Events taking place in the world in August.

Festivals and events in Australia in August
Entertainment and Circus Festival in Brisbane
The Royal Brisbane Show, an annual entertainment and circus festival, is taking place in Brisbane, Australia. According to local newspapers, the highlight of the festival is the “diving pig” number, during which a pig named “Miss Piggy” dives from a springboard into a water-filled pool.

Festivals in Austria
Salzburg Festival
One of Europe's most famous music festivals, the famous Salzburg Festival takes place in August. It focuses on the traditions of Austrian art and its origins. Those planning a visit to Salzburg in August can choose whether to attend dramatic performances, opera or concerts

Events in Belgium
A medieval city made of sand grows right on the beach.

Every year an international festival of sand sculpture takes place on the beach of the Belgian town of Zeebrugge. Every year the festival has a new theme and it attracts more and more spectators and participants.
In the program of the festival there are also such original directions of modern art as water sculpture, ice and light sculpture.
The guests are promised a journey through time: they will walk through the streets and squares that existed centuries ago, among churches, mills and workshops, they will be able to peek into the lives of the townspeople who have passed into eternity, to observe their daily life and holidays.
Every year about 9 thousand tons of sand are used for the compositions, including 3 tons of special sand from the mouth of the Maas River, which is delivered to the beach of Zeebrugge from the Netherlands. This is the secret of the stability of the sand sculptures. The size of some compositions is impressive: 100 meters in width and length, and the height of individual structures - up to 10 meters and more.

“Brussels Flower Carpet”, mid-August
Once every two years on the central square of Brussels Grand Place “spreads” a carpet of live begonias “tuberose grandiflora” (this variety was bred in 1860 in Flanders). The fragrant freshness of the begonias is supported by a whole system of fountains, organically included in the weave of ornaments of 800,000 flowers. The 300-square-meter living carpet will be viewed from the balcony of City Hall for 6 euros. In the evening, fireworks and a light and sound performance are expected.

Caribbean Festival, mid-August, Hogstraten
A small town near the Belgian-Danish border hosts a large festival of Caribbean music, which is also called “Antilles Fiesta”. Musicians from Jamaica, Cuba, Congo, Colombia, Haiti, Puerto Rico, salsa, ska, zouk - and the festival grounds turn into dance floors.

Feast of Meyboom (tree of joy), first half of August, Brussels
Every year on this day a procession of costumed giants moves from the Church of the Virgin Mary in Sablon to erect the so-called Meyboom tree on the central square of Grand Place. The roots of this ritual action go back to the XIII century, and the May tree itself symbolizes gratitude to St. Lawrence for his feats of arms, in this case - for the wedding saved from robbers.

Holidays in Great Britain
World Left Handed Day
London. Aug. 13 - The United Kingdom and other countries celebrate World Left Handed Day on Wednesday. For the first time it was celebrated on August 13, 1992 on the initiative of the British Left-handed Club established two years earlier.
According to statisticians, about 10% of the British population (about 6 million people) are left-handed. In everyday life they often have to face such a problem as the adaptation of many household items, such as writing instruments, computer mice, kitchen utensils, hand grinders and mills, exclusively to the needs of right-handed people. Those who use their left hand as their leading hand seek on this day to sensitize designers, manufacturers and retailers of goods to the need to consider and accommodate left-handed people when using various items.
On August 13, public organizations of left-handed people organize various events and competitions “from the opposite”, not allowing participants to use their right hand when eating, working, and various delicate manipulations. However, the main concern of the Left Handed Club of Great Britain is that in many schools of the country left-handed children are still trying to retrain them to write with the right hand, which causes psychological stress and lowers the academic performance of students.
Meanwhile, statistics show that society's prejudice against people who use their left hand more is decreasing. If in the 1930s there were only about 3% of left-handed people in the United Kingdom, by the 50s this figure had risen to 5%, and now about one in ten people in the country is left-handed.
Among the famous left-handed people of Great Britain are Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and James Callaghan, the legendary Admiral Horatio Nelson, Queen Victoria, Queen Mother Elizabeth, Prince William. There are many famous left-handers in other countries, especially in the United States. By the way, Russian writer Nikolai Leskov, who wrote the famous story about Lefty who forged a flea, was also left-handed.

