hi I'm John Green welcome to my salon this
is mental Floss on YouTube and did you know that every year in Gloucestershire
England
thousands of people gathered to chase a 7-pound wheel of cheese down Cooper's
Hill whoever catches it wins the cheese itself but it's harder than it appears
the moving cheese can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour enough to seriously
injure people anyway that's the first of many unbelievable local traditions
I'm gonna share with you today
every year and Lopburi Thailand a monkey buffet
festival is held were an elaborate buffet is made and I know what you're
thinking but no
the food is not made of monkeys it's made for monkeys.
In fact up to 2,000 him show up to eat delicious food and even managed to drink
out of soda cans apparently in 2011 buying in preparing all this stuff cost
sixteen thousand dollars. Now I'm sure you've heard of the running of the bulls which began in
the 13th century now it takes place all over the world with the most popular one
is in Pamplona where thousands of people participate like
people run through the streets alongside actual balls which originally was just a
way of getting them from like the corral to the bullfighting ring
now it's like sort of a way of having a party except kind of a deadly party.
Another unsafe local Spanish tradition is baby jumping in the village a Castrillo
de Murcia
for the catholic peace dove Corpus Christi which is not just a town in
Texas it's also a holiday celebrating the Eucharist
the Colacho a man who represents the devil jumps over babies who are less
than a year old.
No one quite knows why this baby jumping started but it's been going on since
1620. Anyways being a terrifying children there's japan's Namahage festival men
dress in scary masks to look like Namahage a sort of demon who knocks on doors
and yell things like:
"Any crying kids out there?" this is supposed to keep kids from being
disobedient you know it's it's all in good fun. Okay back to Spain La Tomatina
or the tomato throwing festival takes place
every August in Bunol the day begins with people trying to get a ham
of atop a pole that's covered in soap. I imagine it like that scene in Mulan where
she's trying to climb to the top of the bowl except I'll make a man out of you
isn't playing in the background
and you know, Ham. Ham! Better but a quarter and that staff pork chop party fund.
Anyway eventually trucks arrived with thousands and tomatoes and people
throw them at each other.
If mass tomato throwing sounds dangerous to you should probably avoid
Ivrea Italy because that's where the battle in the oranges takes place.
The exact origins of this Orange throwing war are unclear but citizens are
fairly certain that it symbolizes some kind of rebelling against nobleman
anyway unlike La Tomatina orange throwers are divided into teams
also apparently their way to watch the spectacle without actually getting like
pelted by one of the million oranges that the town stocks the event. A million
oranges you think they like how we have a million oranges what should we do I
guess we could feed hundreds of thousands of people
or we could throw them in each other. Moving on to something a little less
dangerous in Austin Texas there's an annual festival for
Eeyore's birthday party. It started in the English department at the University of
Texas in
honor a story in which you were think that Winnie the Pooh and company have
forgotten his birthday but
actually they throw him an awesome surprise party. The idea has spread and it's
become like a
citywide party for charity and Eeyore. In 1945 white also know Fruita Colorado
beheaded a rooster named Mike because
it was dinner time however despite having been decapitated Mike the rooster
went on to live for
18 more months. It turned out that Olson's ax missed Mikes jugular vein
a blood clot kept him alive, Olson fed him with a medicine dropper anyway
the town of Fruita now has an annual Mike the headless chicken festival
including a 5k run and a peep eating contest.
Peep eating contest? that's the contest I could win.
Every October to celebrate the anniversary of the New River Gorge
Bridge in West Virginia
thousands of people gathered there for a bridge day. It's actually the only day of the year
that people are allowed to walk on the bridge and many base jumpers take this
opportunity to jump
876 feet into the New River Gorge.
Base of course stands for bravery anyone shouldn't ettempt.
If you'd rather stay on the ground you might consider attending the
world toe wrestling championships which have been going on in Ashbourne
Derbyshire since the 1970s.
It's a lot like arm wrestling except the competitors interlock
their big toes don't worry though there is a hygiene check beforehand.
That actually does very little to appease my worry, you might have found
the one thing I want to do less than base jump.
Oaxaca Mexico hold the sculpture competition known as the night
the radishes. Artists carve radishes into
figures, usually people and vegetables are sometimes like six pounds
and 20 inches tall.
What started as an attempt to show citizens that the mineral-rich mud in
South Korea was a good ingredient for cosmetic products resulted in the
Boryeong mud festival.
It started in 1998 and now over a million people attend the annual
festival which unsurprisingly revolves around things like mudslides and body
painting.
