Photo by rickydiver78 flickr.com/photos/rickydiver/

At Joobili we love travel more than Andre Agassi loves shaving his chest hair. We also love travel more than he loves tennis, but he hates tennis, which is strange because as we all know tennis begins with love.

Tennis begins with love, but travel begins with Joobili. There’s no point in jetting off somewhere only to find out you’ve missed the event that had the town buzzing by a day or two. So, what happens when you combine travel and Joobili? 1) a strong desire to shave your chest; 2) perfectly timed travel tips that combine holidaying with some great games of tennis; and 3) a whole lot of travel love.

There’s some tournaments with impressive displays of longevity such as Wimbledon or Western and Southern Open. But as Wee Ollie Rochus mentioned to big Ivo Karlović in the showers, length isn’t everything. Other events are all about seeing who’s the best male or female on the respective tours each year – fascinating duels at the end of a hard season. Finally, if you’re not interested in the best or the longest running tennis battles, then maybe an exotic location can tempt you… how about taking in a spot of tennis in Indonesia, Thailand or Uzbekistan?

Whatever you choose, there’s a whole world of tennis out there to explore.

Photo by Wit www.flickr.com/photos/-wit-/

You’re stuck at home. The sun is shining. You want to do something. You need to get away. You don’t want to spend May Day stuck in your living room or garden counting the tiles or writing inane comments on facebook. Seize the moment – check out our suggestions for a Last Minute May Day Getaway!

There’s plenty of classic May Day options available – from the traditional to the political. For instance you could cheer on an ’Obby ’Oss in Padstow surrounded by locals dressed in white during a 4000 year old celebration; sing ‘cuckoo’ as you dance around a maypole in Downton; be draped in garlands of flowers in Hawaii; make crosses from flowers in Spain; cross a scarecrow in England; set fire to a horse in Italy; bury a fish; get involved in some green morris dancing; or rock with the workers in Belgium.

There’s more than 140 other events you could attend this May Day. Let Joobili help you escape…

1. Smell flowers in Holland
2. Cover yourself in green leaves and go morris dancing
3. Throw yourself off a tower
4. Watch turtles
5. Pretend to be a pirate

When you’re done reading about La Endiablada, head over to Joobili to see more Weird Religious Festivals.

Often described as one of Spain’s wackiest festivals, La Endiablada takes place in Almonacid del Marquesado, a tiny two-bar town situated around two hours outside the nearest big city, Madrid. Almonacid is so small that the dead seem to outnumber the living (if the very pretty cemetery is anything to go by), and it’s so difficult to get to that if you haven’t got a driving licence, you’d better pack a tent. There is only one bus every day from Madrid. Literally one bus. Which is to say, it leaves Madrid at noon and does not return until the next morning, at 8am. And there are no trains. So you have to stay in Almonacid, where there is only one guest house – Casa Rural La Peñata – and the cheapest room is around €55 and is almost certainly occupied.

If you manage to overcome these obstacles, however, La Endiablada is definitely worth the effort – especially if you like the idea of gangs of men in ridiculous pyjamas running around the streets with what appear to be giant shell casings bouncing off their backs. Oh, and noise. You must also be quite partial to the deafening clang of cowbell copper that just goes on and on and on.

Strictly speaking, La Endiablada is not a festival. It’s more of a local tradition based around two successive events in the Catholic calendar: Candlemas (February 2) and the feast day of the town’s patron saint, San Blas (February 3). It is said to date back to the 15th century. It is also said to date back to the 13th century. Also, according to a man I spoke to who passed himself off as the town mayor, it just goes back a couple of hundred years. So perhaps it’s safer to say that no one really knows, or – frankly – cares. As for the specifics of the rituals, there was only one written record of the actual origins and that was destroyed in the Spanish Civil War. Apparently.

