Bucket List Events Around the World

TOP77

Things You Don’t Want To Miss

INTRODUCTION

I want to thank you and congratulate you for downloading Top 77 Bucket List Events Around the World.

This book contains a complete list of things not to miss before you kick the bucket.

Thanks again for downloading this book, I hope you enjoy it!

SPORTINGEVENTS

PARTONE

The Masters TournamentThe Masters tournament is one of the four major golf tournaments held per year at the professional level. Unlike the other three, the Masters tournament is held at the same location every year – in Augusta, Georgia. It’s a tournament that has been made famous by the iconic green jacket of the Augusta National Golf Club. Membership in this club is kept under lock and key – it is by invitation only. However, the tournament itself is an event you don’t want to miss.

The Super BowlThe Super Bowl, sponsored by the National Football League in the U.S., is the final football game played at the end of the season. It is always held on Sunday, which is known as Super Bowl Sunday. To some Americans, the game is so big that they count it as an unofficial American holiday. Parties are filled with seven-layer dip, pizza, soda and beer. Among the fans, this is easily the biggest event of the year.

FIFA World CupWhat the States call soccer, the rest of the world calls football. The FIFA World Cup, or simply the World Cup, is an international tournament held by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). It is open to the senior men’s national teams of participating countries. Although soccer may not be as big in the States as it is elsewhere, it is a huge event for competing countries. It is the one time of year these countries get to shine.

The US Open Tennis ChampionshipsThe U.S. Open Tennis Championships is one four international tennis championships comprising of a group called the Grand Slam. It is one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, beginning in 1881. It is an event held every year, with its first day beginning on the last Monday of every August. The competition is a compilation of five separate championships; men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. Don’t confuse the US Open Tennis Championships with other US Open sports such as golf or badminton.

The EuroCupThe Euroleague Basketball Company holds one of the newer sports tournaments. They’ve only been doing it since the year 2000. They hold two professional basketball tournaments in Europe every year – First-Tier Euroleague and Second-Tier Euroleague. Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, they oversee professional basketball in Europe. Considering that basketball is one of the newer sports across Europe, expect this one to get bigger as it gains popularity every year.

Kentucky DerbyThe Kentucky Derby is one of America’s major horse races held every year in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is known as “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports,” as well as, “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports.” It is also known by a third name called, “The Run for the Roses,” because the winner of the race is covered with a blanket of roses. The race has a history that spans almost 150 years. The year 2015 commemorated its 141st year.

International Dragon Boat ChampionshipThe International Dragon Boat Championship is in ancient Chinese festival turned into the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival. Held in the Victoria Harbor, this carnival is marked by the Dragon Boat races that take place. Hundreds of thousands of spectators come flocking to Victoria Harbor to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event. The world’s best Dragon Boat athletes duke it out while both the spectators and athletes drench themselves in ice cold, refreshing beer along with live entertainment as a part of Beer Fest.

Royal Ascot RacesThe Ascot is a thoroughbred horse racing course in England. The Royal Ascot is one of the races that take place on that race course. It is the centerpiece of events that take place at the Ascot racing course. It dates back to 1711 with Queen Anne. If you ever wanted to see British royalty in person, this would be a prime place to do it as it is attended by the British Royal family every year.

World Bog Snorkeling ChampionshipsBog snorkeling is a unique sporting event. Competitors race in a water-filled trench through a peat bog using snorkels and flippers. Conventional swimming techniques are not allowed – these athletes must rely on flipper power alone. The total race is 120 yards as they must race 60 yards one way and 60 yards back. Held in Wales in the UK, the World Bog Snorkeling Championships is held every year on the August Bank Holiday.

Icarus Cup Masquerade FlightsThe Icarus Cup Masquerade Flights, or Coupe Icare, is an awesome event held in France where people compete in costumes. It is a paragliding event where people race while hang gliding. At the event, you’ll find aerial acrobatics, hot air balloons, and of course, the hang gliders. You’ll also find flight competitions, street performances, live entertainment, children’s activities and a flight museum. It is held at the same location and time as a film festival, so enjoy both while you still can.

