Spring is finally here! If you are as excited abou that as I am you are in the mood to celebrate. While cruising the internets for something to do i came across a bunch of really weird spring festivals. Some, in fact, so weird I can't help but post them on dagblog and gawk. So buckle your seat belt, and get ready for trip to funky town (and not the cool funky town from that one 70's song).

Baby Jumping Festival of Spain

Want your baby to protect your baby from illness? Sign him/her up for the Baby Jumping Festival of Castrillo de Murcia, which takes place every year in northern Spain. Since 1620 the town puts rows of babies on a small mattress and then has grown men dress up like the devil (or el Diablo) and jump over the helpless babies. As of yet, no babies have been harmed. Until some one trips and falls on the babies, then I assume town mothers will think twice about having an idiot in a costume jump over their baby.

Anti bull running

We all know the Running of the Bulls festival. Apparently, two days before the Running of the Bulls there is the Running of the Nudes in which hundreds of naked people run to protest the Running of the Bulls. How being naked factors into it I’m not sure, but as long as we are talking nubile 20 yo’s I don’t see any problem with it.

Road Kill Cook Off

The Road Kill Cook Off Festival in West Virginia invites cooks to compete in serving up animals that are usually found run over on the highway. Deer, possum, snake, the occasional squirrel are all cooked and served to the somewhat willing participants. Cooks are judged by 3 metrics: 1) Authentic road kill taste; 2) The incorporation of tire marks on the meat; and 3) Whether or not the judges die from some disease after eating road kill. From what I’ve read the Squashed Squirrel Soufflé is the bomb.

Orange Pelters of Italia

Il Carnevale d’Ivrea in Italy dates back to the 12th century when the aptly named woman “Violetta” refused to sleep with the town leader against her will and instead organized the villagers into a large stone throwing battle. For some reasons the Italians like the idea of assaulting each other with projectiles and kept the tradition going. I can only assume this tradition went on until some one lost an eye and since then the Italians throw oranges and not stones. And as added fun a Mardi Gras-esque parade is held after the event in which women willingly demean themselves for plastic beads. At least they do it willingly.

Indian Baby Dropping

Babies are easy targets to force into participating in festivals. They don’t put up much of fight, being babies and all. This Indian festival one ups the Spanish baby jumping by literally dropping them off of a 50 ft building. They claim it builds character and makes the babies healthier. I’m not sure how this ritual got started, and I’m not sure I want to know. All I know is that if I had a baby and somebody told me it would make them healthier to drop them from a building, I would tell him/her to go eff themselves. If I want to drop my baby, I can do it on my own time.

Japanese Penis Festival

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Japan is weird. On top of their crazy sex fetishes, every year they also have a festival celebrating penises (or is it peni?). I don’t think there is necessarily something wrong with celebrating the penis (I’m more of a vagina man myself), but from all the pictures I’ve seen of this festival it seems like it is mocking the cock and not venerating it. I get that, penises are funny looking, but isn’t mocking a penis something that should be done among women while talking about their past boyfriends and not a family affair?