#festival-season

#festival-season

Rowe and Garen Scribner's libretto takes its liberties, setting the action in a world where everything is green and an evil princess has ruled that nothing be eaten but peas.

The Tamborada festival in Hellin, marked by drumming, has been declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, attracting over 20,000 participants of all ages.

The theme of this year's festival was 'Roots' in celebration of the centuries-long facets of Irish identity woven into modern Irish society. Stretching from Parnell Square in the city's north side to Kevin Street on the south, 12 large floats and 10 marching bands consisting of 3,000 people in total meandered through the parade route flanked by onlookers from home and abroad.

"We really appreciate the support of the community," said Danial Shahbaz, Mohammad Shabaz's son, accepting the certificate on Tuesday. "We hope to be here for many, many years."

The festival of Pailhasses is one of France's most ancient carnival traditions. Celebrating the end of a longstanding rivalry with a neighbouring village, it has for more than 700 years allowed villagers to release frustrations before Lent. Its rituals are about strength, chasing and some form of attack. It is also notoriously secretive.

In Italy, the most common topic mentioned as a source of national pride was culture and the arts. These were cited by 38 percent of respondents, more than any other place. An Italian woman who took part in the survey said she was proud of 'the works in the churches, paintings, sculpture ... most places in Italy have something beautiful.' An Italian man said that 'Italy is an open-air museum.'

Whether it's called Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day or Mardi Gras, many countries choose to celebrate the last day before Lent by indulging in something sweet or fatty. In the UK and parts of the US, this usually means a big plate of pancakes in the morning. In Denmark there are special buns known as Fastelavnsbolle, Whether you celebrate it for religious reasons, or just because of a love of pancakes, it can be a real treat during these winter days.

We gravitated towards the Blue Ball as teenagers, not because they served underage drinkers. They didn't. And we could only afford to drink lime and soda anyway. No, we loved this place because it had (drumroll) two bars. So we were not only cool enough to go down the pub (never to the pub, strictly down the pub or, better still, down the Blue), but we even had our own bar.

If you're in Germany long enough you'll discover another common rule that has serious reverence for Sunday, legally speaking. It's called "Sonntag Ist Ruhetag," or Sunday is rest day. If you factor in the German national love for regulations and bureaucracy, it's easy to see how peaceful downtime has become a matter of law. At first, it felt like a little quirk to get used to, but the more I experienced it the more it revealed about my inner mindset.