If you look far enough, you’ll find that pretty much everything under the sun is celebrated somewhere, by someone. We put together a list of truly bizarre festivals which are less about what's being celebrated, and more about who's doing the celebrating.

Cooper’s Hill Annual Cheese Rolling
The link between hills and cheese is fairly obvious, really — cows graze on hills, cheese comes from cows and then you eat cheese while picnicking on the hill…

Oh yes, and then there’s that very sensible ritual of getting your buddies together and chasing a huge block of cheese as it rolls down a hill. Well, the English were always a little strange.

Every Spring Bank Holiday Monday (around May 28), aspiring cheese-chasers gather at the top of a hill in Gloucester to chase a round of Double Gloucester as it rolls down the hill. This is a dangerous and challenging sport — bruises, broken bones and bloody noses are common as the group of 20 tumbles and stumbles after the cheese. The cheese always wins, but the person who comes in closest gets to keep it. What are a few broken bones when you can win a block of soggy battered cheese?

Visit www.cheese-rolling.co.uk.

Running of the Nudes
Spain has long been famous for the running of the bulls at Pamplona. While Hemingway was a big fan, there are those who object to the cruelty factor and, in protest, have staged their own festival — the Running of the Nudes. The festival takes place at the beginning of July a couple of days before the running of the bulls.

With the exception of the presence of the bulls, the general idea is pretty much the same. Both involve crowds of people running frantically through the streets of Pamplona, except that in the one instance everyone is completely starkers. So if you care for the well-being of bulls and are a bit of an exhibitionist then this is the festival for you.

Hadaka Matsuri
When it comes to running naked through the streets, the Japanese in Inazawa City are old hands. Since 767 BC the Naked Man has been taking a nude journey to the Kounomiya Shrine. The Naked Man’s odyssey currently takes place on January 13 each year. As he walks through the town, the Naked Man is said to absorb all the evil and bad luck of the people who touch him and after he has paid his respects to the Shinto deity, he is driven out of the town, taking all the bad luck with him.

Being the Naked Man is no easy task. In the depths of winter he has to walk the streets in a cotton loin cloth, while 9000 men in similar attire jostle frantically to touch him, while ‘guards’ lining the streets douse them all with icy water. Apparently it is a great honour.

Wife Carrying in Sonkajarvi
This festival, for a change, doesn’t involve nudity. However, it does involve strapping Finnish lads and adventurous tourists throwing women over their shoulders in a variety of awkward postures as they negotiate an obstacle course.

This patriarchal tradition — which imitates the common 19th century practice of wife-stealing — began in 1992 and draws about 9000 spectators. It takes place during the first week of July. Simply put, the aim is for the man to carry his (or anybody else’s) wife through an obstacle course in the shortest time. The woman must be over 17 years of age and must weigh more than 49 kilos. Fifteen seconds are deducted every time the woman is dropped.

Unfortunately, if the wife is not your own, you need to let her go after the race. If you win however, this is more than amply compensated for with a prize of your 'wife's' weight in beer.

Visit www.sonkajarvi.fi to find out more.

Cockroach racing
If Scandinavian spousal bonding is not for you, you could always try racing of a different kind. Since 1982, the folk down under have been celebrating Australia day (January 26) by holding races for their national animal. Nope, I am not talking about the Koala bear, the kangaroo or even the platypus. The humble cockroach is the champion of national festivities.

Every local pub is abuzz with activity as Aussies donned in cockroach themed khakis and cork hats drink beer, cheer their roaches, and drink more beer. All are welcome to participate in the festivities and if you don’t own a herd of thoroughbred creepy crawlies you can purchase a few for a reasonable price.

There's just one rule: all performance enhancing substances (coffee, sugar etc) are banned.

Scuttle past http://cockroachraces.com.au for more info.

Punkin’ Chunkin’ Championships
Just as cockroaches hold some status as Australia’s national animal, pumpkins are the pride of middle America. There are a lot of things you can do with a pumpkin — you can make a pie, you can grow really really big ones, you can cut holes in it and shove a candle inside… and you can use it as a weapon of mass destruction.

Yip, at the Punkin’ Chunkin’ Championship in Delaware (which takes place over the first weekend in November) enthusiasts build catapults, trebuchets and other cannon-like structures to launch their pumpkins into the sky. The aim: to propel your pumpkin as far as it can possibly go. However, this three day festival is not all about launch power. There is also a target competition and some pumpkin pies.

Moose Dropping Festival
At least the Alaskans know the value of food — you won’t see them throwing pumpkins and tomatoes willy nilly. Natural resources are scarce and scarcity breeds ingenuity. Well, this seems like the only reasonable explanation for a festival which celebrates moose poop.

Every July the Alaskans get together for a moose dropping festival. No, this doesn't involve plummeting ungulates, but rather a chance to get up close and personal with moose manure. If you're feeling artistic you can browse and purchase moose drooping art and jewellery, while active folk can drop dung on numbered targets from hot air balloons. It’s probably a good thing you don’t find elephants in Alaska.

Well, there you have it. Our collection of bizarre festivals has revealed a few lesser known facts about human behaviour — the Spanish and Japanese have a common delight in nudity; single women should be wary about travelling in Finland and the Australian rugby team should be called the ‘Roaches’.

Oh, and a few existing suspicions were confirmed — the English are a little loopy, Americans like blowing stuff up and there isn’t a hell of a lot to do in Alaska.