india

Every July 4, the United States celebrates its independence with barbecues, fireworks, games, and parades. Here’s a look at other independence days around the world.

Communities around the world come together to celebrate animals in these fun festivals. Pied Piper Duch Show Sydney, AustraliaDolled-up ducks waddle down the runway in Sydney during the Pied Piper Duck Show. These ducks, dressed from head to toe in haute couture, are a tribute to the stylish Abigail and Amelia from Disney’s Aristocats. Local farmer Brian Harrington has been working with professional dressmakers to outfit lucky ducks and geese for over 30 years, creating a unique event that parallels New York Fashion Week.www.webarchive.org/ Velas Turtle Festival Maharashtra, IndiaThe most important day of a turtle’s life is the day that it hatches and crawls toward the sea. At the Velas Turtle Festival, spectators gather to watch tiny turtles emerge from their eggs and make their trek to the ocean. The festival is a celebration of the once-endangered olive ridley turtle. Those who wish to attend this festival are advised to spend several days on the beach so they can be sure to witness the hatching process.traveltriangle.com/ Woolly Worm Festival North Carolina, USA Picture of a woolly bear caterpillar (woolly worm). The furry black and orange caterpillar is the larval stage of the Isabella Tiger moth.You might be familiar with Punxsutawney Phil, the weather-forecasting wonder of a groundhog, but have you ever heard about the meteorological abilities of woolly worms? When the woolly worm’s back is mostly brown, the winter will be mild. When the worm’s back is mostly black, the upcoming winter is predicted to be harsh. During the festival, worms participate in races. The owner of the fastest worm wins the honor of their woolly worm predicting the state of the upcoming winter.www.woollyworm.com Alpabfahrt Lucerne, SwitzerlandEach September, Switzerland is flooded with clopping hooves as 380,000 cows descend from the Alps and take to the streets in preparation for winter. Adorned with flower crowns and clanging cowbells, they parade in front of tourists and locals. The cows begin their trek at the top of the mountains at dawn. Along their path, local vendors sell goods and parade-goers celebrate with music and dance. At the end of the day the cows take a well-deserved rest in the local stables.www.swissclubnsw.com/ Monkey Buffet Lopburi, ThailandOnce a year in Thailand, residents throw a feast for an unlikely population: monkeys. In the days leading up to the festival, locals distribute party invitations (complete with a cashew treat) to the monkeys. On the day of the celebration, performers don monkey costumes and lure the macaques out of the forests with a dance. The monkeys are met with several tons of food on banquet tables inside the ruins of a thirteenth-century templewww.ripleys.com/ Festival de Aves Viña del Mar, Chile If you want to see a beautiful array of tropical birds, look no further than the Pacific coast of Chile. Each fall, professional birdwatchers and novices alike gather in Viña del Mar to catch a glimpse of more than 140 breeds of birds in their natural environment. Festival attendees can embark on guided excursions, attend lectures given by ornithologists, or set off on their own to see what birds they can find.festivaldeaves.cl/—Sarah Helzer

Religious tourism is the oldest form of planned travel in the world. Even now, it remains a prevalent industry, with around 300 to 330 million tourists visiting religious sites every year. Religious tourism has two different forms: visiting a religious site just for the sake of tourism or seeking spiritual strength through the visit to a religious site.

Some borders lie along physical barriers, like mountain ranges or large bodies of water, while others are solely based on treaties, purchases, and wars. These types of borders don’t always take into account the people living at the new edge of a country. Regardless of how a border came to be, it often produces a unique situation for those living around it. Here are five cities that have dealt with being split by international borders in different ways

Mark Twain wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Where did China get its first cup of tea? Who invented boomerangs in Australia? How did African leopards get their spots? Though there are plenty of factual answers to these questions, we can often learn more about a country from its bedtime stories than its history books. After all, humans have used stories to explain their surroundings for thousands of years, passing legends down from generation to generation. Through these legends, we learn about the gods our ancestors worshipped, the traditions they held dear, and their relationships with the world and the people around them.

