You may be wondering what a Spring Blossom festival is? Well, it’s a festival that welcomes in the Spring and all the new flowers and blossoms that appear, signifying new life, rebirth, and freshness.
Many places in the world celebrate the coming of the spring blossoms and we’ve created a list so you can go and explore them for yourself!
First on our list has to be the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan; Sakura cherry blossoms spring up all over Japan turning walkways and rivers pink with the flowers. Flower viewing is a popular activity and there are plenty of festivals all over Japan that celebrate this time of year with visitors being treated to performances, tea ceremonies, local craft stalls and food vendors. The events at night are also spectacular as the cherry blossoms are all lit up with lanterns.
The most popular festivals take place in Fuji Kawa, Hirosaki and Ueno Park Tokyo, usually from mid-March to mid-April.
Second on our list of spring festivals is the Cherry Blossom Festivals in South Korea. The city of Jinnae is the most famous place in South Korea to celebrate this festival and boasts many picturesque locations for photo backdrops among the blossoms and rivers. At night it’s a very romantic atmosphere with fairy lights set up for a relaxing ambiance. You can also book a tour and be guided around the festival and learn more about it.
In Valencia, Spain, it may not be cherry blossoms but Las Fallas is a five-day Spring festival that takes place mid-March and involves burning winter surplus as a form of spring cleaning. This Medieval festival has evolved to celebrate the patron saint of Valencia, St. Joseph, and locals create ‘fallas’ (big puppets) to burn at the end of the festival, they also dress up in fancy costumes, enjoy street food, music and fireworks.
Holi festival in India is another exciting Spring festival, it’s also known as the festival of colours! It’s famous for being both vibrant and fun as locals and thousands of visitors throw coloured powder and water over each other. Holi marks the triumph of good over evil with the Hindu God Lord Vishnu defeating the demoness Holika, the night before Holika is Holika Dahan when bonfires are traditionally lit to burn effigies resembling Holika. The biggest Holi festivals take place in Mathura and Vrindavan, Jaipur and Pushkar in mid-March.
On the third Saturday in April, Bloemencorse Bollenstreek in the Netherlands holds one of the largest flower parades in the world. This blossom festival celebrates the arrival of Spring with amazing flower arrangements and floats, vehicles decorated with flowers. 50 flower floats set off with a marching band to bring live music to the parade and get people entertained and enjoying the festivities. The parade travels through 8 different cities and stretches 40km – booking a seat ahead of time is highly advised so that you can see the festivities take place.
One slightly different Spring festival is the Songkran water festival in April in Thailand, it is the world’s biggest water fight, and celebrates the Thai new year! In Thailand, water represents rebirth and renewal; people also clean their homes and their spirits out with water. Locals will also visit temples to pour water over Buddha images.
Even here in the UK, Easter is celebrated in Spring with flowering blossoms being used in decorations.
With so many spring festivals taking place across the world, check out our moving guides to find the countries above and see how easily we can help you move to them.