From depraved pilgrimages in Andalusia to animist funerals in Sulawesi, I scoured the world for my book Fiesta: A Journey Through Festivity, experiencing some of the most vivid extremes of human celebration. But the further I travelled, the closer I came to a realisation: no one does a quirky festival quite like the British. Whether your idea of a good time is a crop circle convention, steampunk gathering or faery fair, here are some of the quirkiest celebrations happening across Britain through the rest of the summer…
Glastonbury Symposium, Somerset
Glastonbury Festival may not be on this year, but the UK’s leading alternative conference is in town. Occupying Glastonbury Town Hall for three days of lectures, coffee meetings and workshops, this year’s schedule includes talks on UFO disclosures, crop circles, the acoustics of ancient stones, and meditation sessions in the grounds of nearby Glastonbury Abbey (burial place, according to a cemetery tombstone, of King Arthur and Guinevere, no less). To Sun, glastonburysymposium.co.uk
Eyemouth Herring Queen Festival Eyemouth, Borders
The Berwickshire town of Eyemouth celebrates its fishing heritage with the yearly Herring Queen Festival and the crowning of a local teenage girl. The coronation ceremony in the harbour is just the beginning of a week of parades, picnics and craft workshops, a tradition which began in 1946 to celebrate the resumption of normal fishing business after the end of the Second World War.To 2 Aug, ehq.org.uk