The Winter GamesThe Winter Olympics is one of the world’s major international sporting events held every four years with winter-themed sports involving snow and ice. It currently is a three-week event with athletes around the world and takes place in February. These top world athletes compete in 15 various sports from ice hockey and figure skating to bobsledding and curling. The 2014 Winter Olympics was hosted in Sochi, Russia and featured over 2800 athletes from 88 countries participating in 98 events.

The Summer GamesThe Summer Games is the ultimate international sports event on earth. The Games are held every four years in a rotating host country. The Summer Games are vastly larger than the Winter Games, with many more events and attendees. Currently, they are host to over 300 events with over 10,000 competitors from 205 countries. The 2016 Summer Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and the 2020 Summer Games will be hosted in Japan.

The 2016 Rio Summer Games will be the first Games held in a South American country. 42 sports will appear in the Games, spread out among 32 competition venues in four regions of Rio de Janeiro. With a total support staff including employees, outsourced staff, and volunteers, there will be over 130,000 people making the event happen. Most recent cost estimates have put the Games at over $11 billion USD.

Cricket World CupThe ICC Cricket World Cup is another major global sporting event. It began in 1975 in England and is held annually every year. Cricket is a European sport but is gaining popularity internationally. In 2015, the Cricket World Cup was hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand. It was the 11th Cricket World Cup, held on Valentine’s Day February 14th through March 29. The current competition consists of 14 teams who played in 49 different matches in 14 different venues. England Will Host the 2019 the Cricket World Cup.

Wimbledon TennisThe Wimbledon Tennis Tournament is held every year and is part of the Grand Slam group of events. When it comes to tennis courts, different materials can be used. The Wimbledon tennis tournament is the only one that is still held on a grass court. It is a two-week tournament taking place at the end of June and beginning of July. Expect certain traditions to be held in place as you attend – strict dress codes for the athletes, strawberries and cream for the attendees, and because it takes place in the UK, the British Royal family will be there.

Tour de France CyclingThe French event, Tour de France is one of the most grueling bicycle races on the planet. Lance Armstrong helped make this one famous by being its champion seven years a row from 1999 to 2005. It is a three-week tournament where cyclists race over 2200 miles (3500 km). The route changes every year, but it stays within the French countryside. There are 20 to 22 teams comprising of nine competitors each. This is not an event you want to miss.

Formula One RacingFormula One is a series of motorsport races that take place around the world. T hey feature some of the fastest cars ever made. They have races in Europe, North America, Australia, the Middle East, Asia, South America, and Indonesia. Just like any racing video game, the Formula One Champion title will be granted to that the driver with the most points. You’ll have to log on to their website to find out when and where the next race will take place.

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Val d’ IsèreThe Alpine World Ski Championships is another major international sporting event featuring several countries. Many of these countries participate in the Winter Olympics. For several decades, this event was directly connected to the Winter Olympics, but in the 1980s, they were held independently. Currently, they are held biannually in the odd-numbered years. In 2015, they are scheduled to be hosted by the United States followed by Switzerland, Sweden, and then Italy in 2021.

Rugby World CupThe Rugby World Cup is a men’s international tournament. Inaugurated in 1987, Australia and New Zealand initially co-hosted the tournament. The award for the Rugby World Cup is the Webb Ellis Cup. Originally, 16 international teams were invited to participate, but since 1999, 20 teams have been competing. The next championship that will take place in 2019 will feature Japan’s first entry. If you’re not familiar with Rugby, think of it like American football with fewer rules.

Daytona 500One of the most famous NASCAR races, this one takes place in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is 500 miles long and part of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It is the first of the two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, with the second one being the Coke Zero 400 that is held at Daytona. The Daytona 500 is considered the most prestigious NASCAR race and the one where the most prize money is won. It has been dubbed as the “Great American Race” as well as the “Super Bowl of Stock-Car Racing.”

CULTURAL FESTIVALS

PARTTWO

Oktoberfest, Munich, GermanyOktoberfest is a 16-day Folklife Festival held every year in Bavaria, Munich in Germany. It has become such an international event that every year around October, you’ll see your local grocery store stocked with beer advertising the event. Of course, the version you see your local grocery store can be official Oktoberfest beers. In order to be considered official Oktoberfest beers, they must have been brewed within the city limits of Munich, Germany. It has a long history – starting back in 1810.

