Culture festival on Easter Island.
Italian and Brazilian carnivals. Asian sky lanterns
and latest trends from the catwalks.
Chinese New Year 2024!

PARTY AT TAPATI ON EASTER ISLAND

Spectacular celebration of the cultural heritage of Rapa Nui people – natives of the Easter Island – is held annually during the first 2 weeks of February. Tapati is the most famous festival of this remote island and definitely a spot on destination of the month!

Support your favourites in indigenous sport competitions, try on national clothing and get your body painted with enigmatic symbols. Admire traditional dancing rituals and share amazing, gigantic barbecue with cheerful locals and fellow-travellers. These are just a few ways to embrace island’s unique Polynesian culture during the Tapati festival. Choose which one is up your valley, but plan beforehand – there’s only 2 flights per day from Chile mainland, all seats might be gone soon.

LAUNCH A LANTERN IN THE SKIES

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival – named after a lovely remote mountain town in New Taipei, Taiwan – will take place on Feb the 5th in 2023, when the first moon of the year will lit the skies. It is a romantic, scenic celebration and also benefits from being quite off the beaten track. Anyone can take part in the indigenous tradition, make a wish and send it with a colourful lantern up into the skies…

No possibility to visit Taiwan in February? There is another similar festival that is organised in September

IL CARNEVALE

Carnem levare meaning ‘goodbye meat’ in Latin—was originally a food festival where Catholic worshipers feasted in preparation for the following 40 days of fasting. As a result, nowadays one can find vast variety of carnivals all over the world happening month-ish before Easter. Not going deeper into the roots, we want to mention two most extraordinary Italian carnivals here.

VENICE

The famous Venice carnival takes place from January 11th to February 21st in 2023 – a perfect Valentine gift again

Do expect crowds in all most popular areas of the city, and especially on the days of top events like Grand opening or The flight of the Angel. No joke, couple of years ago we got stuck in a 20 minute pedestrian jam on Ponte di Rialto during festive celebrations. Having said that, it is definitely worth it – enjoy the spirit of the carnival, dance, sing and throw confetti in the streets, promenade in a freshly hired costume along Piazza San Marco and snap a few killer photos of those masterpiece masks. And if you want to enjoy the real restful life of the city and soak up the spirit of romance it it’s narrow streets – you can always arrive a few days before or leave a few days after the carnival and beat the crowd. For more romance take a day trip to Verona by train – yes, Juliet’s balcony is still there and still looks gorgeous

VIAREGGIO

Just a little bit less popular with the tourists but not the less impressive Carnevale de Viareggio takes place in the neighbouring region of Tuscany from February 4th to February the 25th in 2023, featuring expressive parades every weekend. Permanent residents of the parades are Donald Trump and an army of Italian politicians, the most beloved being Beppe Grillo – a leader of the ‘Five Stars’ movement. Aren’t those caravans hilarious and quirky? By the way – notorious Pisa and stunning Florence are a stone’s throw from there, cannot be missed!

AQUARELA DO BRASIL

Party of all parties kicks off on the 17th of February 2023 in vibrant and scenic Rio and will last as usual for 6 days. City switches to insanity mode far before the official start dates, and sexual energy spreads in the air.

Street parties, also known as blocos, feature shuddering sound systems and attract a ludicrous amount of Carnival attendees ready to drink, dance and revel in the company of old and new friends. Temperamental by nature, Cariocas seem to double boost their stamina these days. The vibe is contagious and even if back at home you prefer to spend your Friday nights watching some good movies, chances are that you will find yourself rocking the crowd with another caipirinha in your hand from 8 am in the morning and till… well – the next morning! Yes, we know 🙂

The celebration continues from the streets to the beach, and Ipanema and Copacabana which are pretty crowded even in a low season, turn into a fine line where an ocean of people meets Atlantic ocean.

The highlight of the Carnival are of course samba school parades. Best Sambadrome seats are gone by January but some good options can be still available closer to the date. Come prepared – learn the basic dance moves and get your fantasia dress ready. Got no dress? No worries! A lot of costumes are disposed at the exit straight after the show. Be fast and nimble and you will bring home the best souvenir ever from your amazing adventure in Rio

SHE IS IN FASHION

New York, London, Paris and Milan fashion week venues open their doors in February to educate us on what we should, or should not wear this fall and winter. It makes a great experience to visit any of those regardless if you consider yourself a fashionista or not. As always, it will be difficult to tell where there is more extravaganza – on a catwalk or among the spectators.
While most of the shows an invite-only (London FW being the toughest on this rule), with a bit of extra effort it is sometimes possible to get through the doors. Young designers as well as the dinosaurs of fashion offer limited number of ticket to the members of public as part of prize draws or charity activities. And, there will always be a series of events open to the public where you can meet the industry leaders and blend into the stylish crowd

CHINESE NEW YEAR

The roaring event falls on February 10th in 2024. Be it a small village or busy megapolis of the Celestial Empire – you are guaranteed to enjoy the celebration. It is time to get lost in colourful decorations, gaze at dragon dances, scare the evil spirits away with the firecrackers and of course try all that attractive food sold here and there! On top of that, Shanghai and Hong Kong will kick the new year off with impressive fireworks shows (Beijing has ruled against the use of fireworks due to enormous city air pollution)

If you are not in China this February, New Year celebrations in the biggest China towns in the world (such as San Francisco, New York, Bangkok, London, Paris and Singapore) are well worth a visit for a bunch of great memories. We try to visit the London China Town for the event every year, and never leave disappointed

THINK TWICE BEFORE GOING TO…

The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland! Not only February is historically the coldest month of the year here, but it also sets rainfall record due to quite a few storms. Yes we rarely get temperatures below zero, but frosty gusts of wind and humid air makes you feel like you are within the Arctic Circle sometimes. Therefore, if besides pubs, afternoon tea and free museums you plan to explore extraordinary nature and famous architecture – it is better to wait another month and come here in March, when weather takes a U-turn and starts to pamper us with warm sun.

Photo credits and copyrights: Pixabay, PXhere, UpYourValley, Flickr, Carnevale di Viareggio, WikiMedia, Checking Invoices, Metro.co.uk