San Fermin Festival 2011

Oktoberfest 2010

On Saturday, September 18th, with the tapping of the first keg by Munich Mayor Christian Ude and a cry of "O'zapft is!", Oktoberfest 2010 officially started in Munich, Germany. While this year marks the 177th Oktoberfest to be held, 2010 is the 200th anniversary of the very first Oktoberfest in 1810 (some years were missed due to war or cholera outbreaks). The Oktoberfest tradition started in 1810 to celebrate the October 12th marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The citizens of Munich were invited to join in the festivities which were held over five days on the fields in front of the city gates. This year, festivities will run until October 4, 2010. Collected here are a few images from this opening weekend.

Tai Dam Cultural Festival, Laos

Every two or three years, people from many Tai Dam villages in laos come together to celebrate their culture. The three day event invloves dancing, sporting competitions of traditional Tai Dam sports, Displays of crafts and of course lots of food. 

Kumbh Mela - India

Kumbha Mela is the largest religious meeting in the world: it takes place in the propitious day, when up to fifteen million people are simultaneously present to take the purifying bath in the sacred river. According to the Hindi mythology, during the creation of the world an epic battle was fought along twelve days among the deva (gods) and the asura (demons). The fight was for the possession of a jug (kumbha) containing a magic nectar (amrita) producing immortality. The fleeing demons lost four drops of the precious liquid and these fell on four points on Earth, where four holy cities were built. These are: Prayaga (the actual Allahabad), Ujjain, Nasik and Haridwar. These are the four places where, in turns, every twelve years the Kumbha Mela take place. The one in Allahabad has always been considered the most important, because the city is located at the confluence of three
sacred rivers. Two of them (Ganges and Yamuna) are real, while the third is the mythical Saraswati, the invisible “River of Enlightmentâ€�.Photographer  took the images you are about to see during the 2001 Maha Kumbha Mela of Allahabad. This meeting, being the first in the new millennium, is considered particularly sacred and propitious. With these pictures I mean to present you an inside look of the partecipation of the common people, in every aspect: the ablutions, the prayers, the enthusiasm and devotion for the several representatives of the various cults and also the meals or particular moments of tension or relax. All in all, what makes of the Kumbha Mela the largest, extraordinary and enthralling mass happening worldwide.