6010 Festival of the Cricket (Florence; annually in May)

OK, it's a bit odd, but every May there is a festival of the cricket (the insect, not the game!) in the Parco delle Cascine in Florence. The [B][I]Festa del Grillo[/I][/B] sees thousands of crickets being sold every year as a symbol of luck.

The Festa-cum-market stars not only the aforementioned crickets, but also stalls selling food and sweets of various kinds. There are musical shows and entertainment throughout the day, and the atmosphere is described as "joyous, infantile and truly rustic".

The festival replaced the earlier May-day celebrations of the Florentine Calendimaggio, which is no longer celebrated. The current celebration dates back to the 19th century, when the whole population of Florence used to take part in a carnivalesque Ascension-day festival in the area now known as the Parco delle Cascine: an occasion for play, courtship, good food and loosened social etiquette in an epoch known for its severe customs.

Children used to chase crickets, and shrewd small-time merchants soon spotted the market for "lucky" singing crickets in cages, giving the festival the theme and the name that it still carries today.