Spring festivals around the world

Entrusting an article about spring holidays to someone with allergies, that's the first joke. Months before the flowering season arrives and months after it has gone, I am the one here that uses more Kleenex than a teenager. I spend half a year raising the blinds of my nostrils and, of course, being Galician I am giving explanations to everyone all day, especially at night. But we haven't come to talk about me...

Pollen aside, spring is an ideal season, a preamble to summer, with a perfect temperature and a beautiful palette of colors to admire from a nice terrace in the sun with vermouth in hand (I'm writing this on a Tuesday, such shame!).

The arrival of flower time is celebrated all over the world in diverse and original ways. Today we wanted to take a tour around the globe, to discover some of those unique celebrations. You want to discover them?

Let's see, it's one of those articles that invites you to travel without traveling, that teaches you and tells you about very cool places that you won't be able to go to because you earn the minimum wage and your entire salary goes to rent. A post that leaves you with honey on your lips. Wow, we're in for some travel warmers .

Water Festival (Thailand)

Also known as Songkran , which sounds like a manga hero. It is a Buddhist festival that takes place between April 13 and 15. It serves as the start of the Thai New Year , but without Ramón García and his cape. All good things for now.

It is true that in times of drought, talking about a party where the main protagonist is water is like having a steak next to the plane from 'The Snow Society'. A little bit of a provocation. But yes, that's how Son Gohan works, water war at will. Guns, jugs, buckets, hoses… Waste of H2O, just the opposite of what happens at the Viña Rock campsite. In addition to that, parades are held in which the image of Buddha, the non-normative god, is venerated.

Buddha and water 12 hours away by plane. It doesn't compensate us. Next.

Hanami (Japan)

What is more beautiful than seeing a cherry tree bloom? Well, anything else if you are allergic to its pollen. But leaving behind immune system responses that leave my nose like a half-peeled potato and my eyes like I've cut seven dozen onions while watching Bambi, the cherry blossom is pretty to look at.

The hundreds of thousands of Japanese who year after year go to parks and gardens, at the beginning of spring, to delight in the blossoming of their sakura (cherry tree in the Japanese language) agree on this .

A cherry blossom tree takes us to Doraemon, childhood, foie gras sandwich, playing in the street, zero responsibilities... Always in favor.

Bloemencorso Bollenstreek (Netherlands)

If we are honest, we have chosen this one only because of the name. It seems that someone has sat down on the keyboard to baptize the spring party in the country of tulips. The Bloemencorso Bollenstreek is the most spectacular flower parade on the old continent and that is why we forgive it for having the name of the Champions League qualifying team.

In this year's edition, the festival that unites the towns of Noordwijk and Haarlem will take place on Saturday, April 20. More than 12 hours and 42 kilometers of floral festival in which around twenty floats decorated for the occasion participate. Light, color and sneezes, the same thing you can find in a Mediaset dressing room.

Did you know that Holland is just a region of the country and that the correct way to call the state is Netherlands? Well you're welcome. Sliwils , once again, entertains and teaches.

Sham el-Nessim (Egypt)

The festival with which they celebrate the arrival of spring in Egypt is no less than 4,500 years old, when Jordi Hurtado was born it was celebrated alone. The Sham el-Nessim , whose translation would be something like “smelling the breeze,” stages the offering of food (fish, vegetables) to the gods in gratitude for good harvests.

The most rigorous tradition has given way to a celebration where the protagonists are gastronomy, music and dance. A celebration that has also united Muslims and Christians , who celebrate a unique event every April in the country's parks, rivers and beaches. A premium snack , wow.

The party usually ends with people bathing in the river; If your idea is to go but you are not sure about soaking, try Nilo .

Holy Week (Spain)

One of the national icons could not be missing, Holy Week . The Cádiz Carnival of Christianity. It is true that it is celebrated throughout the territory, but its peak is experienced in Andalusian lands. When the date arrives, Sevillians are divided into two groups: those who become ultra-religious during that week to showing off on Instagram, and those who go to Matalascañas or Isla Cristina (Huelva) to go "balconing" so as not to suffer the ordeal of the Week. Sevillian saint.

Are you one of those who only love Andalusians when it comes to having fun? Well, get ready to live an experience like no other: processions, bearers, virgins and Christs... It's not the new Los Javis series, it's Holy Week in Seville. If you want one more piece of advice from these humble servers, wash it all down with beer (or Cruzcampo, if they don't have any) and a montadito de pringá.

As the great poet Francisco Javier Labandón (aka El Arrebato) would say: “And Seville, Seville, Seville…”.

Holi (India)

And we don't forget Holi , the most popular Hindu festival . We have simplified it a lot, yes, but we dedicated an entire article to this celebration some time ago. And although we are very into recycling and procrastinating, decorum has prevailed over us here. Although it goes without saying that a celebration that consists of getting laid will always be among our favorites.

But if there is a good praise for spring, a lively and colorful party, that is the one we put on in Sliwils with our most spring-like collections of printed laces: the Fresh and the Holi .

Don't be so quick to change your sneakers: change the laces and renew them with Sliwils . Nothing more, I'm going for the fifth antihistamine of the morning.

PS: Yes, we have published a post about the arrival of spring on March 7, things about global warming. A few more years and we will publish it during Christmas.