You know it's like Woodstock 99. Meredith didn't get the joke, neither did the rest of our audience.
but I enjoyed it.
speaking of mine you can find the world bog snorkeling championships in
Wales in the town of
Mark I'm not going to try to say anything in Welsh just put the town name right that
town.
so there in, the person who crosses a 60-yard long-bog
first wins. But you can't actually swim or used traditional swimming moves, so you just kinda.
gotta wade slash
doggy paddle why would anyone do this? Now the straw bear has roots all over
Europe but I'm too can talk about the straw bear festival in Whittlesey
England I apologize to all of our German viewers. So in the 1800s a man dressed in
straw would go around town and dance for money or food which was outlawed in
1909 but then the tradition was brought back in nineteen eighty
and now he has his own festival. Alright lets talk about wife-carrying for a minute
wife-carrying is a sport all over the world but you can actually find the World
Championships of it every year
in Finland, men carry a woman, she doesn't actually have to be anyone's wife,
through an obstacle course slash race and the rumors are true with the
winner's prize includes the wife's weight
in beer. Paul Bunyan days in Fort Bragg California celebrate the legendary
lumberjack character with a huge celebration although if I were you I
might steer clear
things like the twenty foot axe throw and chainsaw bucking
in Jaipur India there's an elephant festival with activities like elephant
polo and an elephant beauty contest. This is homage to the the ancient Indian royalty who
used to ride on elephant's painted gold or silver but the festival has been
cancelled for the past two years because it animal rights concerns and it may not
continue.
which I'd be okay. Admittedly I'm not an elephant but when I paint my naked body
entirely in gold it's just it's not fun for anyone.
A kinetic sculpture is a sculpture that can move on surfaces like mud or pavement
even water so it only makes sense that
Humboldt County California hold the kinetic sculpture race that's considered
the triathlon of the art world.
It also makes sense of course because Humboldt County California is the
capital of marijuana production in the United States, anyway
participants and their beautiful bikes cover 42 miles over the course of three
days.
and other races the Yorkshire pudding boat race in Brawby be in North Yorkshire
England
this was invented by a guy named Sam Thackray in the nineties, he was at a pub
saw a waitress carrying Yorkshire pudding
and thought it be awesome to float down a river in the Yorkshire pudding boat
The boats are made of flour water eggs and some
varnish for waterproofing and then children add ores to race them down a
river.
that sounds safe. A fiesta has been going on in Santa Fe New Mexico since 1712 but its
best-known tradition burning a Zozobra only started in 1924
Zozobra which means anxiety in Spanish is 50 foot tall marionette that weighs
two thousand pound it represents all with last year's problem so it's burned
every year in front of approximately 32,000 people.
Pörtschach, Austria is home to the world bodypainting festival which has occurred
in Austria since 1998
it's just what it sounds like art is compete in different categories a body
painting including ones for
face painting and UV effects. I'm sorry do they actually paint themselves with
ultraviolet radiation that seems like a terrible idea
the ukulele festival started in Oahu Hawaii in 1971 and now twenty
thousand people gather every year for the five hour long festival. According to
its website
performers include ukulele artists and celebrities which is to say you tubers.
And yes we do have a ukulele playing hula girl on the wall of magic it has
everything
in 1950 Sapporo, Japan saw its first snow festival which consisted of six high
school students making snow sculptures
but nowadays around 200 snow statues are made every year
and two million people show up to admire them some the statues reach up to 50
feet high.
I'm gonna finish by talking about some parades, like the Mermaid Parade in Coney
Island were over a thousand people dressed as a mermaid participate
after Hurricane sandy the Mermaid Parade almost had to be cancelled but a
Kickstarter read a hundred thousand dollars to it could go on.
But if you're not interested in seeing a thousand mermaids maybe you'd enjoy the
parade of a thousand clowns in Vincennes Indiana
this is an honor I Red Skelton who was born in Vincennes in with the clown
before becoming a famous comedian and finally I return to my salon to tell
you that in Riga Latvia there is a go blonde on parade. Why? Well according to
Marika Gederte
the president of the Latvian association of blondes quote
we have to cheer people up we know there is an economic crisis but small things
like a playground
or a blonde parade can cheer up the residents of Riga
why not that's true friends really is the small things you know playground
blonde parade.
etcetera anyway thanks for watching Mental Floss here on YouTube which is made with
the help of all these nice people. Every week we endeavor to answer one up your
mind blowing questions.
This week's question comes from BFYO Brian
12 who asked what I would do a deaf person's thoughts
speak in if they were born deaf and never heard anyone speak. well the short answer is
it depends, on the most basic level instead of an inner voice that is heard
heard visual or felt voice. Some people who are born deaf
Think in sign in with visualizing themselves signing on her finger
spelling and other thing in written english like seeing typed or.
hand-written letters still others think in muscle memory so
essentially it varies from person to person. If you have in mind blowing question
that you'd like us to answer, please leave it below in the comments.
Thank you for watching as we say in my hometown
don't forget to be awesome.