Sword Dance - Spain
Obejo honours its patron saint San Benito with the twice-yearly Sword Dance. Swordsmen nimbly dodge and flirt with swords, before performing a mock execution on the master of the dance.
The dance takes place after a special mass in honour of San Benito. The swordsmen dress in chap-style trousers, white shirts and red waistbands and dance in the streets to tambourine rhythms and accordion music.
Although the ritual sounds barbaric and pagan, it actually takes on traits of the very traditional and religious San Benito dance. After the spectacle of the mock execution, a statue of San Benito is brought out of the church covered in money, placed there by those who wish to redeem themselves for their sins.
La Endiablada
The town of Almonacid de Marquesado celebrates Candlemas and Saint Blaise's Day with a strange devil-themed dance called La Endia blada. Men prance about the Spanish town dressed up in floral pyjama-like suits, with huge cowbells hanging from their waist.
Candelaría is celebrated on 2 February and the day of Saint Blaise is the 3 February. On both mornings, the dancing group, known as diablos (devils), dance through the streets and in the town church. The spectacle is well known throughout the Castilla La Mancha province for the men's outlandish costumes.
The idea is that each man continually jumps and waddles so the bells make deafening clanking noises. According to tradition, this raucous event is to ward off evil spirits and the devil himself.
Cole Classic at Manly Beach
Where: Manly Surf Pavilion, South Steyne, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
A heroic spectacle of churning limbs and bobbing, coloured caps, the Cole Classic is Australia's most popular roughwater swim. Two thousand intrepid swimmers battle for breathing space over the 2km (1.25-mile) course around Sydney's Manly Bay.
First held in 1983, the fundraising event bears the name of its creator, Graham M Cole, and encourages swimmers to train, compete and bask in a sense of personal achievement. The Classic Challenge starts from Shelly Beach and finishes at Manly Beach and is open to anyone aged 13 and over, and there are several variations for younger and older swimmers. All competitors receive a certificate of achievement detailing their time and place.