York Medieval Festival
Edinburgh International Festival, Scotland, August
Fringe is the name of one of the world's largest arts festivals, the Edinburgh Festival. For almost the entire month of August, Edinburgh becomes home to the arts on the Fringe, with over 14,000 artists from around the world performing shows, performances, and performances in every available venue, including bars, cellars, churches, and parks. Here you can see what breathes and where modern theater in the broadest sense of the word is going. The festival was born as a challenge and contraction of the eight theaters that were not invited to the official first Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. It was a challenge to pretentiousness, officiousness and high prices. The action soon became a major festival in its own right. Emma Thompson, John Cleese, Trevor Nunn all started their careers here. More recently, the New York Philharmonic and the Russian State Orchestra have performed in Edinburgh. Prizes awarded at the festival include the Stage Award for Best Play, the First Prize for Best Play, the Theater Award for pantomime, plastic theater, visual arts performance, and the Perrier Prize for the funniest performance, cabaret or revue. There are over 1,000 performances each day, you can sit in the theater from 9am to 3am the next morning, or you can just walk down the street and see comedy, concerts, sculpture installations, and ceramics exhibitions. In Parliament Square at the Fringe Club, you can participate in seminars, workshops, and discussions on theater and art topics.

Festivals in Hungary
Pepsi Island Festival in Budapest
The Pepsi Island Youth Festival opens at the beginning of August. In Budapest, dozens of different youth music bands perform on more than 15 stages on Margit Island. Admission is by paid ticket.

Holidays in Germany
Sale season and big discounts in Germany
At the end of July and beginning of August in all retail outlets from Munich to Hamburg summer collections of clothes and shoes are sold at discounts of up to 90%. And everyone takes part in the big sale - from expensive boutiques and haute couture stores to popular department stores of Kaufhof, H&M and C&M chains. Berlin's KDW, a shopping giant, will also have its say in the sale.
Even in the days when new collections appear in the stores, the figures on price tags in Germany are 20-30% lower than in their neighbors.
The most successful shopping is in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Düsseldorf. Düsseldorf is especially recommended - perhaps the most bourgeois city in Germany. It is here, in the center of German and European fashion, where the main boutiques, shopping centers and stores of the best brands in Europe are concentrated.

Main River Festival, first half of August, Frankfurt am Main
This festival, a traditional celebration of gratitude to the River Main, has very ancient roots. The festival is based on the ritual of sacrifice: fishermen pour wine into the waters of the river and roast a whole bull on the shore. The festive regatta and fireworks can be seen from the shore and from the ancient Frankfurt bridges.

Popkomm World Pop Fair, August, Cologne
Every August Cologne becomes the epicenter of musical life in Europe. Fair stands of 1000 music companies are located in the famous Messe exhibition center, where promotional collections of the latest music are presented. Numerous concerts of pop musicians take place in the city's sports arena, in open-air venues and clubs. Last year Russia was represented here by Tatu and Reflex.

Gourmet Night, August 22, Bakharakh
The ancient town of Bacharach is located on the picturesque bank of the Rhine (near Koblenz) and is famous for its vineyards and ancient castle ruins. It is believed that this is where the best Riesling is made, so wine tastings are the basis of the festivities. Fireworks, music, dancing and tasting the best dishes of the national cuisine are mandatory.

Festivals in Israel
International Jazz Festival
The Eilat International Jazz Festival is a “pioneer” among the many music festivals currently held in Eilat. An annual festival that takes place at the end of August in Eilat. The festival, which has gained an excellent reputation worldwide, attracts thousands of visitors every year, mainly due to the renowned performers that take part in the festival program. The festival program includes many different styles of music such as b-pop, jazz-rock, rhythm and blues and many others.
The festival, which takes place in late summer, has already earned an international reputation as one of the best festivals in the world.
Annual festivals, most of which take place in Eilat - “Red Sea Classical Music Festival”, “Rock on the Red Sea”, Folk Music Festival and many others.

