Heritage news
ArtsFamily Folk DanceHeritageWhy is Kolkata’s Durga Puja recognised as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage?WeddingsCalifornia city hall goes jurassic with dino wedding ceremonyCarnival28th Latino Heritage Parade and Festival Set for Today, Recognizing City’s ‘Unsung Heroes’Holy daysWhen is Diwali 2026? Key dates, significance, how to celebrateWeddingsArt of Betashar: Issatay Issabayev’s Lifelong Dialogue with Kazakh TraditionSeasonsOak Mountain State Park to host annual Harvest Festival Oct. 17ArtsTwo weekends of Oktoberfest fun begin tonight at American German ClubArtsTwo weekends of Oktoberfest fun begin tonight at American German ClubArtsTwo weekends of Oktoberfest fun begin tonight at American German ClubArtsFamily Folk DanceHeritageWhy is Kolkata’s Durga Puja recognised as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage?WeddingsCalifornia city hall goes jurassic with dino wedding ceremonyCarnival28th Latino Heritage Parade and Festival Set for Today, Recognizing City’s ‘Unsung Heroes’Holy daysWhen is Diwali 2026? Key dates, significance, how to celebrateWeddingsArt of Betashar: Issatay Issabayev’s Lifelong Dialogue with Kazakh TraditionSeasonsOak Mountain State Park to host annual Harvest Festival Oct. 17ArtsTwo weekends of Oktoberfest fun begin tonight at American German ClubArtsTwo weekends of Oktoberfest fun begin tonight at American German ClubArtsTwo weekends of Oktoberfest fun begin tonight at American German Club
EveryParampara

Music, dance and storytelling

Songs, dances, theatre, epic poetry and oral history.

Music, dance and storytelling traditions are the performances that a community passes down by ear, eye and heart: the epic poem recited by a griot, the dance in a circle at a wedding, the shadow play of Java, the ballad of a village, the lullaby of a grandmother. They carry history, law and humour in forms that people can remember. Many are linked to festivals and rites, and many are on UNESCO's lists of intangible heritage. Here they are gathered by country, with notes on who performs them and when.

Songs and dances of the people

Folk music and dance are community property: they are learnt by joining in, not by lessons, and they change a little with every generation. Circle dances, line dances and couple dances accompany harvests and weddings, and instruments such as the drum, the fiddle, the pipe and the lute are made locally. In many places, there are separate songs for work, for love, for mourning and for children, and each has its own time and place.

Stories and theatre

Oral storytelling holds a society's memory: epics, myths, fables, proverbs and riddles told by elders. Some become formal theatre, such as kabuki and noh in Japan, wayang in Indonesia, the mumming plays of Britain or the Ramlila of India, which retells the Ramayana in a month of evenings. These forms often depend on one master teaching one student, and communities and governments now support them to keep them alive.

