세계 진흙 축제: Mud Festival in the world

Down and Dirty

Getting out and getting dirty in the summertime can make for some good, clean fun. Between mud festivals, mud races, mud bathing, "tough guy" competitions, and outdoor religious ceremonies, people all around the world have recently been finding great reasons to go outside and feel the earth between their toes. Collected here are a few images from our muddy world.

A competitor celebrates his team's victory in a swamp football match in a man-made mud pool in Beijing, China, on July 15, 2012.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 

A goalkeeper stands guardduring a match of swamp football in a man-made mud pool in Beijing, on July 15, 2012.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 

Tourists play in the mud during the 15th annual mud festival on Daecheon Beach in Boryeong, South Korea, on July 15, 2012. The festival features mud wrestling, mud sliding and a mud king contest. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) 

Jason Glass of Shaw GMC Chevrolet Buick, after running in the Rangeland Derby Chuckwagon finals at the 100th Anniversary of the Calgary Stampede Rodeo in Calgary, Alberta, on July 15, 2012. (Reuters/Todd Korol) 

Visitors watch massive plumes of muddy water being released from the Xiaolangdi dam to clear up the sediment-laden Yellow river and to prevent localized flooding, in Jiyuan, Henan province, China, on July 6, 2012. China is hit by big downpours every summer often causing fatalities as seen in 2010, which saw the nation's worst flooding in a decade leaving more than 4,300 people dead or missing.(STR/AFP/Getty Images) 

Rachael Martin and Melissa Adney pose wearing crowns and ball gowns after completing the "Mud Bath" obstacle in the Tough Bloke Challenge at the Cataract Scout Park in Sydney, Australia, on June 30, 2012. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images) 

Mud-covered shoes of a competitor, after the "Mud Bath" obstacle in the Tough Bloke Challenge at the Cataract Scout Park in Sydney, Australia, on June 30, 2012. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images) 

A woman plays in the mud during the Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon beach in Boryeong, South Korea, on July 15, 2012. About 2 to 3 million domestic and international tourists visit the beach during the annual mud festival, according to the festival organizers.(Reuters/Lee Jae-Won) 

A couple with their bodies painted with colored mud stroll during the 15th annual mud festival in Boryeong, South Korea, on July 15, 2012.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) 

A mud-covered tourist during the opening day of the Boryeong Mud Festival, on July 14, 2012. (Reuters/Lee Jae-Won) 

Tourists cover each other in mineral-rich mud at the Israeli Dead Sea resort of Ein Gedi, on June 6, 2012.(Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images) 

At the Israeli Dead Sea resort of Ein Gedi, a tourist covers herself in mud, on June 6, 2012. (Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images) 

Participants in the Duhnen tideland race speed on their sulkies through the mud in Duhnen near Cuxhaven, Germany, on July 15, 2012.(AP Photo/dapd/Nigel Treblin) 

Jockey Dirk Jan Hofer, after his race on "Amazing Boy" at the Duhnen tideland races in northern Germany, on July 15, 2012.(AP Photo/dapd/Nigel Treblin) 

Children crawl through a mud pit during the Merrell Down & Dirty National Mud and Obstacle Series at the Aurora Sports Park, near Denver, Colorado, on Sunday, June 24, 2012. (Nathan Bilow/AP Images for Merrell) 

Mud flies in front of a competitor as he swims through mud underneath electrified wires during the Tough Mudder at Mt. Snow in West Dover, Vermont, on July 15, 2012. The Tough Mudder is a nine mile endurance event which runs competitors through a military style obstacle course complete with mud, water and fire. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi) 

Kellan Clegg (right), age 9, of Livonia, Michigan, covered in mud by his friends while playing in a giant lake of mud at the 25th annual "Mud Day" in Westland, Michigan, on July 10, 2012. The event, which features a 75' by 150' pit filled with 20,000 gallons of water and 200 tons of topsoil, draws about a thousand children each year. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) 

Alanna Gleason, age 9, of Highland, Michigan plays in a giant lake of mud at the 25th annual "Mud Day" in Westland, Michigan, on July 10, 2012. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) 

A Filipino Catholic devotee, soaked in mud and wrapped in banana leaves, attends a mass to celebrate the Feast of Saint John The Baptist at Bibiclat village, Aliaga township, Nueva Ecija province in northern Philippines, on Sunday, June 24, 2012. Traditionally the Feast of St. John The Baptist is celebrated in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation in Asia by dousing unwary people with water but in this sleepy village of Bibiclat, the residents soak themselves in muddy rice fields and don banana leaves instead. The unique celebration has become a tourist attraction. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) 

Competitors crawl through mud beneath electrified wires during the Tough Mudder at Mt. Snow in West Dover, Vermont, on July 15, 2012.(Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi) 

Competitors work to pull a woman up an obstacle where competitors must jump to the top of a half pipe during the Tough Mudder in West Dover, Vermont, on July 15, 2012. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi) 

A competitor wears a camera on his head as he competes in the Tough Mudder at Mt. Snow in Vermont, on July 15, 2012.(Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi) 

A competitor comforts his teammate after she made it through the last obstacle during the Tough Mudder at Mt. Snow in West Dover, Vermont, on July 15, 2012. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi) 

Nepalese youths jump into the mud as they plant rice in a field in Pokhara, some 200 km west of Kathmandu, on June 29, 2012. The farmers are celebrating National Paddy Day on "Asar 15" of the Nepali calendar as the annual rice planting season begins.(Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images) 

A motocross rider competes in the Red Bull Hare Scramble race during Erzberg Rodeo near the village of Eisenerz in the Austrian province of Styria, on June 10, 2012. (Reuters/Lisi Niesner) 

A couple plays in mud during the Boryeong Mud Festival in South Korea, on July 15, 2012. (Reuters/Lee Jae-Won) 

Tourists play in mud during the opening day of the Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon beach in Boryeong, on July 14, 2012.(Reuters/Lee Jae-Won) 

A team of competitors jump in the air after completing the Merrell Down & Dirty National Mud and Obstacle Series at the Aurora Sports Park near Denver, Colorado, on June 24, 2012. (Nathan Bilow/AP Images for Merrell) 

Festival-goers play in the mud on the third day of the Eurockeennes' festival in the French eastern city of Belfort, on July 1, 2012.(Sebastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images) 

A Competitor dives into the muddy water during the Tough Guy and Gal Challenge at Woodhill Sands in Auckland, New Zealand, on on July 8, 2012. (Phil Walter/Getty Images) 

A rhinoceros relaxes in a mud pit in the heat of the day at the Alabama Zoo in Montgomery, Alabama, on July 6, 2012.(AP Photo/Dave Martin) 

A child has his muddy face washed clean after he competed in the mile run of the Merrell Down & Dirty National Mud and Obstacle Series, near Denver, Colorado, on Sunday, June 24, 2012. (Nathan Bilow/AP Images for Merrell) 

15th Boryeong Mud Festival 2012

Alexis Madrigal