SEE THE CLIPS ON YOUTUBE!
Ahead of the publication of 'Tossers and Arseblowers' in May 2008, I'm going to be releasing clips of Pope Burning, Oil Wrestling, Shin Kicking, Arseblowing and many other events on YouTube.
To see the latest ones, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/jrdaeschner.
TOSSERS AND ARSEBLOWERS 2008
All dates are subject to change, so check before booking!
The Haxey Hood: 5 January
Haxey, Lincolnshire, England
Goat Tossing: 22 January
Fiesta de San Vicente Martir
Manganeses de la Polvorosa, Spain
Rooster Run: 27 January
Correr el Gallo
Guarrate, Spain
Wenches' Feast Day (Weiberfastnacht): 31 January
Karneval in Beuel/Bonn, Germany
Arse Blowing: usually the first Sunday in April
La Mascarade des Soufflaculs
Nontron, France
St. George's Day: 23 April
La Diada de Sant Jordi
Barcelona, Spain
Hot Penny Throwing / Beating the Bounds: 1 May (tbc)
Oxford, England
St. George vs. the Dragon: 18 May(Trinity Sunday)
Le Combat dit Lumecon
Mons, Belgium
Fire Dancing: 21 May
Anastenariá
Ayia Eleni and Langadas, Greece
Baby Jumping: 22–25 May (Corpus Christi weekend)
La Fiesta del Colacho
Castrillo de Murcia, Spain
Cheese Rolling: 26 May
Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire, England
Shin Kicking: 30 May
The Cotswold Olimpicks
Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, England
Phallus Festival: 6–8 June (tbc)
Festa de Sao Goncalo
Amarante, Portugal
Oil Wrestling: usually the last weekend in June
Edirne, Turkey
Rigor Mortis Procession: 29 July
Fiesta de Santa Marta de Ribarteme
San Xose de Ribarteme, Spain
Burry Man Day: 8 August
South Queensferry, Scotland
The Virgin's Snakes: on and around 15th August
Markopoulo, Kefalonia, Greece
Bog Snorkelling: 25 August
Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, Wales
Matchmaking Festival: 29 August to 5 October
Lisdoonvarna, Ireland
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance: 8 September
Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, England
Miracle of the Blood: 19 September
San Gennaro Festival
Naples, Italy
World Gurning Championships: 20 September
Egremont, Cumbria, England
Cowfighting: usually early October
Le Combat des Reines
Martigny, Switzerland
Faggot Cutting / Quit Rents Ceremony: 8 October (tbc)
London, England
Bonfire Night / Pope Burning: 5 November
Lewes, East Sussex, England
Sinterklaas and 'Black Pete': mid-November to 5 December
Amsterdam / rest of the Netherlands
Darkie Day: 26 December and 1 January
Padstow, Cornwall, UK
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EUROTRIPPING 2007
The Haxey Hood: 6 January
Haxey, Lincolnshire, England
Goat Tossing: 22 January
Fiesta de San Vicente Martir
Manganeses de la Polvorosa, Spain
Rooster Run: 28 January
Correr el Gallo
Guarrate, Spain
Wenches' Feast Day (Weiberfastnacht): 15 February
Karneval in Beuel/Bonn, Germany
Arse Blowing: usually the first Sunday in April
La Mascarade des Soufflaculs
Nontron, France
St. George's Day: 23 April
La Diada de Sant Jordi
Barcelona, Spain
Hot Penny Throwing / Beating the Bounds: 17 May
Oxford, England
Fire Dancing: 21 May
Anastenariá
Ayia Eleni and Langadas, Greece
Cheese Rolling: 28 May
Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire, England
Shin Kicking: 1 June
The Cotswold Olimpicks
Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, England
Phallus Festival: 1–3 June
Festa de Sao Goncalo
Amarante, Portugal
St. George vs. the Dragon: 3 June (Trinity Sunday)
Le Combat dit Lumecon
Mons, Belgium
Baby Jumping: 7–10 June (Corpus Christi weekend)
La Fiesta del Colacho
Castrillo de Murcia, Spain
Oil Wrestling: usually the last weekend in June
Edirne, Turkey
Rigor Mortis Procession: 29 July
Fiesta de Santa Marta de Ribarteme
San Xose de Ribarteme, Spain
The Virgin's Snakes: on and around 15th August
Markopoulo, Kefalonia, Greece
Burry Man Day: 10 August
South Queensferry, Scotland
Bog Snorkelling: 27 August
Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, Wales
Matchmaking Festival: 31 August to 7 October
Lisdoonvarna, Ireland
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance: 10 September
Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, England
Miracle of the Blood: 19 September
San Gennaro Festival
Naples, Italy
World Gurning Championships: 15 September
Egremont, Cumbria, England
Cowfighting: usually early October
Le Combat des Reines
Martigny, Switzerland
Faggot Cutting / Quit Rents Ceremony: 10 October
London, England
Bonfire Night / Pope Burning: 5 November
Lewes, East Sussex, England
Sinterklaas and 'Black Pete': mid-November to 5 December
Amsterdam / rest of the Netherlands
Darkie Day: 26 December and 1 January
Padstow, Cornwall, UK
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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
Peace and good tidings to all -- especially if you've been depressed by the headlines this holiday season.
Bad news abounds, and Scrooge-like behaviour seems to be snowballing.
Without getting into the grim story of the Suffolk Ripper / Strangler (the tabloids have yet to decide on his nickname), here's a selection of some of the stories that would make even Tiny Tim curse his crutches and shout 'Bah-humbug!'
In the aptly named council of Craven, Health and Safety busybodies are cracking down on mince pies.
Meanwhile, security goons at a shopping centre in Nottingham tell a kiddies' choir to 'shut up' (just look at their glum little faces!).
And a Guardian pundit produces a cringingly pretentious list of Christmas albums.
What? No mention of Billy Idol's "Happy Holidays"?
COCKLE-WARMERS
So to kindle some much-needed Yuletide cheer, I thought I'd circulate a couple of Christmas stories that are just plain nice.
First, a 'bright' about a Victorian Christmas tree that's been in a family for 120 years.
And second, a photo feature on the tears and terror inspired by a trip to the department-store Santa.
Those Santas look like they're definitely mulling a career change.
A FAREWELL
One of Britain's most ancient traditions lost its oldest veteran last month with the death of Doug Fowell, the musician for the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance.
Doug danced in the event for 71 of his 78 years, starting out on the triangle as a boy and eventually winding up on the melodeon, even though he couldn't read music.
Folklorists, academics and neopagans would spend hours monitoring the Horn Dance, trying to detect a pattern in the melodies he played.
But Doug viewed all the fuss with good humour, effortlessly reeling out songs ranging from 'The Wearing of the Green' to 'Cock o' the North' and even 'Yankee Doodle Dandy.'
'I can't remember the names of the tunes,' he told me. 'They just come to me automatically. Horn Dance Day just brings all those things out.'
Doug also confounded the nitwits who argue that the Horn Dance should be performed only by men because it's supposedly a pre-Christian fertility rite.
Within the group, he was actually a champion of women's rights back in the 1960s --not least because he had six daughters to carry on the tradition.
As a precedent, he told me the story of his grandmother, who filled in for her ill husband one Horn Dance Day around the turn of the 20th century.
Disguised as one of the male dancers, she led the troupe on its rounds the entire day -- without ever letting on that the leader in fact was a woman.
"She said, 'Never let it be said a woman has never danced in the Horn Dance.'"
Doug Fowell, rest in peace.
UPCOMING EVENTS
I'm off to Prague to see the Yuletide markets this year and sample the traditional Czech Christmas Eve meal of, um, fried carp.
But if you're in the UK, Padstow's revellers will no doubt be making the rounds for 'Darkie Day' -- officially rebranded 'Mummer's Day'.
And if you feel like starting the New Year with a concussion, you could always take part in a match of mob football.
