GLOBE TREKKER

Presenters: Christina Chang, Neil Gibson, Zay Harding, Katy Haswell, Megan McCormick, Shilpa Mehta, Justine Shapiro, Ian Wright

When you’re travelling, there’s nothing like coming across a great festival. Walking the streets amongst one of the world's greatest parties is a priceless part of seeing the world. In this third instalment of Globe Trekker's Great Festivals we’ll take a look back at some of the best ones we’ve comes across, and count down the world’s finest.

Many of the world's great festivals coincide with the changing of the season. Ancient cultures set their clocks to the calendar's quarters. Chinese New Year falls on the first day of the lunar new year and Justine Shapiro is in Taiwan to catch the highlights of this 15-day celebration.

Zay Harding is in New Zealand where many of the major festivals fall on the first day of spring. In a place where sheep outnumber people, it’s only appropriate that the Sheep Shearing Contest held as part of the festivities is considered the world’s most prestigious. The Strange Foods festival in the New Zealand countryside celebrates the eccentric cuisine of the west coast.

The strange is celebrated throughout the world. In Finland the Wife-Carrying Competition is a calendar highlight, and Ian Wright discovers the annual Calcio Stone match in Florence. They say it's a football match, but seems more an opportunity to pummel your neighbour. England is no stranger to the, well, to the strange, and the annual Shin-Kicking Competition is matched only by the Birdman Contest, held every year at the end of a pier.

In Northern Russia they celebrate the end of perpetual darkness, in Ghana they celebrate the coming of spring by catching a deer with their bare hands. Ian Wright is at Glastonbury looking for something a little more familiar, and Zay ends up in Calgary for the annual Stampede, the world’s biggest rodeo.

And the fun doesn’t stop there. Our presenters scour the globe and put together their top tips on the world's best 5 festivals for you to choose from.