Holidays in Spain
Quincena Musical Festival, San Sebastian, early August - early September
The oldest music festival in Spain. Classical and symphonic music is performed.

Bunol bathes in tomato juice.
(last Wednesday in August)
Tens of thousands of people gathered in eastern Spain on Wednesday to take part in one of the most fun summer celebrations, La Tomatina. On this day each year, everyone pelted each other with tomatoes with gusto.
In an instant, the streets of the coastal town of Bunol, located in eastern Spain, turned into streams of red tomato pulp. Here are the world's largest tomato battles. Last year, more than 38,000 tourists came here to participate in the fun fights. This is four times the total population of the town.
According to the national radio RNE, prudent residents of the town cover the facades of their houses with plastic shields. Others, watching the tomato fights from their balconies, pour water on the heads of those fighting.
The Bunol Festival attracts tourists from all over the world. It attracts fun lovers not only from Europe, even from Australia and Japan.
“Tomatina” is held every year, on the last Wednesday of August, since the 1940s. It was started by local kids, who once started throwing school lunches at each other in one of the main squares of the city. It happened the year tomato exports from that area of the country started going through the roof.

Bunyol near Valencia will host a “tomatina” festival
In the small town of Buñol, 25 kilometers from Valencia at the end of August, the famous holiday “tomatina”. Although in Spain, especially in the summer, everywhere there is an untold number of all kinds of festivities, which are fun for locals and visitors, including foreign tourists, “tomatina” is one of the most famous and popular. The culmination of the festival is the moment when the participants start throwing ripe tomatoes at each other, which must be kneaded beforehand so that the blows are not too strong. This time it is expected that 40 thousand people will take part in the tomato massacre in the town with 9 thousand inhabitants, for which more than 100 tons of tomatoes will be brought by special trailers. The holiday is already 70 years old. The story goes that it started with a scuffle between young people at the city market, who used tomatoes as weapons. The tomato massacre, which takes place in the central square against the city hall, lasts exactly one hour. During this time, the walls of the surrounding houses turn red, and the tomato sludge under the feet of the participants reaches up to the ankle, causing many to fall into it. All this is accompanied by raucous merriment. “Tomatina” ends with a bath in tomato juice in a special pool in the city center, followed by a raffle of hams of the traditional Iberian pig and a final fireworks display.

Basque Fiesta Aste Nagusia, August 21-29, Bilbao
One of Spain's largest fiestas, the traditional Basque festival, opens with the firing of a cannon, the shouting of invitations and the greeting of a Marihaya doll. Participants will enjoy daily bullfighting, numerous shows, traditional strongman competitions, fireworks and, of course, Basque national cuisine, which gourmets consider to be the best in Spain. The fiesta ends with the burning of a Marihaya doll.

La Tomatina tomato battle, August 25, Buñol
The small town of Buñol, 50 kilometers from Valencia, is famous for its huge tomato battle, in which about 30,000 people participate every year. There are many legends about how it all started, but for half a century in late summer locals first prepare for the battle: they close windows, doors, shop windows with plastic shields and prepare shells - more than 100 tons of ripe tomatoes. On the day of the battle on the conditional signal (a shot from a cannon) begins an hour-long tomato shootout, in which there is one unspoken rule: before throwing a shell at anyone, it must be properly pressed until the juice appears, or else you never know... Again on the signal the battle stops, and the streets are washed with water from the ancient, still Roman aqueduct. After the battle, the fiesta continues for a week.

Holidays in Italy
Feast of the Snow of the Virgin Mary, August 5, Rome
Once again, snow will fall and white petals will be strewn on the altar of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. On this sweltering August day, people will rejoice in the snow, albeit artificial, for they will be partakers of the mystery of revelation and the miracle of the Incarnation. In 352, on a sweltering August night, Pope Liberius received a dream from the Madonna and ordered him to build a temple where snow would fall the next day. The next morning the Esquiline hill was covered with snow. This was the site of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which was completed in the middle of the 5th century.