Running of the Bulls, Pamplona, SpainNo one quite knows when the running of the bulls began in Pamplona, Spain. However, it became such a widespread tradition that you may find the event being held in several cities in Spain and Mexico. The mayor Pamplona wrote a book entitled Fiesta: How to Survive the Bulls of Pamplona. He tells of the origin event stemming from the need to transport the bulls from the fields just outside the city to the bullring. The Spaniards say the true tradition began in northeastern Spain in the early 14th century.

Carnival, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilAs one of the world’s oldest carnivals, this tradition began in 1723. In the almost 300 years since it began, if you were to attend today, you’d see over 2 million people on the streets every day. It is the biggest carnival of the year and begins every year just before Lent. The entire city is full of floats, samba schools, song and dance. The event takes place in the Sambadrome that was built in 1984. You will only find this carnival in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Camden Windjammer FestivalCamden has a deep maritime history and they keep it alive every year with the Camden Windjammer Festival. Experience the great age when sailing by sea was the main mode of transportation throughout the birth of the windjammer business in the 1930s. They have a huge windjammer fleet, elegant yachts and sailing ships that adorn their vibrant community. Stay for the whole weekend for a lobster crab race, a fish relay race, a build-a-boat contest, a chowder challenge and more.

Mardi Gras Festival in NOLA“NOLA” is slang for “New Orleans.” Enter the world’s largest Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans. It is a carnival held on Shrove Tuesday in some countries. However, it is most notably celebrated with the largest celebration being held in New Orleans. They have parades, court jesters and masquerades. It is a cultural event like no other with food, music and dancing. Mardi Gras can be traced to medieval Europe the celebrations in both Rome and Venice in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Be in China for the Chinese New YearChinese New Year is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the Chinese calendar. It is also known as the Spring Festival, the literal translation of the modern Chinese name. Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year’s Eve, the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar. The first day of the New Year falls between 21 January and 20 February.

Sapporo Snow FestivalThe Sapporo Snow Festival is a festival held annually in Sapporo, Japan, over seven days in February. Odori Park, Susukino, and Tsudome are the main sites of the festival. The 2015 Snow Festival dates are 5 to 11 February.

This is one of the largest and most distinctive winter events. In 2007, about two million people visited Sapporo to see the hundreds of snow statues and ice sculptures at the Odori Park and Susukino sites, in central Sapporo, and at the Satoland site. An International Snow Sculpture Contest has been held at the Odori Park site since 1974, and 14 teams from various regions of the world participated in 2008.

Be in Ireland for St. Patrick’s DayThe first St Patrick’s Festival was held on 17 March 1996. In 1997, it became a three-day event, and by 2000 it was a four-day event. By 2006, the festival was five days long; more than 675,000 people attended the 2009 parade. Overall 2009’s five-day festival saw close to 1 million visitors, who took part in festivities that included concerts, outdoor theater performances, and fireworks. Skyfest forms the centerpiece of the festival. It takes place every year in Dublin, Ireland.

Winterlude & Skating on the Rideau CanalWinterlude is an annual festival in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec that celebrates winter. Winterlude is run by the National Capital Commission and was started in 1979. The event is one of Ottawa’s most important tourist draws, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. In 2007, it set a new attendance record of an estimated 1.6 million visits to one of the four Winterlude sites. The focal point of Winterlude is the Rideau Canal Skateway, which at 7.8 kilometers (approximately 5 miles) is the largest skating rink in the world.

Midsummer’s Eve Pagan Festival (Tallberg, Svealand, Sweden)Given Scandinavia’s long, dark winters, it’s not surprising that the arrival of summer is a big deal throughout the Nordic countries. In Sweden, Midsummer’s Eve is one of the most important days of the year, rivaling Christmas with its festive spirit and traditions. Raising and dancing around a maypole (majstång or midsommarstång) is an activity that attracts families and many others. In earlier times, small spires wrapped in greens were erected; this probably predates the maypole tradition, which is believed by many to have come from the continent in the Middle Ages.

