As the harvest ends, Cambodia prepares for the New Year with three days of purification ceremonies, temple offerings, traditional games and a royal procession.

In houses across the country, people make offerings to the thousands of devodas (gods and goddesses of the sky) who are believed to make their pilgrimage to mythical Mount Meru at this time. Every home is spring-cleaned before an altar is constructed and decorated. Offerings are also made at local temples. The main entrances to temples are decorated with garlands of coconut leaves and flowers while, in the courtyards, monks bathe in perfumed water. The ceremony of Poon Phmon calls for people to build sandcastles in pagoda grounds, generally in perfumed water.

On the last day of Chaul Chhnam, known as Long Sak, the royal family calls upon the king in Phnom Penh to swear allegiance and wish him good health. Versions of this royal ceremony are performed in Cambodian families. Long Sak continues with entertainment including boxing, elephant and horse races and a royal procession.

In the countryside, traditional Khmer games such as Angkunh, Chaol Chhoung, Leak Kansaeng and tug-of-war are played - particularly at New Year, when villages fill with family gatherings. Angkunh is a bowls-like game played by two teams with a large nut (angkunh). Chaol Chhoung is similar to tennis except the ball is wrapped in a hankie and thrown, while Leak Kanseng is a Khmer version of “blind man’s buff”. The reward for the victors in most of these games seems to be the “friendly” rapping of the losers’ knees and elbows with solid objects - a source of great amusement!

This Festival is held in April 2009 at Cambodia.

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The first furrows of the year are ploughed in a sacred Phnom Penh rice field, and sacred cows are used to determine predictions for the year ahead. Formerly conducted by the King of Cambodia, this “Royal Ploughing Ceremony” is the official start of the ploughing season and the first agarian ceremony of the year.

After three laps of the field, the sacred cows are unharnessed and led to seven silver dishes containing different materials, which symbolize the possible outcomes of the coming harvest. Good signs are the cows going to water or grain. Herbs signify cattle disease ahead, but the worst sign is alcohol, which means trouble is brewing. Given Cambodia’s tragic recent history, you wonder whether the cows ever chose anything except alcohol.

Brahmin priests call upon the protection of the gods at a chapel near the rice field. The Royal Palace is a good place to get an overview of the proceddings.

Bonn Chroat Preah Nongkoal is held on May 2009 at Royal Palace Cambodia.

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The first Cook Islands Jazz and Blues Festival promises sparkling performances from South Pacific and US talent. The event, held on Rarotonga, is organized by Bill TK Junior, son of New Zealand’s legendary guitarist Bill TK.

Both Bill TKs appear on the line-up, along with LA blues artist Diana Harris, San Francisco soul singer Edna Love and a handful of local musicians.

If the music isn’t enough of a draw already, then the paradise-like surroundings of Rarotonga, from turquoise lagoons to white beaches, should do the trick.

This Festival is held on Mar 2009 at Club Raro in Cook Island.

We recommend you book your package at least 2 months before the date of Jazz and Blues Festival. Please check out our special offers for Jazz and Blues Festival at website www.calculatemytrip.com.

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Costa Rica’s Independence Day is celebrating on 15^th September which commemorates freedom of the whole Central America from Spanish rule in 1821. The Independence Day of Costa Rica is declared an official National Holiday in the country.

Independence Day of Costa Rica is celebrated with much fun and merriment. The national holiday is marked by hoisting of the National flag, patriotic parades and performances by participants in the community. The National anthem is also sung on the Independence Day of Costa Rica.

Independence Day is Celebrate on 15 Sep 2009 in Costa Rica.

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Cyprus carnival is the celebration before the 50 days of Easter. It means two week period of celebration with focus on food. This Carnival is celebrated in towns all over the Island, Limassol host this celebration, while Larnaka and Paphos offer exciting parades and fancy dress balls.

The first week is known as Meat Week, as it the last week of eating meat before Easter and the second week is known as the cheese week.