However, what we do know is that La Endiablada translates roughly as ‘The Brotherhood of Devils’ and refers to a group of around 100 of the town’s menfolk – ranging from those who can barely walk because they’re simply too young, to those who can barely walk because they’re simply too old – who dress like devils and parade around the town. These are not devils in the traditional sense, however. In fact, to be perfectly honest, they’re not like devils at all. Rather than horns upon their heads, for example, they wear red popish mitres, and rather than pitchforks, they carry hand-carved sceptres with amusing painted heads which, frankly, are more jester-like than Satanic. Also, as a finishing touch, they have tremendously large cowbells strapped to their backs. Not to mention the pyjamas. The pyjamas are something special. So colourful and camp and screamingly loud are the pyjamas that they make Lady Gaga look like Prince Michael of Kent. The overall effect is to make these so-called devils look like a cross between jesters from the commedia dell’arte and confused Catholic refugees from a Gay Pride sleepover. And it is in this joyfully ludicrous get-up that the men spend most of the two days running around the town or up and down the aisles of the church, buttocks thrusting backwards to set their cowbells a’bouncing and arms outstretched as if attempting to incite a fashion riot.

The reason for all this hullabaloo is actually to distract Satan – obviously – and stop him having a crack at the purity of the Virgin Mary. Why you would dress as one of Satan’s most festive minions in order to prevent your master from wickedly despoiling the mother of Christ is not clear, but it probably has something to do with the carnival tradition of masquerading as the enemy. The womenfolk of the town also get involved, although to a much lesser extent, with a group of eight or so young girls – dressed not dissimilarly to Russian dolls – performing a slightly dangerous-looking dance with sticks – not dissimilar to English Morrismen, but in the context of the madness of the La Endiablada, much less embarrassing. These girls also address the congregation in the main church service, taking turns to pay tribute to their friends and families and to dedicate themselves to the virgin and the patron saint. In this the most emotional part of the two-day celebration – the church is packed, the cowbells fall silent and many of the congregation find themselves weeping uncontrollably.

As well as a joyful, super-colourful celebration and a welcome boost to a tiny tourist industry, La Endiablada is clearly a very special occasion for this small, close-knit community. Although tourists are made to feel hugely welcome and are treated to free food and wine between the processions and services, ultimately this is a local festival in which local people celebrate the ties and traditions which unite them. As an outsider, it’s an experience that looks and sounds like nothing else you’ve ever experienced. In short, it’s fun and touching and just a little bit mental.

Catholics across Europe (and some cheeky protestants too) prepare for 40-days of fasting by going mental in the streets. In the days and weeks before Ash Wednesday, this year falling on March 9th, there’s weird and wonderful celebrations that see normality turned on its head, sanity suspended and silliness take over.

There’s fruity fun with oranges,  and freezing fun in the mountains. You don’t like fun? You’d rather see Turks chased by horned Hungarians? Or locals scared by masked Sardinians? Well that’s not very nice is it? I think you need a snog from a stranger after getting lost in a labyrinth of canals. And if you like that little game of tonsil tennis, then you’ll love the idea of women stealing men’s beer until receive a kiss for their trouble.

And that, my foolish friend, is just the tip of the Carnival iceberg. Get further inspired here.

With Winter at the doorstep, there’s some really top notch events, so there’s plenty of reasons to visit Britain. Like what? How about a cutting edge art festival, a mud spattering, tyre screeching rally or a parade of flaming barrels?

Sounds pretty good, eh? Even if you already live in the sunniest island in the world, there’s still plenty of reasons to explore other parts of the country: get lost in an enchanted forest, be awestruck by a mayor on parade or be surprised at the age of cars out for a drive. Reasons a plenty to visit Britain.

This transatlantic dissemination of pumpkin-love has meant there are more great events we can attend in our part of the world, as businesses and organisations have latched onto the possibilities of Halloween related fun.

There’s events that scare adults and kids the whole month long in the birthplace of Shakespeare, events at which you can carve pumpkins, events where you can see hundreds of ghosts floating around an island and events where you can discover the old Celtic traditions behind the celebration.

But that’s just the tip of the pumpkin. There’s plenty more ghostly stuff where that came from, and not just in the UK, but at parades in Ireland, with real witches in France and amongst vampires in Romania .