As the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) notes, members of the Hindu religion in India, particularly northern India, celebrate the annual spring holiday of Holi. The specifics of Holi festivals vary from place to place but all share a few common elements. Perhaps the most exotic element is the tradition of participants covering each other with colored paints and throwing dyes and colored powders into the air, creating a vibrant, celebratory atmosphere.
These colorful festivities have earned Holi the nickname "The Festival of Colors." According to the University of Missouri, another exotic Holi ritual is the breaking of the pot. Festival participants hang a pot of buttermilk high above the streets, and the men must work together to form a pyramid high enough to reach it. The festivity ends when a man at the top of the human pyramid breaks the pot using his head.
The Dragon Boat Festival is an annual Chinese holiday that has be in existence for more 2,000 years. As the Chinese tourism resource website Travel China Guide mentions, the holiday always falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. A lunar month is number of days between new moons. The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 278 B.C., after completing his swan song piece, "Hua Sha", or "Embracing the Sand".
According to legend, Chinese fishermen patrolled the river of Qu Yuan's suicide in their rowboats, searching desperately for his body. Centuries later, Chinese people continue the search --- metaphorically --- as they race each other in long rowboats. These boats have distinctively shaped sterns and bows, which replicate the traditional Chinese dragon.
Just like in North America, people in Japan celebrate Valentine's Day on February 14th. However, as the Japanese tourism resource website Japan Guide notes, instead of the men running out to pick up chocolate and flowers for the women, the women are primarily "responsible" for showering the men with romantic gifts. Japanese men return the favor a month later on White Day, which falls on March 14th. On White Day, it is customary for Japanese men to give women white marshmallows. However, candy and flowers are also popular gift choices.