Highlights of the carnival are the entrance of King, the children’s Carnival Parade, the Serenaders’ Parade and the Grand Carnival Parade of chariots and groups.

This famous celebration was first held in 1913, it consists of a colourful regatta of decorated fishing boats and yachts in the Nicoya Gulf to greeting Puntarenas’s Patron Saint, the Virgin of Mount Carmel.

During the event; special masses, parades, concerts, dances, sports events and fireworks are displayed in her honour. While most popular Central American parties, food and drink. Dishes include casado, olla de carne, sopa negra and picadillo.

Puntarenas is the capital and largest city in the province Puntarenas, Costa Rica, at the Pacific coast.

This event is held in July 2009 at Puntarenas in Costa Rica. 

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Dubrovnik Carnival was stared from 14th century. This Carnival maintains many of the original traditions. People get together from surrounding areas garish costumes, Parading down the streets to the sound of trumpets and drums.

Jousting competitions held in the centre of the City, with men on horseback carrying lances aimed for a silver ring tied to a rope above the horse trail.

Dubrovnik is a city of Croatia & it is located on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Croatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is also known as “the Pearl of the Adriatic”. It is one of the most famous tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva County.

Dubrovnik Carnival is held on Feb 2009 at Dubrovnik in Croatia.

Green Monday marks the beginning of Lent and is celebrated in Paphos with a picnic and a kite-flying competition. The day is filled with the joyous spirit of Carnival and some people still wander around in fancy dress.

Events and activities take place in all towns and villages on the island and feature plenty of music, dancing and delicious vegetarian food.

The first Monday of Lent (50 days before Greek Orthodox Easter) is a Bank Holiday in Cyprus and Green Monday picnics are held all over the island. Families and friends gather for an outdoor vegetarian meal of bread, vegetables and olives at the start of this Orthodox festival of fasting and contemplation.

In Paphos, the kite-flying competition takes place down by the lighthouse, where people of all ages fly home-made or locally purchased creations to varying degrees of success.

During Lent, meat and dairy products are forbidden, so why not try some of the delicious Cypriot pastries: tahinopitta (with sweetened tahini paste inside), spanokopitta (spinach) and kolokopitta (pumpkin with raisin).

This event is held in Mar 2009 at Paphos in Cyprus.

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International Summer Festival of Music, opera, ballet and theater performances will be held from June 26 to August 6 in the largest cultural and historical center of the peninsula Istria - Croatian town of Pula. This year the festival is held for the ninth time.

Pula’s spectacular Roman Amphitheater located in the heart of historic Pula provides a stunning venue for many of the performance alongside many other great open-air locations. This prestigious Festival welcomes artists and performers from all over the world.

Pula is very interesting from the prospective of cognitive city, as it kept a large number of monuments of history, the pearl is a roman amphitheater Arena, built in the first century AD, and to this day is in excellent condition. Arena is one of the biggest Kolizeev worlds. It is here being the main festival events.

International Summer Festival is held on 26 June-06 Aug 2009 at Pula in Croatia.

The International Carnival of Rijeka is an annual event that has a 100-year-old tradition and attracts carnival groups, spectators and the media, as well as guests from around the country and abroad.

Carnival happenings in the city are a mixture of the bourgeois carnival and the ancient Slavs’ folklore elements and mythology. Carnival customs include the making of “ugly masks”, which scare away evil forces, calling the spring and celebrating the birth of new life. The Zvoncari, or local bell ringers, are identical to those who centuries ago protected their land from Turkish invasion.

The event starts with the Carnival Queen Contest and the Opening Ceremony, where the Mayor delivers the keys of the city to the Master of the Carnival. Concerts, exhibitions, parties, performances and other festivities fill the days that precede the major event - the International Carnival Parade. Hundreds of floats, thousands of masks and streets crowded with spectators are the result of a competitive spirit built on originality, inventiveness and wittiness.

Rijeka - port city, town carnival, combines the features characteristic of the Mediterranean and European town. The city is a major cultural center: art galleries, museums, theaters, historical monuments and architecture, full of rich traditions.