Orkney's 'Ba Game' takes place on 26 December and 1 January in Kirkwall.
And Lincolnshire's Haxey Hood kicks off on Saturday, 6 January.
THE PERFECT STOCKING FILLER
Finally, if you're still searching for the perfect gift for that someone who has everything, I hope you don't mind if I suggest a good book or two.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
JR
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A BLACK CHRISTMAS
October 2006
As Christmas Inc. grinds into gear, forget all the nonsense about reindeer, elves and the North Pole.
The 'real' Santa travels by steamboat from Spain with a posse of Moors called 'Black Petes'.
Sinterklaas, the original Dutch Santa Claus, will be landing in the Netherlands on Saturday, 18 November, and riding through the streets of Amsterdam on a white charger the following day.
If you love Christmas, the Sint's parade certainly is something to see.
As an outsider, it's a bit jarring to watch hundreds of blacked-up white people cavorting through one of the world's most liberal cities.
Darkie Day in Britain's West Country is one thing, but this is Amsterdam!
It's also strange to see upstanding Dutch businesses like Rabobank associating their brand with Black Pete.
For something to rave about, crank up the volume and click here.
Somehow those three don't look like techno types.
And here's a game where you can shoot Black Pete with pepernoten.
All in the spirit of Dutch tolerance, of course.
BOOTIE ON THE BONFIRE
Speaking of stereotypes, I travelled to Lewes in the Deep South of England to witness this year's Bonfire Night celebrations.
Lewes' largest and oldest Bonfire Society burns the Pope in effigy every year, alongside popular hate figures du jour.
This year, the Cliffe Society torched a tableau of Condoleezza Rice dressed as Wonder Woman with the backside of Beyonce.
That said, Condi does have a large posterior in this photo.
America's had a tough time at Bonfire in recent years: the Bonfire Boys burned Bill Clinton in effigy the first time I went to Lewes, then George Dubya (I don't know how many times) and Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty to boot.
If I didn't know better, I'd think the 'special relationship' was in trouble.
It's just as well the Bonfire Boys didn't have time to respond to the news that five Americans have claimed asylum in Britain this year.
An 'immigration whistleblower' told the Sun he'd interviewed a couple of black Americans seeking asylum because they claimed they faced racial discrimination in the States.
'BRITAIN is such a soft touch even AMERICANS are coming here to claim asylum and sponge off the state,' fumed the Sun.
There goes my chance at citizenship.
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WILLIE'S WISDOM, PART II
October 2006
This month’s Eurotripping News brings you more sage advice from Ireland’s ‘Last Matchmaker’, including the Case of the Graveyard Cupid, the Couple that Porked Together, and a Heartwarming Tale of False Advertising Turned True Love.
But first, some travel advice courtesy of True Brits.
If you want to see Bonfire Night in Lewes this year, be sure to remember that the Pope-burning will take place on Saturday the Fourth of November rather than Sunday the Fifth.
Out of respect for the Sabbath, y’see.
Also, if you want to witness the spectacle that I describe in True Brits, you’ll need to have tickets to the Cliffe Society’s bonfire site, where the Pope is burned in effigy.
The catch is that you have to buy the £7 tickets in advance in Lewes or ask someone to buy them for you. To keep the numbers down, no tickets to the Cliffe site are sold on the night.
However, Lewes does have four other core bonfire societies, including Cliffe’s arch-enemy, Waterloo, which doesn’t torch the pontiff and prides itself on being family friendly.
For more info, check out the Lewes Bonfire Council’s website.
A ‘CULTURAL DETECTIVE’
That’s what I am, according to a recent review of Eurotripping by Expatica.com.
‘Nicely written, (Eurotripping) provides amusing yet thoughtful accounts of some of the Continent's more unusual traditions.’
It’s a real relief to hear that from a reviewer in the Netherlands, given that my book focuses on one of the country’s most beloved and controversial traditions: Sinterklaas and his band of Black Petes.
You can read Expatica’s full review here.
PIG D'AMOUR AND OTHER TALES
But enough about me.
