When you think of odd celebrations today—like Spain’s massive tomato‑slinging extravaganza La Tomatina or Mexico’s night of carved radishes—you might assume the weirdness stops there. Yet the past was brimming with even stranger spectacles. In this roundup of 10 incredibly strange historical festivities, we travel back to ancient rites and medieval mischief that would make modern party‑goers blush.
10 Incredibly Strange Festivities: A Quick Overview
10 Feast Of Fools
The Feast of Fools was a raucous New Year’s Day bash that kicked off the medieval calendar. Its roots trace back to the Roman Saturnalia, and the revelry persisted right up until the 16th century.
At the heart of this chaotic celebration, participants would elect a Lord of Misrule—or a king of Fools—who donned a variety of titles depending on locale. In England he was dubbed the “king of the bean,” while in Scotland he went by the “Abbott of Unreason.” Throughout the feast, revelers cross‑dressed, belted out bawdy songs, over‑indulged in drink, and even placed gambling tables atop church altars.
9 Feast Of The Ass
During the Middle Ages, the Church sanctioned a quirky celebration known as the Feast of the Ass, especially popular in France where it was called “La Fête de l’Âne.” Held on January 14th, the day honored the donkey that carried the Virgin Mary during her flight to Egypt.
The ceremony featured a village maiden cradling a baby atop a jeweled donkey, which was then paraded through town and into the church for a mock Mass. At the climax, the priest would turn to the congregation and bray three times; the crowd answered with three hee‑haws. In many French towns, worshippers sang a psalm praising the donkey as “Sir Ass,” lauding its beauty and bravery.
8 Festival Of Drunkenness
Ancient Egypt marked the first month of its calendar with a rowdy celebration called the Festival of Drunkenness. The event paid homage to the Eye of Ra and the mythic slaughter of mankind, while also seeking to appease goddesses such as Sekhmet.
Participants poured copious amounts of wine, often to the point of collapsing in the temple courtyard. Those who fell asleep were later roused by the pounding of drums and music, a ritual meant to deepen their communion with the divine. In addition to heavy drinking, the revelers danced, lit torches, and engaged in intimate encounters throughout the festivities.
7 Bals Des Victimes
When the Reign of Terror finally ebbed, Paris erupted into a frenzy of decadent parties. Survivors of the guillotine era threw themselves into lavish celebrations to revel in their continued existence.
The most notorious of these soirées was the Bals des Victimes, allegedly organized by the few aristocrats who escaped the blade. Admission was limited to those who narrowly avoided the guillotine or to immediate relatives of its victims. The nights were characterized by flowing alcohol, blood‑red ribbons adorning women’s necks, and a stark new haircut—short, prison‑style shaves—dubbed “la coiffure à la guillotine.”
Other macabre balls of the period included the bal de la veillee, famous for its “meowing concert” where a harpsichord’s keys struck metal blades that tormented the tails of several cats, and the Bals des Zéphirs, held inside a cemetery where couples waltzed atop tombstones.
6 Fete Des Pinnes
In Saint‑es, France, Palm Sunday was celebrated with a rather risqué custom called the Fête des Pinnes. Small pastries fashioned in the shape of phalluses were baked and then attached to palm fronds.
These ornamented branches were carried in procession by women and children. Later, the phallic cakes received a priest’s blessing and were kept by the women as talismans. While the tradition was most prominent in Saint‑es, analogous celebrations spread across France, and in some Mediterranean locales the pastries took on the form of vaginas.
5 Festival Of The Boy Bishop
The Festival of the Boy Bishop was a curious medieval rite that swept across Western Europe. It kicked off on December 6th, St. Nicholas Day, when choristers elected one among them to serve as the Boy Bishop.
Donning full episcopal vestments, the youngster would sit upon the actual bishop’s throne, dispense blessings, deliver sermons, and even make pastoral visits throughout the diocese. He also wielded the authority to proclaim holidays and distribute sweets and gifts to the faithful.
4 Beltane
Beltane, the second‑most sacred Celtic festival, celebrated the first day of summer and the fertility it ushered. Massive bonfires blazed across the landscape, and cattle were driven between them to receive blessings and purification.
The holiday also honored the sexual union of the God and the Goddess, whose creative energies were believed to fertilize the land, animals, and people. Emulating the divine couple, participants spent the night making love—any man could be a god, any woman a goddess, regardless of prior acquaintance.
Occasionally, a May Queen and May King were selected to enact erotic roles in a sacred pageant, or to reenact the divine wedding in a non‑sexual ceremony before the whole village. Modern iterations of Beltane still exist, though many of the more overtly sexual rituals have been toned down.
3 Kronia
Kronia was a Greek harvest festival that marked the transition from summer abundance to the onset of winter. Named after the Titan Cronos, who once ruled a Golden Age free of hunger, death, and social hierarchy, the celebration inverted the usual social order.
During Kronia, slaves dined and played games alongside their masters, noisy street riots erupted, and servants waited on their owners. The climax often involved bringing forth a condemned criminal—symbolizing chaos—offering him wine, and then executing him.
2 The Cerealia
The Cerealia was an ancient Roman festival honoring Ceres, the goddess of grain, fertility, and the harvest. Celebrated over seven days in April, the rites were both solemn and spectacular.
According to Ovid, one of the most dramatic events involved releasing live foxes into the Circus Maximus with flaming torches tied to their tails. The frantic foxes struggled to escape the fire, ultimately meeting a fiery demise. Additional customs featured young women clad in white, carrying torches to reenact the desperate search for Proserpina, Ceres’s abducted daughter, who was taken to the underworld.
1 Bacchanalia
The Bacchanalia was a Babylonian celebration that honored the birth of Tammuz, son of the sky‑queen Ishtar. Dedicated to Bacchus—the god of wine, fertility, love, and sacred prostitution—the festival was infamous for its wild, unrestrained revelry.
Renowned as a drunken extravaganza, the Bacchanalia featured copious wine, ecstatic dancing, and overt sexual orgies intended to purify participants of sin. Young women were expected to lose their virginity in devotion to the great mother goddess, while slaves were granted temporary freedom for the festival’s five‑day duration.