The legend says that around the 7th century there was massive drought in the Kathmandu valley. It was believed that the arrival of the red deity would end the drought and bring back the rainfall. Hence then King Narendra Dev along with a priest and farmer travelled to what is now the Assam state in India and brought back Karunamaya, the god of compassion. It is popularly now known as Rato Machindranath.
The Persian New Year is an ancient Zoroastrian tradition celebrated by Iranians and Kurds which coincides with the vernal (spring) equinox and is calculated by the solar calendar.
Indian Hindu devotees celebrate Holi, the spring festival of colors, during a traditional gathering at Nandgaon village in Uttar Pradesh state on March 7, 2017. Holi is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month, and will be celebrated on March 13 this year.
The International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain.
Voodoo was officially declared a religion in Benin in 1996.Benin’s Voodoo Festival is held every year and is the West African country’s most vibrant and colorful event. It attracts thousands of devotees and tourists for a day filled with ritual dances and gin drinking.
The Amsterdam Light Festival opens on Dec. 1, 2016, and ends on Jan. 22, 2017. The artworks are lit from 17:00 until 23:00, and for the Illuminade, a walking route, between 17:00 and 22:00 Central European Time.
Day and night for a week in northeastern Myanmar, homemade fireworks woven into hot air balloons’ bamboo frames are released over adoring crowds, showering them in sparks. The Tazaungdaing Lighting Festival is regarded as one of the most beautiful and dangerous celebrations in Asia.
Indian flower vendors showcase lotus flowers to attract puja organisers for Durga Puja. The five-day festival, which commemorates the slaying of the demon king Mahishasur by the goddess Durga and marks the triumph of good over evil, begins on October 7.
Vivid Sydney, an annual festival of lights, music and ideas, runs from May 27 to June 18.
More than 3,000 of the trees were planted along Washington D.C.’s tidal basin in 1912, a gift from Japan. Since then Washingtonians have celebrated the annual blooming of the pink blossoms with a parade, and even a beauty pageant.
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