Snow Music and Food: Festivals to beat winter blues

Winter brings with itself some of the most interesting festivals centred around ice and snow. Music, sports and art, winter festivals have it all. We bring to you a selection of the best winter festivals across the world, each unique in its own way. 

 

Quebec Winter Carnival, Canada (January 30- February 15): One of the most lively winter carnivals in the world, the Quebec winter carnival is rooted in tradition. Sip on Caribou, which is a traditional alcoholic beverage served warm,  while you savour the sights and sounds at the carnival. A long red plastic trumpet is what will be responsible for most of the sounds at the carnival, and the sights will feature a fair share of the colour red, inspired by the costume of the mascot, Bonhomme. The is given the key to the city when he enters the carnival and is in control until Lent.  Visit the Ice Palace to look at some of the astounding sculptures at the festival, and witness the canoe race on the river. Some of the best moments of the carnival are during the night parades, and it is recommended to spend as much time over there as possible. 

 

Ice music festival, Norway (5-8 February): The ice sculpture festival at Geilo is unlike any other. Sculptors literally create musical instruments from ice, which don’t only look nice, but can be played as well. Guitars, violins, harps and drums: you can find them all here, with artists conducting concerts in the open air or in specially constructed igloos. The sound of the instruments depends on the quality of ice, and varies from year to year. Besides music, there is also meditation, ice sculpting, and ice acrobatics at the festival. Geilo is located midway between Oslo and Bergen, and is also one of the best skiing destinations in the country.

 

Harbin Ice and Snow festival, China (January 5- February 28): First held in 1963, the Harbin Ice and Snow festival boasts of some of the most outstanding ice sculptures in the world. Awe inspiring sculptures, carved from blocks of ice from Songhua river, adorn the landscape across this festival.  The sculptures are usually illuminated by lasers or traditional lanterns. A sculpture commemorating the migration of the first nations, ‘Crossing the Bering Strait’, secured a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest ever snow sculpture. It was a staggering 250 metres long.

 

Cody Ice Climbing festival, US (13-16 February):  One of the world’s few waterfall climbing festivals, the Cody Ice Climbing festival claims to be the “friendliest little ice festival in the northern Rockies”. The events are held at a waterfall in the outskirts of the town that freezes every year.  Climbers gather to scale the waterfall every President’s day weekend.  A local micro brewery serves some food and beverages to help keep things interests for the people watching the event, besides a few cultural events.

 

Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice festival, Korea (10 Jan-Feb 1): Sanchaneo literally means ‘trout’, and this winter festival in Gwang-do is centered around trout fishing. Participants dig through the thick layer of ice on the Hwacheon river, and use the holes in the ice to catch trout fish. There are special prizes for those who use their hands, along with a series of cultural events to keep people entertained, while they wait for one of the holes to get free. Three tons of trout are released into the river everyday of the festival, so that no one goes home empty handed.