Celebrations Around The World

In America, we take holidays pretty seriously. We go all out on the decorations and costumes, no matter what the occasion is. Halloween we get dressed up and prance around collecting candy when we are little, in college we dress up and go to parties and then as soon as we become parents we are off dressing up again to get candy with our children. St. Patrick’s Day, even if you are not Irish, you are dressed in green and out drinking green beer. Being a travel blog, I figured why not write about where the best place to go in America and abroad is for Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, and Carnival.

St. Patrick’s Day

Dublin, Ireland

How could this not be the number one place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? The city is transformed through parades, decorations and parties starting on March 13^th until March 19^th. The main attraction of the whole week is on St. Patrick’s Day. They whole a huge parade, festival, and there is a treasure hunt that is all held on this day. For more information check out http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie/ for all the details.

Chicago, United States of America

It is one big green party in Chicago the weekend that leads up to St. Patrick’s Day. The Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day the Chicago River turns literally green for the day. 45kg of vegetable dye is poured into the river at 10:45am before the annual parade starts at noon. There is also a Queen contest that is held every year. They are named 2011 Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and they ride on the float. For more information check out http://www.chicagostpatsparade.com/.

Carnival

Viareggio, Italia

Although when you hear about carnival in Italy, you hear about Venice. However, one of the oldest and biggest carnivals is held in the town of Viareggio. It takes place between February 25^th and March 13^th. It involves music, dancing, carnival parades. There are five parades over the course of the weekends that leads up to Lent. There are huge floats, puppets, performers, shows, masked balls, music, and lots of drinking and eating. The main event takes place on Martedi Grasso or better known as Fat Tuesday.

New Orleans, Louisiana

This is the place to be if you are partying in the United States. Fat Tuesday is the biggest day of celebrations. Everyone gets dressed up, there are parades, and there are balls, food and alcohol. For myself, I want to eventually go one day and experience this for myself. For more information about the French Quarter and their celebrations go to http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/.

Halloween

Salem, Mass.

How could you not spend any part of Halloween in this town? I have gone here multiple times to just explore the town and be a tourist. The history of the town is interesting in itself and adds the aspect of Halloween then it ought to be a spooky time. There have been witch trials and executions and these are definitely spun into modern celebrations held every Halloween. The entire month of October is dedicated to Halloween. There is a grand parade, the great pumpkin carving contest, re-enactment of history, costume balls and a haunted cruise. Not to mention all the Halloween costume contests.

London, United Kingdom

Surprising isn’t it? I figured it would be the home of Dracula or some medieval place in the outskirts of a town but London? Hey to each its own. They have something called the London Zombie walk, which I’m guessing puts them over the edge. Hundreds of people dress up like Zombies and walk along the streets of London, visiting 12 pubs along the way. Special events are also held all month and historical sites add a little holiday creepiness to their places. Special Halloween club nights are promoted and there are haunted dance rooms. Put up your pounds for an entire month of scary behavior in London.