Festivals around the World New Orleans Mardi Gras Mardi Gras in New Orleans, America is a carnival celebration where people from all over the world go to celebrate the end of Christmas and the New Year The festival starts on January 6th of each year There are many parades and parties Mardi Gras festival lasts for weeks There is a parade each day when people dress up in colourful and beautiful clothes and walk through the streets so crowds of people can see them The traditional colours mostly warn at this festival are Purple, which represents ‘Justice’, Gold, ‘Power’ and Green, ‘Faith’ Running of the Bulls The Running of the Bulls happens in a town called Pamplona in Spain This is when crowds of people run from many bulls (usually twelve bulls) People don’t this to celebrate anything; they just it for fun, trying not to get hurt The first bull running is on July th of each year Participants must be 18 years old, run in the same direction as the bulls Every year, between 200 and 300 people are injured during the run although most injuries due to falls and are not serious Since 1910, 15 people have been killed in Pamplona Tomatina The Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Bunol in Spain Thousands of ripe Tomatoes are thrown at people in the streets in exactly one hour More than 150 000 Tomatoes are used by people who come from all over the world The week-long festival features music, parades, dancing, and fireworks On the night before, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest It is tradition for the women to wear all white and the men to wear no shirts The festival is in honour of the towns Saints and the Mother of Christ Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling Festival happens every year on the Spring Bank Holiday at Coopers Hill in Gloucester in England From the top of the hill a round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled, and people race down the hill after it The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese There is no purpose to this festival; people just it for fun, though many hurt themselves Oktoberfest Oktoberfest is a 16- to 18-day festival held each year in Munich, Germany, beginning from late September to the first weekend in October It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year People drink lots of beer and eat lots of food such as Sausages and Chicken, whilst singing and dancing to traditional German music