Bloomsday (Dublin)Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce during which the events of his novel Ulysses (which is set on 16 June 1904) are relived. It is observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere. Joyce chose the date as it was the date of his first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle; they walked to the Dublin suburb of Ringsend. The name is derived from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses. The day involves a range of cultural activities including Ulysses readings and dramatizations, pub crawls and other events, much of it hosted by the James Joyce Centre in North Great George’s Street.

Carnival of VeniceThe Carnival of Venice is an annual festival, held in Venice, Italy. The Carnival ends with the Christian celebration of Lent, forty days before Easter on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday. The festival is world-famed for its elaborate masks. Approximately 3 million visitors come to Venice every year for the Carnival. One of the most important events is the contest for la maschera più bella (“the most beautiful mask”) placed at the last weekend of the Carnival and judged by a panel of international costume and fashion designers.

Diwali, Festival of Lights (India)Diwali (or Deepavali, the “Festival of Lights”) is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. Deepavali is the biggest and the brightest festival in India. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness. The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five-day period, but the main festival night of Deepavali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, Deepavali falls between mid-October and mid-November.

Elephant Festival (Jaipur, Rajasthan, India)Diwali (or Deepavali, the “Festival of Lights”) is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. Deepavali is the biggest and the brightest festival in India. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness. The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five-day period, but the main festival night of Deepavali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, Deepavali falls between mid-October and mid-November.

The Ganesh Celebrations in IndiaGanesh Chaturthi is the Hindu festival celebrated in honor of the elephant-headed god, Ganesha. Celebrations are traditionally held on the fourth day of the first fortnight in the month of Bhaadrapada in the Hindu calendar, usually August or September in the Gregorian calendar. The festival generally lasts ten days, ending on the fourteenth day of the fortnight. The public celebration involves installing clay images of Ganesha in public pandals (temporary shrines) and group worship. At home, an appropriately-sized clay image is installed and worshiped with family and friends.

Snow & Ice Festival – Harbin, ChinaThe annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is an annual winter festival that takes place with a theme in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, and now is the largest ice and snow festival in the world. At first, participants in the festival were mainly Chinese. However, it has since become an international festival and competition. The festival includes the world’s biggest ice sculptures. During the festival, there are ice lantern park touring activities held in many parks in the city. Winter activities during the festival include Yabuli alpine skiing, winter swimming in the Songhua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden.

Holi – India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and other Hindu regionsHoli is a spring festival, also known as the festival of colors or the festival of love. It is an ancient Hindu religious festival which has become popular with non-Hindus in many parts of South Asia, as well as people of other communities outside Asia. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, and other regions of the world with significant populations of Hindus or people of Indian origin. In recent years, the festival has spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colors.

Cascamorras – Baza, SpainThe Fiesta de Cascamorras is a festival that takes place in the towns of Guadix and Baza in the province of Granada, Spain, annually on September 6. The two towns fight for possession of a statue of the Virgen de la Piedad. In 2006, the festival was declared a “Fiesta of National Tourist Interest of Spain.” The festival surrounds the recalling of the events that unite and oppose Baza and Guadix, two sister towns with a history of a buried sacred image of the Virgen de la Piedad (Our Lady of Mercy). The celebration, the Fiesta de Cascamorras, lasts for three days in the late summer of each year.

Tomorrowland – Boom, BelgiumTomorrowland is one of the biggest electronic music festivals held in the world, taking place in Belgium. The festival takes place in the town of Boom, 16 kilometers south of Antwerp, 32 kilometers north of Brussels, and has been organized since 2005. Tomorrowland has since become one of the most notable global music festivals. 2011 marked the festival’s expansion to three days. 360,000 people attended Tomorrowland 2014 on the 10th anniversary of the festival.

MUSIC & ART FESTIVALS

PARTTHREE

South by Southwest, Austin, TXSouth by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual set of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas, United States. It began in 1987 and had continued to grow in both scope and size every year. In 2011, the conference lasted for 10 days with SXSW Interactive lasting for 5 days, Music for 6 days, and Film running concurrently for 9 days. The music event grew from 700 registrants in 1987 to over 28,000 registrants. SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive events have grown every year, most recently bringing over 51,000 registrants to Austin every March.

