Madagascar
Holidays and Festivals
Pop culture is seen in vibrant Madagascar holidays and festivals throughout the year all over the country, with many events attracting a significant number of tourists. The celebrations are based on a variety of traditions ranging from holy days to cultural rituals and national holidays, with the Santabari festival and Donia Music Festival two of the favorites.
New Year’s Day
The Malagasy people celebrate New Year’s Day along with the rest of the world from midnight on December 31 through January 1. Family visits, eating out and street parties mark the occasion.
Alahamadi Be
Alahamadi Be is Madagascar’s traditional New Year’s Day, which takes place in March and lasts for two days. Crowds hit the street in celebration, homes are decorated in lights and friends and family visit to wish eachother well. Traditional music and dance plays a part in the festivities.
Martyrs’ Day
Also held in March on the 29th, Martyrs’ Day commemorates the 1947 rebellion against French colonial rule which eventually led to Madagascar’s independence after thousands of lives had been lost. The day is a public holiday in which the dead are memorialized for their sacrifices.
Easter
The most important Christian festival of the year, Easter falls either in March or April, and is marked by religious services at Madagascar’s many churches and cathedrals.
Santabary Festival
The Santabary Festival is ancient in origin, and takes place in late April/early May to give thanks for the year’s first rice harvest. Eating, drinking, traditional music and dance are all part of the celebrations, and local customs vary across the country.
Labour Day
Labour Day, held on May 1, is a national holiday, with city folks taking the time to visit the countryside and beaches for picnics and a day of relaxation.
Independence Day
Independence Day in Madagascar is June 26, a national holiday which commemorates the country’s final shaking of colonial rule. It’s celebrated all across the archipelago with feasting, drinking, music, and dance.
Feria Oramena
The carnival atmosphere of Feria Oramena held in June focuses on Madagascar’s favorite seafood, lobsters. Shows, exhibitions and lots of fish dishes are enjoyed by all.
Fisemana
The Fisemana festival, held by the Antakarana people, is a purification ritual taking place every June. The customs go back centuries and are performed by local soothsayers.
Famadihana
This traditional event, known as the turning of the bones, is a three-month family-oriented ritual beginning in June in Madagascar. The bodies of recently-passed family members and ancestors are taken from the crypt, re-dressed in silk shrouds and reburied.
Hiragasy
This much-loved July event is a traditional form of entertainment in Madagascar, first seen in the 18th century. Competing players perform a five-themed spectacle of oratory, dance, music, drinking and eating contests amid much merriment.
Donia Music Festival
Held in September at the Hell-Ville Stadium on Nosy Be Island, the Donia Music Festival is a combination of Malagasy music, sport and cultural events. The festivities last for a full week and draw in over 40,000 spectators.
Madajazzcar
October’s Maddajazzcar is a massive, two-week long celebration of jazz held in venues all over the capital. International musicians, singers and thousands of visitors attend the events.
Christmas Day
The second major Christian festival in Madagascar, Christmas is a time of church services, Yuletide parties and family festivities across the country.
Places to visit
Antananarivo
Antananarivo was historically the capital of the Merina people, who continue to form the majority of the city's estimated 1,300,000 (2013) inhabitants, as well as the surrounding urban areas which in all have a total metropolitan population approaching three million. All 18 Malagasy ethnic groups, as well as residents of Chinese, Indian, European and other origins, are well represented in the city.
Pirates Cementary Ile
Morondava
Did You Know?
1. Most of Madagascar’s wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth
2. Poverty in Madagascar
3. Deforestation
Map
Diana (1) Antsiranana19,266 700,021
Sava (2 ) Antsiranana25,5189 80,807
Itasy (3) Antananarivo6,993 732,834
Analamanga (4) Antananarivo16,9113, 348,794
Vakinankaratra (5) Antananarivo16,599 1,803,307
Bongolava (6) Antananarivo16,688 457,368
Sofia (7) Mahajanga50,1001, 247,037
Boeny (8) Mahajanga31,046 799,675
Betsiboka (9) Mahajanga30,0252 93,522
Melaky (10) Mahajanga38,8522 89,594
Alaotra Mangoro (11) Toamasina31,948 1,027,110
Atsinanana (12) Toamasina21,934 1,270,680
Analanjirofo (13) Toamasina21,930 1,035,132
Amoron'i Mania (14) Fianarantsoa16,141 715,027
Haute-Matsiatra (15) Fianarantsoa21,080 1,199,183
Vatovavy-Fitovinany (16)Fianarantsoa19,605 1,416,459
Atsimo-Atsinanana (17) Fianarantsoa18,863 898,702
Ihorombe (18) Fianarantsoa26,391 312,307
Menabe (19) Toliara46,121 592,113
Atsimo-Andrefana (20) Toliara66,2361, 316,756
Androy (21) Toliara19,317 733,933
Anosy (22) Toliara25,731 671,805
Totals 587,295 21,842,167
Antananarivo (Capital of Madagascar)
Languages
The Malagasy language of Malayo-Polynesian origin, is generally spoken throughout the island. The official languages of Madagascar are Malagasy and French. Madagascar is a Francophone country, and French is spoken among the educated population of this former French colony.
In the first Constitution of 1958, Malagasy and French were named the official languages of the Malagasy Republic. In antananarivo, you can observe all the sings put in french all over the city.
Currency
The ariary was introduced in 1961. It was equal to 5 Malagasy francs. Coins and banknotes were issued denominated in both francs and ariary, with the sub-unit of the ariary, the iraimbilanja, worth 1⁄5 of an ariary and therefore equal to the franc. The ariary replaced the franc as the official currency of Madagascar on January 1, 2005
Things To Do
Madagascar has been isolated from the African landmass for approximately 165 million years and its flora and fauna evolved in isolation from that time onwards.The island is one of the world's most biologically diverse areas, and is internationally renowned as a wildlife tourism and ecotourism destination, focusing on lemurs, birds, and orchids.More than half of the island's breeding birds are endemic.Other native species include the red-bellied lemur, the aye-aye, and the indri (the largest lemur species).
One of the best places to observe the indri is the Analamazoatra Reserve (also known as Périnet), four hours away from the capital.The presence of the indri has helped to make the Analamazoatra Reserve one of Madagascar's most popular tourist attractions
Important Cultural Aspects
Malagasy people traditionally consult Mpanandro ("Makers of the Days") to identify the most auspicious days for important events such as weddings or famadihana, according to a traditional astrological system introduced by Arabs. Similarly, the nobles of many Malagasy communities in the pre-colonial period would commonly employ advisers known as the ombiasy (from olona-be-hasina, "man of much virtue") of the southeastern Antemoro ethnic group, who trace their ancestry back to early Arab settlers