Open Forts Day, August 1, Venice
Only once a year you can visit the numerous Venetian forts around Venice, mostly built in the 16th and 17th centuries, which are closed to the public.

Knights' Tournament, first half of August, Oria
This small town has reconstructed and translated into theatrical action the historical decree of 1225 on processions and jousting tournaments of the legendary Frederick the Second. The tournament opens with a kind of immersion into the epoch - a procession of actors in medieval costumes. But the main attention of the public is focused on the knights' battles, taking place according to ancient rules.

Feast of Madonna di Piedigrotta, early August, Naples
This is the most mysterious holiday of Naples, because it is associated with the expectation of the miracle of the Madonna di Piedigrotta appearance. Every year a special mass is celebrated and sacred hymns are sung, but only once every fifty years does the Madonna silently leave her church and her return must be truly spectacular: it is accompanied by a sea procession along the coastline to the Mergellina hill (where Virgil is buried, by the way). Madonna last appeared in 1967, but every year people hope to see her again.

Holidays in Colombia
Colombia is overwhelmed by the annual festival of colors
Colombian streets will plunge into the power of loud music and intoxicating aromas - the annual flower festival is taking place in the country. For several days, florists construct various figures of fairy-tale characters, animals and scenes reflecting the color of Colombian life. The most colorful is the parade, where non-professionals - local residents - present their works. Each carries a floral panel on his own back, and in some cases the weight of the heavy load reaches 90 kilograms.

Festivals in Malta
Malta Beer Festival
The annual Great Farsons Beer Festival. It takes place from the end of July to the beginning of August. The entertainment prepared for all ten days of the festival is designed to match the general mood of the event, which has long been taken up by tens of thousands of Maltese and tourists. Two stages have been set up at the venue, with a total of over 40 concerts taking place.
Most importantly: admission is free!
The main character of the festival is, of course, beer, for which 12 bars are built, so that visitors can taste the best varieties of Maltese and foreign beer. The hits, of course, are the cask brands Cisk Lager, the new Hopleaf Smooth 'n' Creamy and our beloved Blue Label Smooth 'n' Creamy. Foreign brews are represented by such famous beer brands as Carlsberg, Budweiser, Guinness and Beck's.
There will, of course, be Cisk Export, a beer that has won two gold awards in the past from prestigious international brewing associations. There will be tents with snacks representing national cuisines from around the world.
Besides food and beer, 36 artists - local and foreign pop stars - sing for the guests throughout the festival. Over the years Ira Losco, Fabrizio Faniello, Freddy Portelli, Tiara, the Corkskrew, Shostakovich's Nightmare and the Bean Growers, and many, many others have sung. The show, led by top DJs, will continue daily until the early hours of the morning. The organizers have also provided an area and dedicated staff to play with the kids while their parents pour great festival beers.
A special bus will run between the huge parking lot provided for the festival and the actual venue.

Festivals in Nepal in August
Gayatra festival, Kathmandu, Nepal, first half of August
“Gayatra” means ‘Procession of Cows’ and is an eight-day festival of dance, song and the ubiquitous presence of these sacred animals. Nepalis believe that it is during this time that the god of death, Yamaraja, judges the souls of the recently deceased and decides on the next reincarnation of each soul. The meaning of Gaiyatra holiday is to speed up the judgment and ease the fate of those souls who are stuck between heaven and earth. Not surprisingly, families who have lost someone close to them in the past year are especially active in Gayatra. Family members pray that the one who has left them will take hold of the sacred cow's tail and hold on tightly, and she will guide the soul through all sorts of oceans of fire and other trials.
The highlight of the festival is the hundreds of small parades of cows decorated with flowers. Families ceremoniously follow the cows. Those who cannot afford a cow dress up a little boy as a cow. The processions pass Kathmandu's main Hindu temples, and citizens lavish the underprivileged families with coins and food. All this is accompanied by the beating of drums, the clanging of iron to ward off evil spirits preventing a speedy reincarnation, and the malevolent souls of the dead still hovering close to Earth. During Gayatra you can express yourself in any way you want, men dress up as women, people dress up as clowns, demons, saintly sadhus, - it all looks like one grand carnival. The fun is especially raucous near Indrachowk Bazaar and near the Old Royal Palace at Hanuman Dhoka. The current Gayatra promises to be particularly dramatic (or lavish) in light of the fact that the souls of the deceased members of the Nepalese royal family must be helped.

