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It's almost a new year, which can only mean one thing: it's almost time for the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. For a month every January, the city of Harbin in China's northeast transforms into a winter wonderland of castles, tunnels, slides, and sculptures — all made from ice and snow, and illuminated in shades of pastel at night.

The festival began as an ice lantern garden party in 1963. (The term "garden party" may evoke scenes of summer dresses and sandwiches in a verdant milieu, but Harbin's January temperatures can plummet to -28 degrees Fahrenheit.) China's Cultural Revolution caused a prolonged interruption to the annual celebration, but the ice festival returned in 1985 and has been going strong ever since.

Visit Atlas Obscura for more on Harbin's ice and snow festival.

Icy wonders to entice:

• The majestic Snow Castle of Kemi in Finland is rebuilt every winter
• Geilo Ice Music Festival is Norway's chilly all ice-instrument extravaganza
• Mind-blowing carvings and fantasy scenes grace Aurora Ice Museum, the world's largest year-round ice environment

Visit Atlas Obscura for more on Harbin's ice and snow festival.