festival highlights
July August September
mOnGOlia
JUl
11–15
NAADAM
Games of Mongolian
wrestling, horse
racing, and archery
held in midsummer
jaPan
JUl 7
TANABATA
The Star Festival
celebrates the
deities Orihime
and Hikoboshi
sri lanka
AUG
17–27
ESALA PERAHERA
Homage is paid to
the Sacred Tooth
Relic of Lord Buddha
in Kandy
india
SEP 12–
23
GANESH CHATURTHI
A 10-day Hindu festival
that honours Ganesha
by chanting Vedic
texts
indOnesia
JUl (TBC)
BALI KITE FESTIVAL
A religious kite
festival held to ask
the Hindu gods for a
fruitful harvest
armenia
JUL 27
VARDAVAR
A pagan tradition
where people
drench each other
with water
india
AUG
15–27
ONAM FESTIVAL
An annual Hindu
festival with dance
and drama festivities
kyrGyzsTan
SEP(TBC)
WORLD NOMAD
GAMES
Forty nations
compete in eagle
hunting, stick
wrestling, and goat-
carcass polo
bhuTan
SEP
19–21
THIMPHU TSECHU
Days and nights of
prayer and rituals
invoke the gods
sOuTh kOrea
JUL
20–29
BORYEONG MUD
FESTIVAL
A rowdy mud-
flinging festival with
mud taken from the
Boryeong mud flats
kyrGyzsTan
JUL (TBC)
BIRDS OF PREY
FESTIVAL
Falconers from
around Issyk-Köl
compete with their
trained eagles,
hawks and falcons
sOuTh kOrea
SEP
23–25
CHUSEOK
A major harvest
festival held around
the autumn equinox
jOrdan
JUL/AUG (TBC)
JERASH FESTIVAL OF
CULTURE AND ARTS
Held in an ancient Roman ruin,
it features several well-known
Jordanian, Arab and foreign
artists
india
SEP 2
KRISHNA
JANMASHTAMI
An annual Hindu
festival that celebrates
the birth of Krishna
*Dates are subject to change
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