital of Kyoto, Japan, the weekend of June 1 for Takigi O-Noh to celebrate Japan’s ancient musical-theater traditions at the city’s Heian Jingu Shrine. Burning torches illuminate the stage and the costumed performers. Across the East China Sea, the Dragon Boat Festival in Xiamen, China, falls on June 2. Gorge on sticky-rice snacks, watch the race, and place a rice parcel in the water in memory of ancient poet Qu Yuan.

Ski Jumps and Caribbean Crab Racing: Festivals Around the World

Ski Jumps and Caribbean Crab Racing: Festivals Around the World

Not the safest religious tradition we’ve ever heard of, but the Fire Wheel Festival in Sinca Noua, located near the city of Brasov, Romania, does sound like quite a sight. Celebrating the start of Orthodox Lent on March 3, the village asks its young men to roll hay wheels to the top of a local hill before each wheel is set alight. What follows is a true feast with music, drinking, and dancing.