Straight from the horse’s mouth, here are the recollections of Irish matchmaker Willie Daly, as culled from a hundred pages of interviews over the past decade.
WILLIE’S FIRST ATTEMPT AT MATCHMAKING
‘Michael lived a few miles over the road. He fancied Mary but only got to see her at Mass, as her father kept a close eye on her. An advert in the local paper gave him the opportunity he was waiting for.’
With Willie in tow, Michael went to Mary’s house on the pretext of asking about the pig for sale.
‘A bit soft,’ Michael remarked while prodding the pig’s back.
‘He's barley and milk fed. He couldn't be,’ Mary said.
After a few minutes, Michael worked up the nerve to ask what he’d come for: ‘Would you eat it with me?’
And with that unorthodox proposal, Mary agreed to marry Michael.
ON GETTING IT WRONG
Even the best matchmakers occasionally make mistakes.
‘I had a couple who were perfect for each other. Just perfect,’ Willie said. ‘But she said that she didn't want to marry a farmer. And he was a farmer. So I told her that he was an airline pilot. And she just fell in love with him straight away.'
Unfortunately, the happy couple didn’t make it to the altar.
`He admitted he was a farmer, and she told him to bugger off. The worst thing of all is that she would have made a wonderful farmer's wife. She was very big, you know? Very broad. Excellent frame for breeding.'
GRAVEYARD CUPID
Willie says he once agreed to meet a fiftysomething client named Paddy in a cemetery because ‘he was nervous of being seen’.
‘Two busfuls of American tourists walked into the graveyard. Paddy shouted, “Get down! Get down!” Well, I felt like a right idiot lying there, hiding.’
‘A young American woman bent down to stroke Paddy's dog, and he bit her on the nose. She screamed, and Paddy jumped up.’
Nevertheless, the couple got married a year later.
‘You can meet your likely partner in the most unlikely surroundings.’
ON TRUTH IN ADVERTISING
‘Now, he's a lovely man,’ Willie told a woman about a prospective suitor. ‘But to tell you the truth, not the best-looking fella in the world.’
‘Sure, personality is more important,’ she said.
‘Ah, yes, but his personality isn't that great either.’
FALSE ADVERTISING
Willie once put a man from Cork in touch with a woman in Galway.
‘The two of them wrote for nearly nine months and exchanged photographs. Eventually a meeting was arranged in Galway. I collected her from her car and we walked to the pub.’
‘There was no sign of your man, just two middle-aged women and an old fellow in the corner. I bought her a drink and we waited ... and waited.’
‘Eventually I showed the bar man a photo. He hadn't seen him, but the old man came over and said. I think it's me you're looking for. He was at least 50 years older than the photo.’
‘The girl, who was in her 30s, was horrified and when I confronted him, he said that it was the only photo he had. The girl left. And I thought to myself, that was the end of that.’
‘I couldn't believe it when they contacted me some months later to say they were getting married. They had missed writing to each other.’
All together now: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Eurotripping: If you think you know Europe, think again.
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'LOVE IS IN THE EIRE'
September 2006
The Matchmaking Festival of Lisdoonvarna is in full swing this month, so to mark the occasion I’ve compiled some sage advice from Ireland’s last matchmaker.
While researching Eurotripping, I read scores of articles about Willie Daly before finally getting to meet the legendary horse trader-turned-love doctor in person.
Here’s a choice selection of Willie’s Wisdom accumulated over the years:
ON FINDING AN IRISH MR. RIGHT
'I'm an awful believer that in the west of Ireland you won't find a wrong man anywhere. You'll find 'em full of romance, looking for someone to share their life and love with.'
However, women shouldn’t be too picky about a man having thick hair or a full set of teeth. ‘Teeth are easy to get these days if you want some.’
‘Most of the bachelor farmers haven't had a cuddle from a woman since their mother died 30 years ago.’
‘Irish farmers are an attractive proposition. They are romantic, they play a lot of music, dance and sing. They are kind and faithful, and, well, there's no one else to run off with.’
