Eight Over-The-Top Celebrations You'll Never Forget
(Kings, Queens, and Swinging Singles)

Ever since the time of Genghis Kahn, Mongolians have clung fiercely to their horse-based culture. At the Naadam Festival in July, herdsmen come for two wild days of raucous socializing and unbrilled competition in horse racing, archery and wrestling. The sight and sound of 600 horses charging over the plains is a heart stopper, as is the celebration that follows.

Every September, before the nomadic Berbers settle in for the winter, they host a betrothal fair, a kind of Moroccan Sadie Hawkins mixer where the single girls do the choosing. With music, dancing, and lots of jewelry on display, the fair lasts for three days, making it feel like a medley of all the weddings you have ever been to.

It's the ultimate party - sixteen days of eating and drinking heartily , and hanging out with boisterous strangers. It begins with a parade led by horse-drawn beer wagons and ends at the fairgrounds with oompah concerts, gut-churning rides, and, probably, a hangover.

Begun in 1983, Sturgis became the kind of bacchanal immortalized in The Wild ;Ones. Today it's almost a family destination, with law and order prevailing. But everyone partakes in the hill climbs and concerts, and prowls the streets, admiring the chromed-out "Hogs".

At the end of May, the Camargue known for its pink flamingos, white horses, black bulls, and colorful cowboys-hosts the Gypsy Pilgrimage. More than 20,000 Gypsies fill the streets of the village of Stes. -Maries-de-la-Mer with the chatter of gitane and their passionate music.

Twenty years ago, it was a one-night AIDS fund-raiser. The White Party is now a weeklong celebration known for its spectacular events, celebrity watching, and 15,000 gay men and women, mostly young, mostly fit, mostly fabulous-and all breathtakingly gorgeous in white.

Opening night (December 7) at La Scala has always been a wonderfully theatrical event- in the audience as well as onstage. And now, after its successful $67 million renovation, it's more glorious than ever.

King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV celebrates his bithday every 4Th of July with a weeklong marathon of beauty contests, yatch races, military parades, concerts, and parties. The whole island turns out, and you are invited, too.