The 7 Most Bizarre European Summer Festivals

Summer is the best time for European Festivals

Europe is full of culture and traditions! With this comes the weird and the wacky. This certainly doesn’t exclude European Summer Festivals… we’ve outlined the weirdest of the weird below.

1. Wife Carrying ( Sonkajärvi, Finland)

Although the wife carrying race was first introduced in Finland, it now takes place in many other countries. If you believe that the best way to win the race is by carrying a petite wife, think again! The prize is determined by your wife’s size – the winner receives his wife’s weight in beer!

2. El Colacho (Murcia, Spain)

The “baby jumping festival” is probably one of the most dangerous on the list. All babies born during the previous 12 months lay down on mattresses in the middle of the street while adult men from the village take turns to jump over them…

3. Calcio Fiorentino (Florence, Italy)

Footballers become gladiators at this tournament! Dating back to the 16th century this “football” tournament allows punching, wrestling and any other forms of violence that are usually banned from football. If you that’s odd, the prize for winning this tournament is a cow!

4. Festival of the Pig (Trie-sur-Baïse, France)

You might be thinking that this festival has an odd theme. Not only does it involve eating pork and pig races, but there is also a pig squealing contest. La pourcailhade started in the 70s and is held every year on the 2nd August.

5. Golden Retriever Festival (Scotland, United Kingdom)

In case you didn’t know, Scotland is the ancestral home of this lovable breed of canines. The event was first held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland. In 2018, over 350 golden retrievers attended this event. This Scottish event is undeniably the cutest festival in Europe.

6. Fiesta de Santa Marta de Ribarteme (Galicia, Spain)

Spain seems to be home of weird European summer festivals.

Also known as the Near Death Festival expect to see lots of people being carried around in coffins. To provide some context, this event takes place in honor of the patron saint of resurrection. Luckily everyone in these particular coffins are alive, but they’ve been chosen to take part because they’ve experienced a near death situation in the past year.

7. World Toe Wrestling Championships (England, United Kingdom)

The name says it all: World. Toe. Wrestling. Before you think of taking part in this weird European summer festival, know that a lot of contestants come out with bruised and broken toes. The sport derives from a group of friend’s dissatisfaction with England’s poor athletic performance… so they decided toe wrestling would be something they could achieve success in. You can’t fault that logic.

Have you been to any of these festivals? Let us know in the comment section below!