The practice began in feudal times when landowners held events to recruit long-term farmers.
People without land gathered in villages waiting to sell their labour, and if they were successful getting hired it meant a year of their life was guaranteed.
Another tale has it that deities would visit to watch people “selling their bodies” and deliver them from suffering. The legend later turned the gathering into a festive event to celebrate meeting with deities and praying for good luck in the year ahead.
Nowadays, people also celebrate it by spraying water at each other.
Insect-Eating Festival, China
“Chew it up and wipe out its kind!”
On this command from a senior member of the family, people from the Gelao and Mulao ethnic groups start their annual feast by downing cooked insects.
Held on the second day of the sixth month in the lunar calendar, the practice is said to bring a pest-free, good harvest year.
Insects consumed include grasshoppers, chrysalises and worms, which are also considered a delicacy rich in protein.
Penis Festival, Japan
The Kanamara Festival, or Penis Festival, falls on the first Sunday in April.
It turns everything on the streets around the Kanayama Shrine in Kawasaki city into phallic images, from decorations to snacks to people who dress up to celebrate.
The festival’s most prominent symbol is a giant pink phallus-shaped portable shrine that parades along the city’s streets.
It is understood that profits raised from the event go to HIV research.
The Kanayama Shrine is dedicated to metalwork deities.
Legend has it that a local blacksmith once created an iron phallus to break the teeth of a demon that fell in love with a woman and hid in her vagina to bite off the penises of the woman’s lovers.
The shrine is not only popular among sex workers, but also those who pray for a successful marriage and pregnancy.
Baby Crying Festival, Japan
The Sensoji Temple in Tokyo has been holding this event annually since 1991.
Sumo wrestlers are invited to carry babies in front of people who try their best to make the infants cry, for example, by shouting loudly or making faces.
The babies who cry first and most loudly are the winners.
The festival is popular with parents as tradition has it that crying babies will grow up healthy.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival, Thailand
This is one of the world’s most gruesome festivals.
This annual event takes place in Phuket and is also known as Nine Emperor Gods Festival.
It involves people piercing their cheeks with everything from swords to musical instruments and even bicycle handlebars.
The festival is part of the nine-day celebration of abstinence from meat and the worshipping of animals.
Participants are mostly devotees of Chinese temples in the area, who believe the deities will endow them with the power to endure harm or pain.
