FolkFestivals

Festivals that are still actually kept, not revived for tourists (though the line is blurry).

• Wassailing the apple trees, January, Somerset and Devon. Cider poured on the roots, toast in the branches, a lot of noise to wake the trees.
• Marzanna, first day of spring, Poland. A straw effigy of winter is drowned in the river. Schools still do it.
• Obby Oss, May Day, Padstow, Cornwall. Two horses, two sides of town, one very long day.
• Thrissur Pooram, April/May, Kerala. Elephants, percussion, fireworks at 3 a.m.
• Up Helly Aa, January, Lerwick. Burning a longship. Not ancient, 1880s, but nobody cares.

Rule of thumb: if the people doing it would do it with no visitors present, it counts.