Austin City Limits, Austin, TXAustin City Limits (ACL) is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas, by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States. The show helped Austin to become widely known as the “Live Music Capital of the World”, and is the only television show to receive the National Medal of Arts, which it was awarded in 2003. The show inspired the creation of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual live music festival at Zilker Park in Austin.

Tomorrowland – Boom, BelgiumTomorrowland is one of the biggest electronic music festivals held in the world, taking place in Belgium. The festival takes place in the town of Boom, 16 kilometers south of Antwerp, 32 kilometers north of Brussels, and has been organized since 2005. Tomorrowland has since become one of the most notable global music festivals. 2011 marked the festival’s expansion to three days. 360,000 people attended Tomorrowland 2014 on the 10th anniversary of the festival.

Coachella Music FestivalThe Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly referred to as Coachella or the Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, located in the Inland Empire’s Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. It was founded by Paul Tollett in 1999 and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Live. The event features many genres of music, including rock, indie, hip-hop, and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures.

Sasquatch Music FestivalSasquatch! Music Festival is an annual music festival held at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. In recent years, it has taken place on the Memorial Day weekend, running for three to four days. In 2014, Adam Zacks decided to expand the festival to two weekends due to the high demand for tickets in 2013.[1] Rather than expanding to two four-day weekends, the festival instead only expanded to two three-day weekends. Sasquatch! typically features a range of musical genres, with the emphasis being on indie rock bands and singer-songwriters, but also including alternative rock, hip hop, EDM, and comedy acts.

Leeds Music FestivalThe Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John’s Farm on Richfield Avenue in central Reading, near the Caversham Bridge. The Leeds event is held at Bramham Park, near Wetherby, the grounds of an historic house. Campsites are available at both sites and weekend tickets to include camping. Day tickets are also sold.

Tanglewood Music FestivalThe Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, chamber music, choral music, musical theater, contemporary music, jazz, and pop music. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is in residence at the festival, but many of the concerts are put on by other groups. It is one of the premier music festivals in the United States and one of the top in the world.

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage FestivalThe New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, often known as Jazz Fest, is an annual celebration of the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana. Use of the term “Jazz Fest” can also include the days surrounding the Festival and the many shows at unaffiliated New Orleans nightclubs scheduled during the Festival event weekends. Jazz Fest is currently held during the day, between the hours of 11 am and 7 pm, at the Fair Grounds Race Course, a horse racing track located in historic Mid-City. It is held on the last weekend of April (Friday-Sunday) and the first weekend of May (Thursday-Sunday) each year.

Wexford Opera FestivalThe Wexford Festival Opera is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in south-eastern Ireland during the months of October and November. The festival began in 1951 under Tom Walsh and a group of opera lovers who quickly generated considerable interest by programming unusual and rare works, a typical festival staging three operas. This concept has been maintained over the company’s history under the direction of seven different artistic directors. From the beginning, the company embraced new and upcoming young singers, many of whom were Irish, but it also included new international names that made first appearances there.

The Summer Music Festivals (Germany)Germany has festivals for every taste, but tickets are sold out long in advance. If you want to snag one, don’t procrastinate. There are over 15 music festivals to please every musical palate. Overall, it is completely possible to attend each and every one over the course of a single summer. Let your summer begin with Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig (May 22-25) and end with Reeperbahnfestival (September 23-26). Even if you can’t attend all of them, it will be a summer you won’t ever forget.

Bregenz Festival (Austria)Bregenzer Festspiele (Bregenz Festival) is a performing arts festival which is held every July and August in Bregenz, Austria. Founded in 1946, the festival presents a wide variety of musical and theatrical events in several venues:• Seebühne (or floating stage), with its 7,000 seat open-air amphitheater, is the

location for large-scale opera or musical performances on a stage over water onthe shores of Lake Constance.

• Festspielhaus presents performances of rarely performed opera and concerts.• Werkstattbühne presents performances of contemporary theater and opera.• Theater am Kornmarkt presents operetta and drama performances.• shed8/Theater Kosmos venue for drama and cross-cultural performances.Since December 2003, David Pountney has been the artistic director of the festival.In 2010, the festival offered about 100 performances that drew an audience of close to 200,000.