Holidays in the Netherlands
SAIL Amsterdam - once every five years!
2015-2020-2025
From mid-August, Amsterdam is transformed into a colorful celebration of historic ships. SAIL Amsterdam, the most important event in the world of sailing ships, yachts and powerboats, takes place here. It takes place once every five years and is a traditional meeting place for professionals and lovers of outdoor activities on the water.
Visitors will be able to board more than 500 historical and modern vessels from many countries. Connoisseurs from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Norway, Romania, Russia, Germany, Ukraine and many other countries come to Amsterdam. Everyone who is interested in the subject of small vessels, owns a yacht or is just about to buy one, will find a lot of interesting, useful and even unique things at SAIL Amsterdam.

Holidays in Russia
International Jazz Festival in Moscow
The second half of August. International jazz festival “Jazz in the Hermitage Garden”. The festival lasts several days and takes place in the Hermitage Garden.

Holidays in the USA
World Free Fall Festival, Illinois, USA, first half of August.
In the first half of August at the municipal airfield in Quincy, Illinois, 5800 skydivers make long jumps from heights of 4 to 7 kilometers. The Quincy Free Fall Festival is the largest gathering of skydivers from around the world. 50 U.S. states and 57 countries participate in this marathon, with a total of about 50,000 jumps. The jumps are made from 14 aircraft of various types, from Boeing 727s to rare sport planes and even balloons. 155 divers jump from a Boeing 727 at 155 miles per hour (236 kilometers per hour). A biplane jump looks like this: the diver jumps from the cockpit, holds on to the top wing while the biplane is upside down, and then flies to the ground feet down. The Super King Air plane takes divers to a record height of 7 kilometers and they freefall for a full two minutes. There are also jumps from a Bell 412 helicopter, from Twin Otters and more. Everyone who jumps at the festival must have a minimum of 50 jumps under their belt. Near the takeoff field, there are seminars on freefall freestyle, freefall photography, and specialty skydiving equipment.

Mushroom Festival in Telluride, Colorado, USA, second half of August
It's not just about the “magical” psilocybin mushrooms, it's about all mushrooms. The town of Telluride, Colorado is located in a protected forest where mushrooms grow and multiply at an astonishing rate. It would be hard to find a better place for a gathering of people seriously interested in edible, poisonous, and psychedelic mushrooms in their natural environment. Mushroom fanatics come here, ready to talk about fungus, mushroom species, cultivation, etc., night after night. The four-day conference of mushroom enthusiasts involves numerous forays into the forest to collect, study and classify edible mushrooms. A lecture on recognizing psilocybin mushrooms, a workshop on “The Healing Properties of Mushrooms in Native American Cultures and Modern Medicine,” and a workshop on mushroom cultivation are planned. There will also be such actions as the Mushroom Parade (participants are recommended to bring mushroom costumes or at least a hat like a mushroom), Mushrooms in music and poetry, Mushrooms - a feast of taste. After the festival, a person new and inexperienced in this field will surely be left with the conviction that mushrooms will “save the world”.

The world's largest twin festival has opened in the United States
In the United States, the world's largest twin festival takes place in August. Every year about 3 thousand people from all over the planet participate in it. Twins gather in the city of Twinsburg - this is the state of Ohio. There the festival has been held annually for almost 40 years. Most of those who come to the festival, states that exactly the same twins do not exist. Already today it will be possible to make sure of it visually. Participants of the festival take to the streets of the city and organize a parade. And before the main show they walk around Twinsburg, relax and get acquainted with each other.

