Festivals

Mahouts ride their elephants in a river swimming race during the Buon Don elephant festival in Vietnam's Central Highlands in the Dak Lak province on March 12th, 2019.

Commuters interact with an elephant as he rests on a public road ahead of the annual Navam Maha Perahera festival of the historic Buddhist Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on February 18th, 2019.

Your ecstasy is actually bath salts, your coke is actually meth, your LSD is actually a dangerous new research chemical. The Bunk Police don’t care if you do drugs—they just want you to test them first.

Alex Hintermair clings to his ox Maxl during a race on Ascension in Bavaria on May 10th, 2018, in Taufkirchen, Germany.

News and notes from Pacific Standard staff and contributors.

Lion dancers perform at Jenn Lann Temple during festivities marking the end of the nine-day Mazu Pilgrimage, on April 22nd, 2018, in Dajia near Taichung, Taiwan.

People fly kites during the 32nd International Kite Festival at the beach of Berck-sur-Mer, northern France, on April 18th, 2018.

A round-up of images from Viewfinder, Pacific Standard's daily photo feature.

Traditional Kandyan dancers perform during a procession in front of the Gangarama Temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 1st, 2018.

Aymara indigenous people perform traditional Andes highlands folk dances during the Anata Andino harvest festival in Oruro, Bolivia, on February 8th, 2018.

A round-up of images from Viewfinder, Pacific Standard's daily photo feature.

An Indian sadhu performs evening prayer at Sangam during the Magh Mela festival in Allahabad on January 9th, 2018.

Revellers enjoy the atmosphere during the opening day, or "Chupinazo," of the San Fermin Running of the Bulls fiesta on July 6th, 2017, in Pamplona, Spain.

With painted Volkswagen buses, talk of “free love,” and other reminders of the Woodstock era replaced by advertising and corporate sponsorships, hippie culture may be dying, but a new subculture—a sort of purgatory between hipster and hippie—is on the rise.

A tiny town in Michigan stumbled upon a weird way to boost its economy: a festival dedicated to a song about cheeseburgers.

From the Twelfth Annual World UFO Day to the Running of the Bulls, events you should be aware of.

When will it pop?