Lucerne FestivalThe Lucerne Festival is a summer music festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. It was founded in 1938 and, since 2004, it has taken place at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre designed by Jean Nouvel. The two resident ensembles of the festival are the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Strings, which had most recently been led by the Italian conductor Claudio Abbado until his death. In addition to the performances, the Lucerne Festival Academy was founded by the composer Pierre Boulez in 2004 to train young musicians in the performance of modern music.

Cork Jazz FestivalThe Cork Jazz Festival is an annual music festival held in Cork City, Ireland in late October every year since 1978. The festival is Ireland’s biggest jazz event and attracts hundreds of musicians and thousands of music fans to the city each year. The country’s first jazz festival successfully attracted thousands of jazz fans. Guinness became the major sponsor in the 1980s. Over 40,000 people now visit the festival each year from many parts of the world.

North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands)The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. The festival has grown to fifteen stages, 1,200 artists and about 25,000 visitors a day. The festival is known worldwide for the many music styles it presents, from traditional New Orleans Jazz to Swing, bebop, fusion, blues, gospel music, funk music, soul music and drum n bass.

Venice BiennaleThe Venice Biennale is an arts organization based in Venice, and also the original and principal exhibition it organizes. The organization changed its name to the Biennale Foundation in 2009 while the exhibition is also called the Art Biennale to distinguish it from the organization and other exhibitions it organizes. The Art Biennale, a contemporary visual art exhibition, is so called as it is held biennially, in odd-numbered years; is the original biennale on which others elsewhere in the world are modeled.

Cannes Film FestivalThe Cannes Festival, named until 2002 as the International Film Festival (Festival International du Film) and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is considered the most prestigious film festival in the world and is one of the most publicized. The invitation-only festival is held annually (usually in May) at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.

Oregon Shakespeare FestivalThe Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theater in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The festival annually produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to early November. From inception in 1935 through the end of the 2014 season (excepting the war years 1941–1946), the Festival has presented all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays a total of 303 times and 293 other plays a total of 327 times for a total of some 29,200 performances to an audience totaling approximately fifteen million.

Salzburg Festival (Austria)The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. One highlight is the annual performance of the Everyman (Jedermann) dramatization by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Since 1967, there is also an annual Salzburg Easter Festival, organized by a separate organization. The 2006 festival also saw the opening of the Haus für Mozart.

Sundance Film Festival (Utah)The Sundance Film Festival, a program of the Sundance Institute, is an American film festival that takes place annually in Utah. With 46,731 attendees in 2012, it is the largest independent film festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival comprises competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature-length films and short films, and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, and Park City at Midnight.

Art Deco Weekend (USA, Miami, Florida)Art Deco Weekend is a community festival presented by the Miami Design Preservation League, celebrating architecture, preservation, education, history, advocacy, art, culture and entertainment. It is a community festival held on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach that welcomes over 150,000 people to Miami Beach every year over the 3-day event. Art Deco Weekend is committed to the Miami Design Preservation League’s mission to preserve, protect & promote historic preservation in the Art Deco District and throughout South Florida through the over 85 educational events held during Art Deco Weekend’s 3-day festival.

OFFBEAT AND UNIQUE

PARTFOUR

Albuquerque International Balloon FestivalThe Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a yearly festival of hot air balloons that takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during early October. The Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day event and has over 500 balloons each year. The event is the largest hot air balloon festival in the world. Balloon Fiesta Park, from which the balloons are launched, is located on the northern edge of the city. In 2005, the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum was opened on the grounds; it focuses on the last three decades of the festival, and on the history of ballooning.

Cooper Hill’s Cheese Rolling FestivalThe Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester in England. It is traditionally done by and for the people who live in the local village of Brockworth, but now people from all over the world take part. The Guardian called it a “world-famous event”, and indeed, in 2013, a 27-year-old American man and a 39-year-old Japanese man each won one of the four races. The event takes its name from the hill on which it occurs.

Burning ManBurning Man is an annual gathering that takes place at Black Rock City – a temporary community erected in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The event is described as an experiment in community and art, influenced by 10 main principles, including “radical” inclusion, self-reliance and self-expression, as well as community cooperation, gifting and decommodification, and leaving no trace. First held in 1986 on Baker Beach in San Francisco as a small function organized by Larry Harvey and a group of friends, it has since been held annually, spanning from the last Sunday in August to the first Monday in September (Labor Day).

