Winter is usually seen as a dreary and depressing season, but it doesn’t have to be! Throughout different times, cultures and places, humanity has come up with ways to mark the beginning and end of this time of bitter frost with festivals both grand and small.
When you find yourself surrounded by merry celebrations and festive cheer, just hanging out in an excited, chattering crowd and watching the attractions is infectious enough to warm anyone up!
So what are some of these winter festivals? Read on to find out!
Harbin Ice & Snow Sculpture Festival, China
Festival Dates:
Public viewing: December 17th, 2023
Official launch: January 5th, 2024
Starting off with one of the heavyweights of winter festivals, it’s China’s Harbin Ice & Snow Sculpture Festival!
This winter festival in the frozen northeast of China sees gigantic ice sculptures carved out of pristine ice. Artists from all around the world start working throughout December and usually finish by the start of January, when visitors are welcomed into a winter wonderland filled with icy replicas of famous monuments such as the Sphinx, mythical figures from Buddhist mythology or even cartoon characters!
During the day, the gleaming ice sculptures give off an almost dreamlike atmosphere that almost seems fictional.
But by night, the blinding white sheen of these ice blocks give way to the illumination of colourful array of lights, transforming it into a pretty pastel rainbow that is complemented beautifully by the dark night sky.
With such a feast for the eyes, it’s no wonder China is one of our Best Countries to Experience a White Winter.
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, Korea
Festival Date: Early January
Winter doesn’t sound like the best time to be fishing, no thanks to the wind and chill, but Korea’s Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival respectfully disagrees!
The bountiful Hwacheon River in the festival’s name is home to the sancheoneo―a spotted, silver-white freshwater trout that only thrives in freezing and pristine waters, which perfectly describes the river.
Each winter, thousands of Koreans and tourists head down to the frozen river to chisel holes into the 30 cm thick ice and cast their rods, hoping to catch the beautiful and tasty sancheoneo.
After landing a catch, they’ll be able to enjoy it freshly grilled on the spot! So get your fishing rod, lure, a sturdy chair and start chiseling!
If the cold doesn’t bother you anyway, you can also try barehanded fishing in a pool with the locals! The only rules are that you have to wear shorts and the event t-shirt, plus you get to keep up to three fish that you catch. If you’re super lucky and catch a sancheoneo with a golden ring, you might even win a prize!
Feeling the cold after all that fishing? Don’t forget to bring some essential winter gear and clothes while visiting!
If the fishing gods aren’t on your side though, then simply head on over to one of the many restaurants offering them in the area.
And if you’re not a big fishing person, There’s also a slope for sledding, an indoor ice sculpture plaza a la Harbin and even a zipline soaring above the river.
Kurentovanje Festival, Slovenia
Festival Date: February
Everyone knows of the glitz, glamor and showy extravagance of carnivals in Rio and Venice, but do people know about the one carnival with (frankly, even cooler) shaggy sheep-skin suits?
The Kurentovanje Festival in Slovenia celebrates the Christian festival of Lent by having locals dress up as a Kurent―a mythical figure dressed in sheepskin that chases away bad luck and winter by making noise and wielding a club tipped with hedgehog skin; by dancing, they also ring the many bells attached to them!
Although almost all of Slovenia’s many Lent festivals now feature this quirky character, the town of Ptuj was the first to make it a tradition back in 1950.
Accompanied by a cast of Slovenian folk characters, the various Kurent will parade down the village or town roads, blessing people with their right hand and chasing away evil with their left.
Traditionally, the all-male Kurents would even compete to get the most women to tie handkerchiefs onto them! Although, the practice now welcomes both genders.
Considered one of the largest carnivals in the world with over 100,000 participants in Slovenia and overseas, the Kurentovanje was even declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO!
So the next time you’re around Slovenia in February, why not try bringing a nice handkerchief?
St. Paul Winter Carnival
Festival Date: Late Jan – Early Feb
Back in 1885, a reporter called the city of Saint Paul “another Siberia” that was totally unsuitable to live in.
And so the St. Paul Winter Carnival was born the next year in 1886.
To prove the reporter wrong, the city organized the first carnival by creating a silly legend about the forces of the god Vulcanus Rex battling to end the winter caused by the god Boreas.
And winter in St. Paul is no joke, with January lows reaching -18°C in one of the coldest cities in the US!
But despite the cold, residents of the Minnesota capital come out each winter to celebrate the chill with plenty of events.
There’s the “crowning” of Boreas and his group and their subsequent parade alongside another parade for Vulcanus Rex. Next, there’s the popular medallion scavenger hunt, which has 10,000 USD on the line!
But best of all is the Vulcan Snow Park, with various ice sculptures, slides, play areas and of course, a towering palace made out of ice to gawk at!
If smaller winter towns and villages are more your thing, then check out our Five Best Winter Towns!
Yokote Kamakura Festival
Festival Dates: February 15 – 16
Japan’s northeastern Tohoku region is no stranger to heavy snowfall blanketing its many cities. But why worry about snow getting in your clothes when you can just build with it instead?
That’s why, for the Yokote Kamakura Festival, folks in Yokote City decided to build simple yet adorable igloo-shaped huts made out of snow called kamakura.
Inside, a child calls out to visitors and invites them to come in. When you enter it, you will see an altar which was traditionally used to pray to the water deity Oshizu no kami-san for health and prosperity.
After you provide an offering of food to the gods, the children will reward you with some mochi rice cakes and amazake rice wine, some of the Best Winter Foods in Asia. You’ll also be able to warm yourself up over the toasty fire of a brazier.
These quirky huts are already Insta-worthy enough, but what if I told you that there’s something else that blows even this out of the water?
Head on down to the Yokote River, and you’ll see a dazzling display of tiny lights decorating the banks of the river, each one of them a mini-sized kamakura hut!
Illuminated with candles, the army of glowing huts peeking out under the unrelenting snow make for a romantic winter sight.
If that still isn’t enough kamakura for you, there’s even more at the nearby Minami Elementary School along with some snow sculptures.
And those are the 5 fantastic winter festivals we featured today. Are there any you’ve been to before? Been to any of these? Let us know!
