Month: April 2020

This blog has taken us around the world, to different temples, cities, and villages, all with some unique culturally significant practice that most United States citizens would not have come across in daily life. This final post will be about a strange snorkeling championship, but like the others, is not what comes to mind.

In a small Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells in the UK, the annual “World Bog Snorkeling Championship” takes place. For those who do not know what a bog is, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “a poorly drained usually acid area rich in accumulated plant material, frequently surrounding a body of open water, and having a characteristic flora (as of sedges, heaths, and sphagnum)”. To me, this does not seem like the first place I would think to go snorkeling! It is rumored that this interesting traditional sport was created due to a bar bet in 1976. Although it only started with a few daring participants, hundreds of swimmers flock to Llanwrtyd Wells to try to break the record for traversing the jet-black waters. In 2019 the bog snorkelers included participants from Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States, making this a truly international world championship.

The competition itself is pretty simple. Each August, the competitors must complete two laps of a 180-foot lane carved into the Waen Rhydd peat bog, only with the help of flippers and a snorkel. Some recommend wearing a wetsuit as well, due to the slightly uncomfortable water temperatures, but it is not required. Some participants even wear outlandish costumes to the point where now, the best costume is awarded with a prize. However, the best costume award is not what entices participants each year. Similar to the Olympics or any other sporting event, there is a record to be broken. The goal of the competition is to swim through the murky waters in the least amount of time. Currently, the world record was set by Neil Rutter at the Waen Rhydd bog on August 26, 2018, with a time of 1 minute and 18.81 seconds.

The swimming starts at around 10 in the morning. There are signs posted to guide people from the town to the bog via a nice walk about a mile in length, and there is also a shuttle bus running from the town square to the bog and back throughout the day, which starts running at around 9 am. There are food and drink vendors, crafts, a bouncy castle, live music and an authentic bar on the event’s site, so it’s a great day out even if you don’t think taking the plunge into murky waters is desirable. Online entries close about 7 days before the event, but you can enter on the day if you have the sudden desire to! Entry fees are £15 for seniors (over 16 years old) and £12 for juniors (14 to 15 years old). Although this may seem like a strange practice stemming from a bet, it serves as a platform to raise awareness for the environmental importance of peat bogs and the wildlife that reside in them. This is a very important goal that often gets overlooked by the intense competition and the strange sporting event, but with climate change and industrialization, many habitats including peat moss bogs are in danger. Incorporating messages like these into fun events is something the United States should take into account. After all, supporting an event with a good cause is twice the fun. Thank you for embarking on this cultural journey with me and I hope some of you can visit these amazing places and take part in these festivals!

Looking back on it, the childish glee that came along with the phone call from my school district declaring a snow day is something I have not felt since that time. With the help of my two brothers, I would construct massive igloos and snow castles in the winter wonderland that comes with a Connecticut winter. Building those snow constructions with my brothers are some of my most fond childhood memories, so when I found out that there was a large-scale competition for constructing massive snow creations, I knew I had to look into this event.

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival 2020 is held in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province. It is usually celebrated from December 24 to February 28, ranging over the entire holiday season and new year. This festival adds some light and fun to the bitter winters of this area, and brings in many tourists, being named one of the world’s biggest winter festivals. Annually, there are 10 to 15 million visitors. This festival covers 600,000 square meters of land and encompasses sculptures of all shapes and sizes. One of the most monumental sculpture stood at around 46 meters high!

Construction of the sculptures is quite complex, as stability needs to be maximized to ensure no participants get seriously injured if one of the sculptures were to topple over. 10,000 trained workers cut and haul the blocks of ice from the Songhua River to the construction workers. These workers collect and transport nearly 200,000 cubic meters of ice to the site. The blocks weigh up to 1,545 pounds each, so this job is not easy! Only qualified people with pre-approved plans may work with the blocks of ice to sculpt their masterpieces so, unfortunately, the average citizen may not participate in the formation of these structures, but it is more than enough to visit and take in the views of these magnificent pieces of winter art. There are three main venues in the festival, each with different visitation hours and ticket prices. The Zhaolin Park Ice Lantern Festival venue and the Ice and Snow World venue are evening exhibitions, and the snow sculptures on Sun Island are only for viewing in the daytime. Zhaolin Park is mainly catered towards children, with sculptures of animals and magical figures while also including ice slides and other fun activities while the other two venues are more for adults to enjoy with their sophisticated architectural designs and amazing detail.

As apparent by the nature of the festival, it is very cold and thus, proper winter attire is recommended on your visit. In Harbin, the winter temperature is from -13°F to 14°F, not including wind chill! Thick arctic clothing is recommended, and thick boots would be beneficial as well, as during the festival you will need to walk around to take in the views. Also, an interesting recommendation is to take proper care of your camera battery, because at low temperatures like these, the fully charged battery will not last as long, so you will need to make sure that you keep your devices protected from the elements as well. The beauty of this festival cannot be described by words, as the LED lights lighting up the ice and fireworks lighting up the sky is like something out of a dream. The childish glee of sitting back and admiring my ice and snow creations is nothing compared to what these artists feel when they finally complete their looming, gargantuan sculptures, only for them to be melted down and reconstructed in the next year.