What people celebrate, how they spend the day and what they eat. 22 festivals from 3 countries so far, with more added every week.
ItalyA bareback horse race around Siena's main square, the Piazza del Campo, run in its modern form since 1633. Ten of the city's seventeen districts, the contrade, compete for a precious banner, the palio.
On the day: A pageant in historic costume parades through the square before the race. The race itself is three laps on a track of earth laid over the stones and usually lasts no more than 90 seconds.
JapanTanabata celebrates the legend of two lovers, the stars Vega and Altair, who are separated by the Milky Way and may meet only once a year. It came from a Chinese festival and grew its own Japanese customs.
On the day: People write wishes on small strips of coloured paper (tanzaku) and hang them on bamboo branches. Shopping streets are decorated with huge, colourful paper streamers.
JapanA Buddhist festival to honour the spirits of the ancestors, who are believed to return home for a few days. It is not an official holiday, but many people get time off and travel back to their family home.
On the day: Families clean the graves of their ancestors and light fires or lanterns to guide the spirits home and, at the end, back again. In the evenings whole neighbourhoods join the Bon Odori dance.
JapanOne of the largest and most famous festivals in Japan, held for Kyoto's Yasaka Shrine. It began in 869 as a ritual to stop a plague, and its float procession is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.
On the day: Teams of men pull giant wooden floats, some as tall as a building, through central Kyoto. On the evenings before, the streets are closed to cars and fill with people in light summer kimono (yukata) and food stalls.
MexicoOaxaca's great festival of Indigenous dance. Groups from all regions of the state come to Oaxaca City in their local costumes, each dance telling something about its people's history and life.
On the day: Dancers perform in an open-air amphitheatre on the Cerro del Fortín hill above the city, and the streets fill with concerts, crafts and food stalls during all of July.