is mental Floss on YouTube and did you know that every year in Gloucestershire

England

thousands of people gathered to chase a 7-pound wheel of cheese down Cooper's

Hill whoever catches it wins the cheese itself but it's harder than it appears

the moving cheese can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour enough to seriously

injure people anyway that's the first of many unbelievable local traditions

I'm gonna share with you today

every year and Lopburi Thailand a monkey buffet

festival is held were an elaborate buffet is made and I know what you're

thinking but no

the food is not made of monkeys it's made for monkeys.

In fact up to 2,000 him show up to eat delicious food and even managed to drink

out of soda cans apparently in 2011 buying in preparing all this stuff cost

sixteen thousand dollars. Now I'm sure you've heard of the running of the bulls which began in

the 13th century now it takes place all over the world with the most popular one

is in Pamplona where thousands of people participate like

people run through the streets alongside actual balls which originally was just a

way of getting them from like the corral to the bullfighting ring

now it's like sort of a way of having a party except kind of a deadly party.

Another unsafe local Spanish tradition is baby jumping in the village a Castrillo

de Murcia

for the catholic peace dove Corpus Christi which is not just a town in

Texas it's also a holiday celebrating the Eucharist

the Colacho a man who represents the devil jumps over babies who are less

than a year old.

No one quite knows why this baby jumping started but it's been going on since

1620. Anyways being a terrifying children there's japan's Namahage festival men

dress in scary masks to look like Namahage a sort of demon who knocks on doors

and yell things like:

"Any crying kids out there?" this is supposed to keep kids from being

disobedient you know it's it's all in good fun. Okay back to Spain La Tomatina

or the tomato throwing festival takes place

every August in Bunol the day begins with people trying to get a ham

of atop a pole that's covered in soap. I imagine it like that scene in Mulan where

she's trying to climb to the top of the bowl except I'll make a man out of you

isn't playing in the background

and you know, Ham. Ham! Better but a quarter and that staff pork chop party fund.

Anyway eventually trucks arrived with thousands and tomatoes and people

throw them at each other.

If mass tomato throwing sounds dangerous to you should probably avoid

Ivrea Italy because that's where the battle in the oranges takes place.

The exact origins of this Orange throwing war are unclear but citizens are

fairly certain that it symbolizes some kind of rebelling against nobleman

anyway unlike La Tomatina orange throwers are divided into teams

also apparently their way to watch the spectacle without actually getting like

pelted by one of the million oranges that the town stocks the event. A million

oranges you think they like how we have a million oranges what should we do I

guess we could feed hundreds of thousands of people

or we could throw them in each other. Moving on to something a little less

dangerous in Austin Texas there's an annual festival for

Eeyore's birthday party. It started in the English department at the University of

Texas in

honor a story in which you were think that Winnie the Pooh and company have

forgotten his birthday but

actually they throw him an awesome surprise party. The idea has spread and it's

become like a

citywide party for charity and Eeyore. In 1945 white also know Fruita Colorado

beheaded a rooster named Mike because

it was dinner time however despite having been decapitated Mike the rooster

went on to live for

18 more months. It turned out that Olson's ax missed Mikes jugular vein

a blood clot kept him alive, Olson fed him with a medicine dropper anyway

the town of Fruita now has an annual Mike the headless chicken festival

including a 5k run and a peep eating contest.

Peep eating contest? that's the contest I could win.

Every October to celebrate the anniversary of the New River Gorge

Bridge in West Virginia

thousands of people gathered there for a bridge day. It's actually the only day of the year

that people are allowed to walk on the bridge and many base jumpers take this

opportunity to jump

876 feet into the New River Gorge.

Base of course stands for bravery anyone shouldn't ettempt.

If you'd rather stay on the ground you might consider attending the

world toe wrestling championships which have been going on in Ashbourne

Derbyshire since the 1970s.

It's a lot like arm wrestling except the competitors interlock

their big toes don't worry though there is a hygiene check beforehand.

That actually does very little to appease my worry, you might have found

the one thing I want to do less than base jump.

Oaxaca Mexico hold the sculpture competition known as the night

the radishes. Artists carve radishes into

figures, usually people and vegetables are sometimes like six pounds

and 20 inches tall.

What started as an attempt to show citizens that the mineral-rich mud in

South Korea was a good ingredient for cosmetic products resulted in the

Boryeong mud festival.

It started in 1998 and now over a million people attend the annual

festival which unsurprisingly revolves around things like mudslides and body

painting.

