Venice Carnival - Photo Courtesy of carnivalofvenice.com
Festivals are an organisation nightmare, but a fan’s annual dream and across the globe there are more festivals than you can shake a stick at. So for the avid traveller - or plain old festival addict - I have come up with what you should be checking out during the second week of February.
Carnevale Venezia (Venice Carnival)
When: Two Fridays Before Ash Wednesday - Shrove Tuesday
Where: Venice, Italy. The epicentre is Piazza San Marco
What: This festival is the high point of Venice’s social calender and is possibly the world’s most famous fancy dress party.
This masked extravaganza gives festival-goers the chance to look like they have just walked off the set of Phantom Of The Opera as they swan about celebrating the onset of Spring. Any excuse for a party eh!?
The festivities begin on Friday with a parade through the city which is just the precursor to the official opening which takes place on Saturday when a masked procession leaves Piazza San Marco at around 4pm and trundles throughout the streets. Before Sunday plays homage to mock-military tournaments where the men get to pretend to be all masculine in a jousting contest.
It’s not until the following Friday that the festival reaches it’s real high point though, which is the Grand Masked Ball which takes place in a different location every year and is open to anyone clad in an outfit and mask. However, you have to stump up a hefty 200 Euros for a ticket.
Sauti Za Busara Music Festival 2009
When: 12 -17 February
Where: Zanzibar
What: Sauti za Busara (Sounds of Wisdom) is an international festival celebrating East African music taking place around the second weekend of February each year in Zanzibar.
Featuring top-quality musical performances by more than 400 established and upcoming artists (40 groups in total), Sauti za Busara has already established itself as one of Africa’s leading music festivals. It’s an event that unites people in celebration.
The main stage of the festival is situated within Stone Town’s historic Old Fort (on the grassy side) under open skies. The venue is exploding with colour with around twenty stalls selling food and refreshments, African clothing, music and local handicrafts.
On Tuesday 17 February, the party leaves the town behind and heads for Kendwa Rocks; a beautiful beach location on Zanzibar's north coast. Starting from 4pm, there will be DJs, acrobats, and live performances evolving into a fantastic Festival Finalé Party - and dancing till dawn.
Entry is free, so if you’re in town you have absolutely no excuse not to get your groove on!
When: First or second Thursday of February
Where: Berlin, Germany
What:The Berlin International Film Festival, is one of the world´s leading film festivals held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951, the festival is celebrated annually in February since 1978 and with more than 200.000 sold tickets and around 400,000 admissions it is considered the biggest publicly-attended film festival worldwide.
f/festival-rhythm-and-vines-1.jpgThe festival sees around twenty films competing for the awards called the Golden and Silver Bears which include caegories for Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Actor Best Actress and Lifetime Achievement ("Honorary Golden Bear")
Over the two-week festival, up to 400 films are screened and films of genre, length and format can be submitted for consideration with many of them being World or European premieres. Categories range from international blockbusters to small, independent art-house films. There’s also a special section aimed at children with the Kinderfilmfest.
The first International Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale) was held in 1951 in the Titania-Palast cinema only six years after WWII when Berlin yearned for international attention and recognition. Over 50 years on, the festival now attracts thousands of filmmakers, industry professionals and film lovers from around the world. Unlike the famous Cannes Film Festival in France, tickets are available so that visitors can enter the glamorous world of Berlinale to view films and rub shoulders with the stars
What else?
When: 15th February
Where:China and Taiwan
What: This festival marks the end of the New Year Period and is also the day from lovers (much like our Valentines Day.)
People walk the streets at night with paper lanterns and make dumplings with delicious fillings.