Events to Travel For That Aren’t Christmas or New Year’s

Get away in December, but forgo the status quo. Skip traveling for Christmas and New Year’s, and travel for these fun events instead. You’ll have the coolest holiday break stories out of all your friends.

Fiesta de Santo Tomás

Held in Chichicastenango, Guatemala, this festival celebrates the town’s patron saint for a week, Dec. 13–21. You’ll get parades, fireworks, dancing, extravagant costumes … but also the signature event, the dance of the flying pole. Basically, the dancers climb huge wooden poles in the town square, then leap from the top holding onto just a rope, for a fun thrill. The festivity descends from a Mayan dance, and is set to marimba music.

Mt. Popa Nat Festival

Taking place Dec. 5–6, the Mt. Popa Nat Festival takes place at Mt. Popa near Bagan, Myanmar. This extinct volcano is home to temples and religious relics, and pilgrims come from all over to climb to the peak in December, to revere the guardian spirits who live there. You’ll experience religious songs, dancing, offerings and plenty of festivities and high energy.

L’Escalade

This Swiss festival takes place Dec. 9–11, and holds its roots in the defeat of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, in 1602. During the event, be sure to try a chocolate cauldron filled with marzipan candies (before a festival-goer smashes it, representing the cauldrons used in warfare during the Medieval ages) and the traditional vegetable soup, as well as the mulled wine. In a tradition similar to that of American Halloween, children dress up and knock on doors to sing songs in exchange for money. Teenagers play pranks, there’s a parade of hundreds of people and even a marathon, a more modern tradition that started only a few decades ago.

Burning the Clocks

Head to Brighton on the shortest day of the year, Dec. 21, and you’ll find an odd sight — locals and visitors arriving in hordes to light paper lanterns on fire, marching through the streets to throw them into a bonfire on the beach. While the event is meant to inspire reflection on the coming year, past year and the concept of time, it’s more or less a fun way to catch things on fire, with no need to be a part of any particular religion, faith or community.

Dōngzh

An Asian winter solstice celebration held Dec. 22 that stretches across China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, this event includes making and eating brightly-colored rice balls, dumplings and layer cakes and drinking rice wine. The culinary aspect of the festival is a big focus, perfect for the traveling foodie.