World's Strangest Festivals

Where: Lopburi, Thailand.

What: Primate party. This feast celebrates the greedy appetites of the city’s most persistent (and fondly regarded) pests: monkeys.

Why: The macaque monkeys that populate Lopburi are well-known gluttons: anyone who leaves a snack unattended for a split second is sure to have it snatched away by a furry “friend.” But residents of the city decided in 1989 that the best way to deal with the monkeys was to embrace them. So every year, all the monkeys’ favorite morsels—including peanuts, cucumbers, bananas, and raw crabs—are laid out in front of the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple. There’s a tea party too (although Lopburi’s monkeys are known to prefer Coca-Cola).

When: The last weekend in November.

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