Culture
Global Calendar: The Top 5 Events This March
Whether you're awakening from a winter slumber or preparing for one, you'll want to keep your eyes open for these exciting festivals around the world this month
Las Fallas de Valencia
Valencia, Spain
1-19 March 2025
Gargantuan sculptures, exuberant parades, impressive pyrotechnics and bonfires of monumental proportions: Las Fallas might be one of the most vivacious pieces of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on the Unesco register.
[Photos right to left: Vivvi Smak/Getty Images, Jorgefontestad/Getty Images]
Dating back to a time when carpenters burned their wooden wick-holders to welcome the sunnier spring season, this may just be the world’s strangest and most lively spring cleaning. Today, the celebrations centre around fallas – immense sculptures as intricate as they are enormous (up to 30 metres tall) – created by talented local craftspeople to depict and comment upon current events. The fallas are paraded through the streets of Valencia while merrymakers dressed in traditional garb dance to the tunes played by live bands, punctuated at occasional intervals by pyrotechnics and gunpowder blasts. On the final evening, the sculptures are burned in a massive bonfire so epic that neighbouring buildings must be continually doused with water to keep them from crumbling. Then, in true Spanish style, a dance party erupts and lasts until dawn.
Wildfoods Festival
Hokitika, New Zealand
8 March 2025
From chocolate beetles to colostrum cheesecake and the mysteriously dubbed “mountain oysters” (spoiler alert: they’re lamb testicles) – these aren’t your everyday eats.
Dishing out local specialities since 1990, Wildfoods was born to highlight the indigenous treats of New Zealand’s West Coast – some more adventurous than others. Along with several eyebrow-raising menu items from far and wide (scorpions and fish eyes, anyone?), visitors can sample more familiar flavours like marinated tuna and gourmet sausages. Festival-goers can also sink their teeth into all manner of side activities, such as cooking demonstrations, live musical acts, stand-up comedy, a Kids Corner for the little ones and a creative “Feral Fashion” contest.
Vive Latino
Mexico City, Mexico
15-16 March 2025
Rock up, rock out, rock on – that’s all you need to do at this annual fiesta of rock en español.
One of the most prominent festivals of contemporary Latin American and international music in the whole of the Americas, Vive Latino draws rock and alternative fans in their droves year after year, while also offering plenty for enthusiasts of other styles like reggae, ska, electro and even cumbia; headliners for 2025 include Caifanes, Caloncho, Foster the People, Scorpions and Keane, among others. Expect big crowds (upwards of 80,000 people attend annually), as well as a side programme of street art, graffiti, slam poetry, dance and street theatre. And whatever you do, plan a couple of days for sightseeing in beautiful Mexico City with its incredible culinary scene.
DC Environmental Film Festival
Washington DC, USA
20-29 March 2025
Filmmakers, environmentalists and concerned earth-dwellers descend on DC every March for an event that seems to become more relevant and necessary with each passing year.
[Film stills, right to left: Once Upon a Time in a Forest (Directed by Virpi Suutari) and The White House Effect (Directed by Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos, Jon Shenk)]
At once illuminating and sombre, this no-nonsense film festival delves into the impact modern human society is exacting on the planet that sustains it. Screenings – many of them free – of more than 100 films are held at museums, libraries, embassies and universities around the US capital, touching on a variety of genres (animation, documentary, narrative) and topics (large-scale agriculture, atomic energy, exploratory adventures, nature films). The largest “green” film festival in the world, the event also hosts filmmaker talks and expert panels, providing a forum for discussing the important issues addressed on screen. Intrigued? Check out a selection of past films available for free streaming on the festival homepage before the main event.
Ueno Cherry Blossom Festival
Tokyo, Japan
Late March – Early April
Spring is a time of renewal, revival, rejuvenation …and flower fever. Join the mass migration of botanical fans from near and far to take in this bucket list experience.
[Photos right to left: y-studio/Getty Images, orgefontestad/Getty Images]
Cherry blossoms (called sakura) are a revered cultural icon in Japan, having appeared in poetry, paintings and song lyrics for thousands of years. As such, the annual blooming of the country’s cherry blossom trees is a phenomenon of both nature and culture, the likes of which are hard to find elsewhere in the world. As soon as the first trees begin to bud, millions of petal-peepers across Japan head out to practice the ancient tradition of hanami, gathering with friends and family to enjoy the splendour of the blooms. One of the best spots to do so is right in the heart of Tokyo: Ueno Park is home to more than 1,000 cherry blossom trees that erupt in a riot of pink every spring, attracting spectators in droves who come for picnics, parades, live music and strolls beneath the branches. And the spectacle doesn’t end at sundown; when night falls, the whole park is illuminated with more than 800 paper lanterns for a truly magical display.
Note: The start and end of cherry blossom season can be difficult to predict in advance, so keep an eye on websites that track the blooms.
[Photo at top: Vivvi Smak/Getty Images]
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.