ManhattanhengeManhattanhenge – sometimes referred to as the Manhattan Solstice – is an event during which the setting sun is aligned with the east–west streets of the main street grid of Manhattan, New York City. This occurs twice a year, on dates evenly spaced around the summer solstice. The first Manhattanhenge occurs around May 28 while the second occurs around July 12. The term “Manhattanhenge” was popularized by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History and a native New Yorker.

Texas SandfestSand sculptors from all over the world make their way to Port Aransas each year for the annual Texas SandFest. The event includes sculpting contests for professionals and amateurs, food and live music. Spanning three days and including five competitive divisions, SandFest offers a great outlet for sand sculptors, as well as plenty to see for those more interested in looking at - rather than building - sand sculptures. The event is free to the public and various vendors are onhand selling refreshments, curious and souvenirs.

Lantern Festival in HawaiiMemorial Day in America is a day when people remember and honor those who have fallen in service to their country. In Hawai‘i, with its diverse population, traditions become easily adopted and assimilated into its rich cultural fabric. It is the norm for people in Hawai‘i, on Memorial Day, to place flowers and offerings on gravesites of loved ones who served their country as well as those of others who have passed away.

With the wish of creating cultural harmony and understanding, Her Holiness Shinso Ito, Head Priest of Shinnyo-en, officiated the inaugural Lantern Floating Hawaii ceremony on Memorial Day, 1999. For the first three years, the event was held at Ke’ehi Lagoon on the south shore of O’ahu. In 2002, the ceremony was moved a few miles down the coast to Ala Moana Beach where it has been observed every year since.

Punkin Chunkin World ChampionshipWorld Championship Punkin Chunkin (WCPC) was the name of an annual contest held the first full weekend after Halloween in Delaware from 1986 through 2013. It is governed by the World Championship Punkin Chunkin Association (WCPCA). The event originated in 1986, and early in its history convened in Lewes, Delaware. Due to increasing space requirements (distance of shots, the number of teams, and the number of spectators) new locations in Sussex County had to be found. In 2007, WCPC moved to Bridgeville, near the intersection of Seashore Highway and Chaplains Chapel Road. About 75 teams competed; the event drew more than 20,000 people, and grossed more than $800,000 in ticket sales and associated revenues.

Toro NagashiTōrō nagashi is a Japanese ceremony in which participants float paper lanterns (chōchin) down a river; tōrō is traditionally another word for lantern while nagashi means “cruise, flow.” This is primarily done on the last evening of the Bon Festival based on the belief that this guides the spirits of the departed back to the other world. The Bon Festival takes place on the thirteenth to sixteenth of August or July, depending on the calendar you go by.

Rubber Duck Race (Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)Although the dazzling idea of the duck race is thought to come from Canada, it’s big business in Germany, where there are corporate duck-racing specialists. The season begins in March, with more than 150 competitions taking place in towns such as Erfurt, Bielefeld and Göttingen, as well as smaller villages. The first synthetic contender past the finishing line at Neckarbrücke wins its patron a €1000 holiday voucher, with plenty of other prizes for runners-up.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from Herald SquareThe Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy’s. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit (with both parades being four years younger than the Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia). The three-hour Macy’s event is held in New York City starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thanksgiving Day, and has been televised nationally on NBC since 1952.

Spend Yom Kippur at the Western WallYom Kippur, also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. Yom Kippur is “the tenth day of [the] seventh month” (Tishrei) and is regarded as the “Sabbath of Sabbaths”. Rosh Hashanah (referred to in the Torah as Yom Teruah) is the first day of that month according to the Hebrew calendar. On this day, forgiveness of sins is also asked of God.

Up-Helly-Aa (Shetland, Scotland)Up Helly Aa refers to any of a variety of fire festivals held in Shetland, in Scotland, annually in the middle of winter to mark the end of the yule season. The festival involves a procession of up to a thousand guizers in Lerwick and considerably lower numbers in the more rural festivals, formed into squads who march through the town or village in a variety of themed costumes. According to John Jamieson’s Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1818), Up is used in the sense of something being at an end, and derives from the Old Norse word Uppi which is still used in Faroese and Icelandic, while Helly refers to a holy day or festival.