You know it's like Woodstock 99. Meredith didn't get the joke, neither did the rest of our audience.

but I enjoyed it.

speaking of mine you can find the world bog snorkeling championships in

Wales in the town of

Mark I'm not going to try to say anything in Welsh just put the town name right that

town.

so there in, the person who crosses a 60-yard long-bog

first wins. But you can't actually swim or used traditional swimming moves, so you just kinda.

gotta wade slash

doggy paddle why would anyone do this? Now the straw bear has roots all over

Europe but I'm too can talk about the straw bear festival in Whittlesey

England I apologize to all of our German viewers. So in the 1800s a man dressed in

straw would go around town and dance for money or food which was outlawed in

1909 but then the tradition was brought back in nineteen eighty

and now he has his own festival. Alright lets talk about wife-carrying for a minute

wife-carrying is a sport all over the world but you can actually find the World

Championships of it every year

in Finland, men carry a woman, she doesn't actually have to be anyone's wife,

through an obstacle course slash race and the rumors are true with the

winner's prize includes the wife's weight

in beer. Paul Bunyan days in Fort Bragg California celebrate the legendary

lumberjack character with a huge celebration although if I were you I

might steer clear

things like the twenty foot axe throw and chainsaw bucking

in Jaipur India there's an elephant festival with activities like elephant

polo and an elephant beauty contest. This is homage to the the ancient Indian royalty who

used to ride on elephant's painted gold or silver but the festival has been

cancelled for the past two years because it animal rights concerns and it may not

continue.

which I'd be okay. Admittedly I'm not an elephant but when I paint my naked body

entirely in gold it's just it's not fun for anyone.

A kinetic sculpture is a sculpture that can move on surfaces like mud or pavement

even water so it only makes sense that

Humboldt County California hold the kinetic sculpture race that's considered

the triathlon of the art world.

It also makes sense of course because Humboldt County California is the

capital of marijuana production in the United States, anyway

participants and their beautiful bikes cover 42 miles over the course of three

days.

and other races the Yorkshire pudding boat race in Brawby be in North Yorkshire

England

this was invented by a guy named Sam Thackray in the nineties, he was at a pub

saw a waitress carrying Yorkshire pudding

and thought it be awesome to float down a river in the Yorkshire pudding boat

The boats are made of flour water eggs and some

varnish for waterproofing and then children add ores to race them down a

river.

that sounds safe. A fiesta has been going on in Santa Fe New Mexico since 1712 but its

best-known tradition burning a Zozobra only started in 1924

Zozobra which means anxiety in Spanish is 50 foot tall marionette that weighs

two thousand pound it represents all with last year's problem so it's burned

every year in front of approximately 32,000 people.

Pörtschach, Austria is home to the world bodypainting festival which has occurred

in Austria since 1998

it's just what it sounds like art is compete in different categories a body

painting including ones for

face painting and UV effects. I'm sorry do they actually paint themselves with

ultraviolet radiation that seems like a terrible idea

the ukulele festival started in Oahu Hawaii in 1971 and now twenty

thousand people gather every year for the five hour long festival. According to

its website

performers include ukulele artists and celebrities which is to say you tubers.

And yes we do have a ukulele playing hula girl on the wall of magic it has

everything

in 1950 Sapporo, Japan saw its first snow festival which consisted of six high

school students making snow sculptures

but nowadays around 200 snow statues are made every year

and two million people show up to admire them some the statues reach up to 50

feet high.

I'm gonna finish by talking about some parades, like the Mermaid Parade in Coney

Island were over a thousand people dressed as a mermaid participate

after Hurricane sandy the Mermaid Parade almost had to be cancelled but a

Kickstarter read a hundred thousand dollars to it could go on.

But if you're not interested in seeing a thousand mermaids maybe you'd enjoy the

parade of a thousand clowns in Vincennes Indiana

this is an honor I Red Skelton who was born in Vincennes in with the clown

before becoming a famous comedian and finally I return to my salon to tell

you that in Riga Latvia there is a go blonde on parade. Why? Well according to

Marika Gederte

the president of the Latvian association of blondes quote

we have to cheer people up we know there is an economic crisis but small things

like a playground

or a blonde parade can cheer up the residents of Riga

why not that's true friends really is the small things you know playground

blonde parade.

etcetera anyway thanks for watching Mental Floss here on YouTube which is made with

the help of all these nice people. Every week we endeavor to answer one up your

mind blowing questions.

This week's question comes from BFYO Brian

12 who asked what I would do a deaf person's thoughts

speak in if they were born deaf and never heard anyone speak. well the short answer is

it depends, on the most basic level instead of an inner voice that is heard

heard visual or felt voice. Some people who are born deaf

Think in sign in with visualizing themselves signing on her finger

spelling and other thing in written english like seeing typed or.

hand-written letters still others think in muscle memory so

essentially it varies from person to person. If you have in mind blowing question

that you'd like us to answer, please leave it below in the comments.

Thank you for watching as we say in my hometown

don't forget to be awesome.