‘Within reason, most of the men round here would be happy to have a woman, any woman, no matter what.’
‘With all these cows calving and the mares foaling, the farmers look at the beauty of it and think “I'd like a baby”.’
ON IRISH APHRODISIACS
'To my mind, drink is the best ambassador for love and romance and ultimately marriage. When I introduce a man to a woman he's tongue-tied at first. But after 12 or 15 pints, he couldn't keep his hands off a woman. You see, the drink is an aphrodisiac and fags help them get amorous.'
By contrast, Willie reckons that a non-smoking teetotaller might scare off Irish women; they’d view him as 'an unknown species they might not be able to handle'.
WHAT MEN AND WOMEN WANT
‘The men want a nice person and a sense of commitment. The women want a little bit of magic.’
'With women's equality and all that, women are looking more for love and romance rather than a roof over their heads or a few acres of land like long ago. Women are a bit more choosy and sophisticated nowadays.’
‘On the other hand, the average Irishman hasn't changed a bit.'
WHAT AMERICANS EXPECT AT LISDOONVARNA
‘I get American women who've been married a few times and are financially set up, but who fancy meeting a character. What they have in mind is an Irish man who can maybe dance a bit, sing a bit, play some music a bit, fight a bit and drink a lot!’
‘American men are hoping to meet a bare-footed, red-haired colleen who's down by the riverside, hand-washing the clothes. There's not a lot of them about.'
JOB REQUIREMENTS FOR A PROSPECTIVE MATCHMAKER
‘He would have a charm for the job, like you’d have someone with a charm for working tin and another with a charm for curing ringworm or sick cows.’
'I'm convinced that there is one love in everyone's life that will lift the roof off the house.'
ADVICE TO SINGLETONS
‘I always tell them there's no old shoe that doesn't have a sock to fit it.’
To read more about Willie and Lisdoonvarna, click here.
The Matchmaking Festival swings into action every weekend until 1 October.
BUT WHAT ABOUT COWFIGHTING?
Trouble is, if you go to Ireland for the climax of the Matchmaking Festival, you’ll miss the Cowfighting Championships due to take place in Switzerland that very same day.
Unlike Spanish bullfighting, there’s no climactic butchery in the Swiss counterpart.
Hippo-sized Herens cows are herded into a Roman amphitheatre in Martigny where they proceed to bully each other out of the ring.
The winner is declared the Queen of Queens.
Her prize? A cowbell, of course.
For more information, contact the tourist office in Martigny.
Or read all about it -- with photos and everything -- right here.
BETJEMAN AND ME
Radio Four’s ‘You and Yours’ programme asked me to do a short piece for them last month as part of their series on John Betjeman’s centenary.
Now, if you’re wondering what a Yank could possibly have to say about one of Britain’s most beloved poets, well, you can hear it yourself.
My bit’s about eight minutes into the segment.
Hint: I’m the guy singing the praises of ‘The Privies of Lancashire’ and its companion title, ‘The Privies of Yorkshire’.
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COFFIN-FEST CASUALTY
August 2006
The Great Heatwave of 2006 has claimed yet another casualty, this time in a seemingly unlikely place: the Rigor Mortis Procession in Spain.
As readers of Eurotripping will know, the Spanish event (also nicknamed the Festival of the Near-Death Experience) features men and women giving thanks to St. Martha for rescuing them from the clutches of Death.
What's unique is the way they show their gratitude: having survived a near-fatal disease or accident, they actually play dead by being carried around the village of San Xose de Ribarteme in coffins.
Two men and two women took part in this year’s Coffin Procession, an event that looks just like a funeral cortege, except when one of the 'deceased' moves or scratches his/her nose.
Fortunately, the caskets are left open. If they were shut, the 'corpses' could very well turn into the real thing in the Galician sunshine.
According to the local paper, it was too hot for one of the nearly departed: she passed out from the heat.
To see a picture of last year's ‘stiff’, juxtaposed with possibly the biggest Bart Simpson you've ever seen, click here.HIP, HIP HOORAY
August 11th is the Burry Man's Day!
