Two international film festivals in Argentina are the Buenos Aries Film festival in April and the Mar del Plata Film festival in March. Both of these festivals attract filmmakers from around the world. Music festivals are continuously put on all during the spring and summer months--October until March. These festivals include classical, native and rock music.
Starting two weeks before Lent and continuing until the Lent begins is Carnival season in Argentina. The Carnival del Pais is a wonderful mixture of New Orleans Mardi Gras and the carnival as celebrated in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. It is an exuberant celebration of the last days of excess before Lent--as is Mardi Gras. It is also dominated by samba clubs that parade down boulevards into coliseums--like they do in Rio. The center of the celebration is the small town of Gualeguaychu, which apparently has no other function except being the center of the carnival every year.
Christmas is celebrated in Argentina much as it is celebrated around the world. There are no standard Christmas trees in Argentina, so all kinds of trees are decorated. Christmas comes in the middle of summer so the Christmas feast consists of barbecue, fruit and ice cream. At midnight, a toast of "clerico" is drank. This Argentina summertime favorite is a mixture of fruit, wine and ice--similar to Spanish sangria. After the toast, gifts are exchanged and then there are fireworks until dawn, when usually everyone goes swimming.
Hundreds of bizarre customs are practiced in Argentina to bring luck and good fortune in the coming year. Most people don't really believe these actions will bring luck, but they are a lot of fun. One common activity is to run around your house carrying one or more suitcases. Another common belief is that you should always eat beans on New Year's Day--a belief that is shared with many people in the North America. Almost all Argentinians go to the beach on New Year's Day to have a barbecue, play some volleyball and then go swimming.
