Festivals Around The World In October
This October spend some time viewing hot air balloons, lighting candles, eating and dancing. This month’s festivals around the world are filled with a whole host of thing to do.
Austin City Limits, Oct 7-16, Austin, Texas
ACL is known for great music and great food. There are 9 stages with live concerts. Over 100+ performances over 2 weekends. You will hear performers from all music genres.
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, October 1-9, New Mexico
Each year 750 gas and hot air balloons fill the sky over New Mexico. It all started in 1972 with just 13 balloons and has grown to reach full capacity. The event takes place over the 78-acre Balloon Fiesta Park and nearly 100,000 people are in attendance each year. It’s recommended that you get up early and come watch the Dawn Patrol that takes place at 5:45 a.m. What’s unique about it is that the balloons look similar to lanterns in the sky because of the illumination of them against the black backdrop of the night. If you can’t get up early to watch the balloons, there’s still plenty of time to watch the various displays throughout the day. Another event worth watching is the Balloon glow that takes places at 5:45 p.m. While all the balloons are in the sky they light up their burners at the same time. Another event, The Special Shapes Rodeo, is great for the kids as it features balloons of various shapes including turtles and dinosaurs. This event takes place on Thursday and Friday afternoon.
New York City Wine & Food Festival, October 13-16, New York
Each year for four days, many of the big names in the food and wine industry come to New York City to bring people together to try to end world hunger. 100% of the proceeds go to charity. Enjoy private dinners with hosts like Rachael Ray, Alex Guarnaschelli and David Burtka. A star-studded weekend of events in NYC showcasing Food Network celebrity chefs. Not only will there be a lot of food on hand to try, but there will also be a variety of seminars and workshops to participate in. Want to try out cake decorating, or learn about wine tasting? There will be a workshop for that! The signature event is The Grand Tasting. Walk Around Tastings · Intimate Dinners · Culinary Demos · Signature Events · Family Fun
Diwali, October 24, Mumbai, India
Diwali (or Deepavali in Sanskrit,) is known as the Festival of Lights and is celebrated throughout the country of India. This festival in India celebrates the light over darkness and good over evil. Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs. The festival usually lasts five days and is celebrated during the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika. Different things are done each day of the festival. For example on the first day homes are cleaned to prepare for good energy. Throughout the festival thousands of oil lamps, fireworks, lavish feasts, fragrant flowers and colored sand in the form of lotus blossoms adorn India in this annual homecoming that is Diwali.
MassKara Festival, October 1-23, Bacolod Philippines
The MassKara Festival is an annual festival with highlights held every 4th Sunday of October in Bacolod, Philippines. To lift the spirits of the locals and bring back the smiles on their faces, the MassKara Festival was created. The smiling masks were a declaration of the people of Bacolod City that they will pull through and survive the challenges and tragedies that they are facing. The festival sites include the Bacolod Public Plaza, the Lacson Tourism Strip and the Bacolod Government Center. The highlight of the MassKara Festival is a dance competition, where participants don colorful costumes and vibrant, smiling masks and dance to Latin music. Besides this, there is Bacolod’s biggest street party, Electric MassKara.
Hachiman Matsuri, October 9-10 Japan
The Autumn Takayama Matsuri, also known as Hachiman Matsuri, is the annual festival of Sakurayama Hachimangu shrine, the home of the guardian deity. The Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri is one of the three biggest Edo festivals held in Tokyo, along with Sanja Matsuri and Kanda Matsuri. Nicknamed mizu-kake matsuri—literally water throwing festival—you will soon understand its meaning, where people throw water on the mikoshi, the portable shrines carried in the district