British Library, London, UK

The stereotypical nagging parent says, “Keep your elbows off the table and chew with your mouth closed.”From a young age, all of us have been taught the “correct” way to eat. It’s a surprise to no one that the rules we learn (no elbows on the table, don’t slurp your soup/noodles/drink) are more a product of culture than any universal law.If you ate the way that is culturally appropriate in the United States, would it still be appropriate in other countries? Let’s take a little trip and find out. Japan Japan appreciates noisy eaters. Especially when eating noodles, you should slurp to show how good they are. One tip: it’s easier to slurp when you eat with chopsticks. If the idea of eating with chopsticks is intimidating, don’t worry—most Japanese restaurants and households also have forks available.Remember to pick up the bowl to eat when you can. You won’t make as much of a mess, and if you’re using chopsticks, you don’t have to work nearly as hard. In general, avoid leaning over your dish. The Japanese think it makes you look like an animal.Chopsticks are not always the utensils of choice. The Japanese use spoons with soups or with rice dishes that are paired with sauce. For example, both curry on rice and fried rice would be dishes eaten with a spoon. Brazil In Brazil, use utensils for everything—even for foods you would normally eat with your hands. If you have to eat without utensils, make sure to wrap yourfood in a napkin so your hands don’t make contact. Also, never eat and walk. If you buy something from a street vendor, stay there to eat it.Brazil has a very family-centered eating culture. Even the poorest family in Brazil will throw food parties for family events. When you take a bite of Brazilian food, taste the love cooked into it. India While they do have utensils, Indians believe that the flavor of their food is best enjoyed when eaten with their hand. However, when eating, be sure to use only your right hand. The left hand is considered dirty.In rural areas, they sit on the floor to eat. But at restaurants, they use chairs. Indians show their appreciation for a meal by cleaning their plate. As such, if you put something on your plate, you need to eat all of it. Otherwise, you signal that you do not like the food. Somalia Somalian food culture is highly influenced by its religious culture. In Somalia, the majority of the population is Muslim, meaning they follow some rigorous dietary restrictions. There are two main groups of food: halal, or accepted foods, and haram, or forbidden foods. Similar to the Jewish culture and religion, the main forbidden foods are pork products, blood, and animals which are not killed correctly.When visiting Somalia, generally avoid discussing food and food preparation with men, as they consider food to be a womanly topic. However, if you get the chance, compliment the person (likely the woman) who made the food—the various pancakes and fried breads of the Somalian diet are delicious. Italy Italians expect food to be eaten the way it is “meant” to be eaten. Unlike in restaurants in the US, where it is normal to ask for substitutions, the idea of changing a traditional food can be offensive to Italians. Those of you with food allergies and intolerances be aware of this. Italian meals are often com-posed of multiple courses, and even in Italian homes, each course is served on a different plate. They do not want the dishes to mix. A Final Thought This is just a brief overview of cultural food practices, but when you travel, do your research. You’ll find plenty of new ways to eat that you may never have considered before.—Sarah Birdsall

Beloved Disney movies have the ability to transport viewers to beautiful worlds where colors are vibrant, magic is real, and everyone sings on-key. Children pretend that they too are adventurous princesses and quick-witted heroes, living in ornate castles that overlook forests and oceans. However, those childhood imaginings often fade away with age.

The movie reaches its emotional climax. Almost effortlessly, the actors begin singing. Large groups of dancers join in, and suddenly, a bright, colorful dance number transitions the scene from one location to the next, sweeping across the screen in grandeur and excitement.

Required in many traditional recipes around the world, saffron is an often overlooked and underappreciated spice in mainstream American cooking. Composed of the dried stigmas (the part of the flower that captures pollen) of the crocus sativus or saffron crocus, saffron stands as the most labor-intensive spice in the world. One pound of dried saffron may require hand-harvested stigmas of 50,000 to 75,000 flowers. No wonder it has the stigma of being so expensive! However, don’t let the price intimidate you; a little saffron goes a long way, and its unique flavor makes it rare and sought-after. Experience saffron around the world by trying some of these recipes.

Intricate designs are painted on the palms and feet of Indian brides. Photo by Amar Javed. cc

I hobbled out like a hungover sailor shaking out my sea legs. And there I was, in Dharamsala, India—a cluster of brightly colored restaurants and guesthouses all stacked up on top of each other like a patchwork quilt—something between a city and a village nestled on the green mountain ridges, a place in transit, a sanctuary for the homeless, the country-less. The street was packed with maroon-clad monks and dreadlocked, tattooed hippies, Tibetan seniors waving their canes at oncoming traffic as they tried to get to the Dalai Lama’s temple, and then the occasional dazed traveler.

In 2008, Jodi Ettenberg of Montreal, Canada, made the drastic decision to take a year off of working as a lawyer in New York City to travel the world—an adventure that has yet to end. Five years later, she is still traveling and documenting her stories on her popular travel website (legalnomads.com). Ettenberg’s experiences and writing have allowed her to rethink what happiness means to her and to pursue a career as a travel writer. She has even published a book, The Food Traveler’s Handbook, on how to eat safe, inexpensive, tasty food while traveling. Stowaway caught up with Ettenberg between locations in India and Bangkok.

Participants throw colored powder into the air during one of the throwings at the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork, Utah.

Students in Abomosu, Ghana help locals with community improvement projects.

The camera spans across the bank of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand, where locals gather to lift softly glowing lanterns into the dark autumn sky. Small green and purple boats made of leaves and Styrofoam carry flowers and candles out across the water, symbolically carrying away the griefs of the past year. It’s the 2011 celebration of Loi Krathong, the annual festival of the “Floating Crown,” and in the wake of major flooding across Bangkok, the small boats are weighed with more grief than usual.