Bravehearted John Nicol will be subjecting himself to the annual ordeal of being covered head to ankle in spiky, bug-infested cockleburs before being led around the Scottish town of South Queensferry.
You can see my before and after photos of him here.
To anaesthetise him from the pain – or test the strength of his bladder – locals give him freehand shots of whisky wherever he goes.
This year Burry Man Day has inspired a whodunnit by Queensferry-born author Catriona McPherson.
The title is—you guessed it—'The Burry Man's Day'.
According to the synopsis, the Burry Man drops dead at the end of the big day in 1923, leading amateur sleuth Dandy Gilver to find out who poisoned him.
Was it the local minister or the temperance pamphleteer?
'The Burry Man is the best ready-made character a writer could hope for,' McPherson told the Edinburgh News.
'It's the combination of his disguise, the fact that he's never alone all day and the number of different people who pour him nips of whisky. He's made to be the star of a murder mystery.'
Sounds spiffing to me.
BODIES IN THE BOG
Notwithstanding the joys of Gurning and Welly Wanging at the Christchurch Village Olympics in Cambridgeshire, this month culminates in the World Bog-Snorkelling Championships on August Bank Holiday Monday.
Far stranger than Bog Snorkelling itself is the fact that BBC Wales has actually developed an online Bog Snorkelling game.
I couldn't really get it to work (lack of patience on my part), but first impressions are that it's a fast track to RSI.
To see what your licence fee buys you, click here.
Or you can read about my pathetic attempts at the real thing.
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THE LATEST DOPE
July 2006
As shocking as it may be, the semi-sacred sport of Turkish Oil Wrestling was marred by insinuations of doping at this year’s Kirkpinar championships.
Reigning champ Saban Yilmaz lost on points in the early stages of the competition and promptly protested against the referees, backed up by some other wrestlers and members of his family.
Yilmaz insisted that the guy who beat him, Recep Cakir, be tested for doping. "I won't let this go, he will take the tests," the Turkish Daily News quoted him as saying.
In the end, Cakir didn't win, either. This year's champion was a 22-year-old named Osman Aynur, who whipped his opponent in just eight minutes.
My oil-wrestling contact in Edirne attributed the upset to the wet grass on the field.
'If the weather is rainy, always a surprise name can win!'
If you’re hankerin’ for more info on Oil Wrestling, here’s a superb site, courtesy of a Japanese fan.
And here’s the superbly kitsch site of Oil Wrestling legend Ahmet Tasci.
Not only is Tasci sporting an awesome tash on the homepage, with fireworks bursting all over his bare chest and a groovy mirror image quivering down below, there’s also a particularly interesting shot of him and the boys in the hamam (you have to click ‘Siteye Giris’ on the home page to see it).
I ask you: do any of those men look like they need steroids?
WHEN IN ISTANBUL
As it happens, I was in Turkey during Kirkpinar, but I stayed in Istanbul, toiling away on the follow-up to Eurotripping.
What struck me most about Istanbul this time round are the countless terrace cafes and rooftop restaurants the city has.
If you’re planning a visit, I'd recommend grabbing a table at the AND Hotel, if only for the world-class view: Topkapi Palace, Ayia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, all laid out before you, with the waters of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorous in the background.
And if you're looking for a place to stay, the Zeynep Sultan is an excellent hotel in the heart of Old Istanbul, with a stunning view of Ayia Sofia from the breakfast terrace.
FOWLING ENGLISHMEN
Nothing to do with Wayne Rooney, of course.
London’s venerable Vintners' and Dyers' Companies will take to the Thames on 17–21 July for their annual ritual of Swan Upping.
During the five-day journey upriver, the Queen’s very own Swan Marker will count the number of cygnets on the water and check their health to make sure the population of Her Majesty’s birds is maintained.
As the official Swan Upping website explains, 'the Crown retains the right to ownership of all unmarked Mute swans in open water.'
It also provides some helpful telephone numbers to ring 'in the unlikely event that you discover a dead swan'.