Festivals in Tunisia
Classical music concerts in the Roman amphitheater
El Djem or the Roman town of Fisdrus, located 30 km from Mahdia, is interesting for its huge well-preserved amphitheater resembling a coliseum. Every year from July to August classical music concerts are held here.
(information about Tunisia...)

Festivals in Finland
Savonlinna Opera Festival, early July - early August
Opera in Olavinlinna Castle. The best performers from different countries.

Holidays in France
About holidays and events in France in August...

Holidays in Croatia
Zagreb
International Puppet Theater Festival
Zagreb Summer Festival
Dubrovnik
International Summer Festival
Rovinj
Rovinj Fair
Poreč
Summer Art Exhibition
Summer Music Festival
International Folklore Festival
Pula
Opera Music Festival
Zadar
Zadar City Fair
Dalmatia Song Festival
Musical Evenings in the Church of St. Martyrs

Events in the Czech Republic
International Music Festival, second mid-August, Cesky Krumlov
This small town is famous for its medieval architecture, music festivals and theatricalized jousting tournaments. Almost every day of the music festival features artists from Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia. It stands out - a special day at the festival, it is called “Baroque Night with Antonio Vivaldi”.

“Verdi Festival”, second half of August, Prague
According to the established tradition “Verdi Festival” opens the season of the State Opera in Prague.

Holidays in Switzerland
Lucerne Music and Fireworks Festival
(mid-August to mid-September)
Russian tourists are not frequent guests of Swiss landscapes. The pinnacle of the bourgeois way of life - the quietest, noblest, gentlest and terribly expensive Switzerland as a place of summer vacation is to the liking of only those who by means of material prosperity have already achieved a mental balance or are striving to achieve it without burdening their consciousness with thoughts from the perspective of “I would rather spend this thousand dollars (two, three, four, five...) on something useful in the household”. But still I am drawn to Switzerland. There is a charm in the myth of this country that is hard to fight.
If you need a good reason to justify to your relatives why you are going to go to Switzerland in summer, here it is: from mid-August to mid-September Lucerne hosts Seenachtsfest - a solid festival of symphonic music, traditionally preceded by a festival of night fireworks over the surface of Lake Lucerne and accompanied by gastronomic extravaganzas in posh restaurants.
During the night festival of lights in Lucerne, when at 22.00 evening Lucerne will be engulfed in flames, it is best to sit somewhere on the open terrace of a coastal restaurant, looking at the “burning” city, feeding Lucerne swans with pieces from your richly served table and listening to the loud splashing on the water with the tails of fat fish of Lake Lucerne.
Just don't think that in Lucerne you will reign among the few tourists. The Lucerne Festival is considered one of the most important festivals of classical and contemporary music, an event that brings together world-famous orchestras and leading conductors, which is why more than 110,000 people come here especially for the concerts.

Holidays in South Africa
Blossom Festival, Namaqualand, South Africa, mid-August to mid-September
For most of the year, the Namaqualand region of South Africa is an arid, sparsely populated mountain desert 300 kilometers north of Cape Town. But for 6 spring weeks, these mountains are covered in an unprecedented mottled carpet of wildflowers - one of the most stunning spectacles on Earth. Some 4,000 species of wildflowers participate in this celebration, including Namaqualand daisy, aloes, lilies, and perennial flowers. They all create intricate patterns of white, purple, yellow, orange colors. It is impossible to predict where and when the peak blooms will occur. This colorful spectacle depends on wind, sun, rain and temperature. Every day the picture changes. There are, however, a few constants: the flowers are very sensitive to light, opening around 10 a.m. and closing at 4. Since the plants are always facing the sun, it is best to observe them from the east in the morning and from the west in the evening. Rain, cloud cover, and winds can cover the show for a while. The distances between the various flower fields are considerable, so travelers go on a real “flower safari” by car, armed with a detailed map, a camera, a supply of water and fuel.