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5 SPRING MOUNTAIN FESTIVALS
The Spring Equinox marks the end of the winter, but in a more romantic view, it is also considered the start of a new personal season, the moment of re-birth and of new beginnings.
It is also the season of Spring Festivals on the mountains, here our tips:
1. CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL (“SAKURA”)
Location: Mount Yoshino, Japan
During the short-lived cherry blossom season, Hamani is an important part of the spring tradition in Japan for over 1,000 years: thousands of people flock to public parks to picnic under cherry blossom trees, play games, attend tea ceremonies or decorate cherry blossom trees with lanterns.
Mount Yoshino in Nara Prefecture is a north-facing mountain slope covered by approximately 30,000 cherry trees; it is said that the first trees were planted along its slopes more than 1300 years ago. Cherry blossoms here typically start opening in late March or early April and reach full bloom around up to mid April.
Visitors ascend the mountain by car to enjoy the numerous cherry trees along the road and to stop at the temples and shrines they can visit on the road, to enjoy hanami in the parks (Naka Senbon Park is one of the most famous) or and stop admiring sakura at the viewpoints along the way.
2. APPALACHIAN TRAIL FEST
Location: Hot Springs, North Carolina (USA)
Hot Springs is the only town in North Carolina to have the Appalachian Trail running through Main Street: for this, hiking and outdoor are their main industry. More, the area is blessed with natural hot mineral springs: clear, clean springs, geothermally heated to 102-103 degrees piped into modern Jacuzzi-style tubs.
For over 20 years, Hot Springs has celebrated Spring and the arrival of hikers on the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain, Georgia with the Appalachian TrailFest: a multiday festival which is held in late April as a "warmup" event for hikers to celebrate hiking and outdoor recreation.
Thru-hikers, locals and visitors enjoy live music, speakers, hiker games, the well-known plastic duck race in Spring Creek, food, gear vendors and more. Hiking things are offered in a raffle oriented to the hikers and a silent auction is organized for community members, as well, with donations from local artist or businesses.
3. HOLI FESTIVAL
Location: Northern India
One of the most famous spring festivals in the world is Holi: started as an ancient Hindu tradition, that celebrates the triumph of good over evil, over the centuries it has been associated with the celebration of the end of winter and the beginning of spring; it is now also known as the “Festival of Love”.
Holi begins in the last evening of full moon in the month of Phalguna in Hindu calendar (late February/March) with the lighting of a bonfire while on the celebration day of Holi, color takes over all over in the country, but expecially in northern and western India.
During this lively and colorful outdoor festival, citizens of all ages hit the streets and throw colourful powders (called “gulal”) over each other, soak each other with water guns and balloons, dance and sing. Later in the day, families spend time together, visit relatives and share delicious Holi sweets.
4. OSWALD VON WOLKENSTEIN RIDE
Location: South Tyrol, Italy
The Sciliar region has attractive destinations like the town of Castelvecchio, the imposing Trostburg castle and Castel of Presule but you can also leap back in the 14th century and experience life in the Middle Ages by attending to the medieval tournaments and knight festivals that attract there visitors from all the region.
Starting from the 1983, the Oswald von Wolkenstein Ride is organized as a tribute to the medieval knight and minstrel, Oswald von Wolkenstein, who was born in 1367 at Trosburg Castle and then lived at Castelvecchio Fortress. The event takes place every year around late May and early June and it lasts three days.
36 South Tyrolean teams, each consisting of four riders, compete in a lance game at the Colle in Castelrotto, in a labyrinth in the village of Siusi allo Sciliar, in obstacle gallop races at Fiè Pond and in a final slalom ride in the meadows under the Presule Castle.
5. SPRING EQUINOX IN MEXICO
Location: Teotihuacan and Chichen Itza, Mexico
The spring equinox was undoubtedly a major date in Mesoamerican cultures, marking the beginning of agricultural sowing; for this, Mexico might be the ideal place where to celebrate the arrival of spring. Spring Equinox celebrations usually also include craft fairs, a pre-Hispanic ball game and hot-air balloon flights.
In the pre-Columbian city of Teotihuacan, most people, including foreign visitors, dress in red scarfs and white robes (to absorb the good energy) burn incents, perform dances and climb to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun spreading their arms to ask the gods for health and energy, following the local ancestor traditions.
The phenomenon is also celebrated in the fabled Mayan city of Chichen Itza; on the Kukulcan Pyramid known as El Castillo, during every equinox, the late afternoon sun creates the illusion of a serpent creeping down the northern staircase, symbolizing the joining of the heavens, the earth, and the underworld.