Here they are, just in case:
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08459 335577 -- dead wildfowl (ducks, geese, swans etc)
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0118 939 2505 -- all other types of birds.
One can never be too prepared.
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BOUNDING BABES IN SPAIN
14 June 2006
Mark your calendars: Spain's Baby-Jumping Festival is coming up this weekend, followed by Oil Wrestling in Turkey at the end of the month.
Pretty much every Catholic country celebrates Corpus Christi, but only one village in Spain marks the date by having a couple of men dress up as the Devil and do running long jumps over mattresses full of infants.
During the six-day Fiesta del Colacho in Castrillo de Murcia, the Devils, or Colachos, chase teenagers through the streets with horsehair whips as a warm-up for the main event.
This year the actual Baby Jumping falls on Sunday the 18th, though hopefully 'falls' won't be the operative term.
Organisers are expecting a bumper crop of newborns this year, with parents from the surrounding area flocking to have their babies blessed in one of the world's most surreal ceremonies.
'Last year the Colacho jumped about 80 babies, but some years the number reaches 100,' says Angel Manso, a member of the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Sacrament.
Angel tells me that this year there's also a new Devil taking the lead: his name is Juan Pablo, or John Paul, just like the former Pope.
To see pics and read more about Baby Jumping, click here.
NOSHING ON 'PHALLIC SWEETS' IN PORTUGAL
After the launch of Eurotripping on 1 June, I did the wisest thing an author can do and left the country, returning to Portugal and the home of Europe's Penis Cakes.
I can't help but think of Amarante's Festas de Junho as the 'Phallus Festival', but there really is much more to it than the traditional 'Phallic Sweets' on display at street stalls.
As the priest said during his homily at the end: 'This is not a festival about sex.'
The town itself was as romantic as I remembered it, and its weekend-long series of processions, concerts and fireworks ranks as one of the best festivals I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing.
I made one streetseller's day by buying a dozen penis cakes from her, including a three-foot token of esteem for my editor, Tim Andrews.
(Okay, okay -- adjusting for male exaggeration, maybe it was only two-and-a-half feet long. But it was big.)
This particular priapic cake was hanging in front of her stall, and the woman had to take a big knife to cut it down.
At one point, the blade was right near the pastry's testicles.
Call me squeamish, but I had to look away.
WRESTLING IN OLIVE OIL IN TURKEY
Turkey's ultra-traditional Oil-Wrestling Championships take place on the weekend of 30 June to 2 July in the comely city of Edirne.
Dating from around 1361, the Kirkpinar oil-wrestling extravaganza is supposedly the world's longest-running sporting event.
For outsiders, though, what's most eye-catching about the sport is the unique hands-down-the-pants hold that wrestlers use to get a grip on each other.
To get an idea of what Oil Wrestling involves, take a look at this page.
Eurotripping: If you think you know Europe, think again.
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WELCOME TO EUROTRIPPING.TV!
1 June 2006
My new book, Eurotripping, has officially launched, complete with this all-singing, all-dancing website, www.eurotripping.tv.
Designer Will Richards at Slabmedia has truly gone beyond the call of duty to finish eurotripping.tv, struggling out of bed to make the site live even though he's got the flu and it's his week off.
Will doesn't have many clients who can offer to pay him in Penis Cakes, but then, Eurotripping isn't just your ordinary site.
Where else can you read about the joys of Baby Jumping, Goat Tossing and Bottom Blowing?
FEET AND PHALLUSES
After doing the rounds for the launch of the book, I'm off to the Phallus Festival in Portugal this weekend for the second year running. (It's hard work, honest!)
Unfortunately, that means I'll miss the Cotswold Olimpicks.
But if you're anywhere near Chipping Campden on Friday, 2 June, I highly recommend hotfooting it to the home of Shin Kicking.
And don't forget to join the campaign to make this venerable pastime an Olympic sport. You can sign the petition for the Shin Kickers Association of Britain, or SKAB, here.
Eurotripping: If you think you know Europe, think again.