Anastenaria Firewalking Ceremony (Greece)The Anastenaria is a traditional fire-walking ritual performed in some villages in Northern Greece and Southern Bulgaria. The communities which celebrate this ritual are descended from refugees who entered Greece from Eastern Thrace following the Balkan Wars of 1911–12 and the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923. Today, the rituals of the Anastenaria are performed in five villages of northern Greece: Ayia Eleni, Langadas, Melike, Mavrolefke, and Kerkine. In addition, the ritual is still performed in six Bulgarian villages in the Strandzha Mountains: Balgari, Gramatikovo, Slivarovo, Kondolovo, Kosti, and Brodilovo.

Take Part in the Hajj PilgrimageThe Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, and a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims, who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and can support their family during their absence. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, alongside Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, and Sawm. The gathering during Hajj is considered the largest annual gathering of people in the world.

Day of the Dead in MexicoDay of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, in particular, the Central and South regions, and acknowledged around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died and help support their spiritual journey. In 2008, the tradition was inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. In Spanish, the holiday is called Día de los Muertos.

Sun Festival at Abu Simbel (Egypt)Ramses II built his temple at Abu Simbel so that the internal chamber would light up two times a year: once on the anniversary of his ascension to the throne (in February, around the 22nd), and once on his birthday (in October, around the 22nd).Every year on the Sun Festival, crowds gather before sunrise to observe the stream of light gradually sneaking through the stone and enlightening the statuettes of Ramses, Ra and Amun in the central chamber. Only the statue of Ptah – the god of darkness – remains in the shade even on these twospecial days of the year!

Icarus Cup Masquerade Flights (France)Coupe Icare (Icarus Cup) is an annual festival of free flight held between Saint-Hilaire (on the border of Chartreuse Mountains) and Lumbin (in the valley of Isère in France). The festival typically lasts four days and is held in the early autumn. Coupe Icare is best known for its Concours de déguisements (Masquerade Flight contest), in which paraglider and hang glider pilots fly in costume to compete for prizes.Coupe Icare features aerial acrobatics, hang gliders, paragliders, and hot air balloons. In addition to flight competitions, live entertainment, and street performances, the festival offers children’s activities and a flight museum. It is held in conjunction with a commercial exposition and a film festival.

Throw Tomatoes at La TomatinaLa Tomatina is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a town located in the East of Spain 30 km / 19 miles from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes. Since 1945, it has been held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Buñol. The fight lasts for an hour, after which the whole town square is covered with tomato paste. Fire trucks hose down the streets and participants use hoses that locals provide to remove the tomato paste from their bodies. Some participants go to the pool of “los peñones” to wash. After the cleaning, the village cobblestone streets are pristine due to the acidity of the tomato disinfecting and thoroughly cleaning the surfaces.

Bathe in the Ganges River during the Purna Kumbh MelaKumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river. It is considered to be the largest peaceful gathering in the world where around 100 million people were expected to visit during the Maha Kumbh Mela in 2013 in Allahabad. It is held every third year at one of the four places by rotation: Haridwar, Allahabad (Prayaga), Nashik and Ujjain. Thus the Kumbh Mela is held at each of these four places every twelfth year.

Cervia International Kite FestivalThe Cervia International Kite Festival is a unique gathering of kite artists from all over the world and the event is in its 33rd edition, meaning that the Festival has been running for quite some time now. There are only a handful of festivals in the world that can show off such a long history and still have the same organizers. Also, the event takes place in a beautiful place: along the beach of Pinarella di Cervia, a popular summer destination in Italy with very warm weather and gentle onshore breezes, making it ideal for kiting. It takes place from 20th April to 1st May.

CONCLUSION

Thank you again for downloading this book! I hope this book inspires you to set off on the next great adventure. The next step is to plan your next bucket list event and put it on the calendar!

Finally, if you enjoyed this book, then I’d like to ask you for a favor, would you be kind enough to share it with someone who needs the inspiration? It’d be greatly appreciated! Thank you and good luck!

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