About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Music, dance and storytelling (kind of tradition). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
MealBreakfastLunchDinnerSupperTea-time and snacking customsTea, coffee and drinking ceremoniesSweets given and sharedFeasts and festival mealsFasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇳 Kolkata, IndiaJana Gana Mana India's national anthem, from a Bengali hymn of 1911, sung at civic occasionsCeremony 🇭🇹 Haiti and 1 moreRara A Haitian street music of bamboo trumpets and drums, played in the Easter seasonPerformance 🇵🇱 Kraków, PolandSt. Mary's Trumpet CallHejnał mariacki A five-note bugle call played hourly from the tower of St. Mary's Church in Kraków, Poland.Performance 🇸🇦 Saudi ArabiaArdahالعرضة A traditional Arabian group dance of facing lines, drums, poetry, and swordsPerformance 🇵🇭 Manila, PhilippinesPasyon A Tagalog epic of Christ's passion, chanted without a break during Holy WeekSpiritual 🇮🇳 Thrissur, IndiaPulikaliപുലിക്കളി Painted tigers and leopards dance through Thrissur on the fourth day of OnamPerformance 🇦🇺 AustraliaBark painting Ochre pictures on flattened tree bark, an Aboriginal art form of northern AustraliaCraft 🇺🇸 Fairbanks, United States and 2 moreWorld Eskimo-Indian Olympics An annual Arctic gathering of traditional survival games, athletics, and cultural artsGame 🇯🇵 Ōmuta, JapanKarutaかるた Japanese playing cards from the 16th century, still raced over poems each New YearGame 🇨🇳 China and 2 moreChinese knotting中國結 (Zhōngguó jié) A folk craft of cord tied into lucky shapes, made in China and given as charmsCraft 🇨🇮 Abidjan, Ivory Coast and 3 moreZouglou A dance-led music style from Ivory Coast, sung in street slang and local languagesPerformance 🇵🇾 ParaguayParaguayan harp Paraguay's national harp, strung with 32 to 46 strings and plucked with long fingernailsPerformance 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilCapoeira An Afro-Brazilian martial art and musical game played inside a circleGame 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreDandiya Raas A stick dance from Gujarat performed in pairs during the festival of NavaratriPerformance 🇺🇦 Kyiv, UkraineBanduraБандура A Ukrainian plucked string instrument played to accompany epic songs and folk balladsPerformance 🇦🇺 Sydney, AustraliaSongline A navigational and spiritual path across Australia that links ancestral stories to the physical landscape.Folklore 🇺🇸 New Orleans, United StatesKrewe Carnival clubs that stage parades, balls, and pageantry along the Gulf CoastFestival 🇸🇳 Senegal and 1 moreKumpo A palm-leaf figure of the Diola, danced at village festivals to urge good conductFolklore 🇮🇳 Jammu, IndiaBhangra A Punjabi harvest dance, first kept by farmers and now performed worldwidePerformance 🇰🇮 KiribatiMusic of Kiribati Chant, body percussion, songs and dances of the islands of KiribatiPerformance 🇨🇳 China and 3 moreDragon dance舞龍 / 舞龙 A long dragon puppet on poles, danced by a team at Chinese New Year and other festivalsPerformance 🇲🇿 Island of Mozambique, MozambiqueTufo A women's dance of northern Mozambique, performed at Islamic feasts to drums and songPerformance 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia and 1 moreJounen Kwéyòl A day of Creole food, music and dress in Saint Lucia and Dominica, kept each OctoberFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇺🇸 New Orleans, United StatesSecond line A New Orleans parade where clubs march and a crowd dances along behind the bandFestival 🇦🇴 Luanda, Angola and 2 moreKuduro An energetic Angolan music and dance style born in Luanda that mixes African rhythms with electronic beats.Performance 🇲🇬 Antananarivo, MadagascarHiragasyHira gasy A day-long Malagasy highland tradition of song, dance, and poetic speech competitionsPerformance 🇮🇷 Shiraz, Iran and 1 moreKhatamخاتم A Persian inlay craft that builds geometric patterns from thousands of tiny cut piecesCraft 🇱🇧 Lebanon and 5 moreZajalزجل Half-sung Arabic poetry in colloquial speech, traded as a duel between improvising poetsPerformance 🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanIkebana生け花 The Japanese art of arranging cut branches and flowers in a vesselPerformance 🇵🇰 Islamabad, Pakistan and 2 moreQawwaliقَوّالی Devotional Sufi singing from South Asia, led by hereditary parties at shrinesPerformance 🇧🇷 BrazilBaião A syncopated folk rhythm and partnered dance from northeastern BrazilPerformance 🇧🇷 BrazilForró Music, dance and party from Brazil's Northeast, with accordion, triangle and zabumba drumPerformance 🇹🇴 TongaTauʻolunga A Tongan dance of hand gestures and steady eyes, performed by young women at weddingsPerformance 🇦🇴 Luanda, Angola and 4 moreKizomba A close, slow couple dance from Angola, named after a Kimbundu word for partyPerformance 🇮🇳 IndiaTheyyam A sacred ritual dance and divine invocation from North Malabar in IndiaSpiritual 🇧🇮 Gitega, BurundiKaryenda A sacred drum of Burundi that symbolized the monarchy and announced royal events.Performance 🇬🇪 Tbilisi, Georgia and 4 moreGeorgian polyphonic singing Several voices at once, sung without instruments at Georgian feasts and weddingsPerformance 🇹🇿 Zanzibar, TanzaniaSauti za Busara A February meeting of musicians in Zanzibar's Old FortPerformance 🇳🇿 Auckland, New ZealandPoi A Māori performing art of swinging tethered weights in rhythmical patterns.Performance 🇺🇸 Boise, United States and 3 moreBasque festivalEuskal jaiak Gatherings of dance, sport and food that keep Basque culture alive far from homeFestival 🇵🇷 San Juan, Puerto Rico and 1 moreBomba A Puerto Rican music and dance tradition where the drummer follows the dancer in a rhythmic dialogue.Performance 🇱🇰 Kandy, Sri LankaKandyan danceඋඩරට නැටුම් The sacred dance of Sri Lanka's hill country, kept in temple and on the stagePerformance 🇿🇦 South Africa and 1 moreIndlamu A Zulu war dance of two warriors in pelts, matched move for move and stamped on the beatPerformance 🇫🇷 Paris, FranceCoupé-décalé Ivorian dance music of club nights, flamboyant dress and money thrown to the crowdPerformance 🇵🇭 Palo, Philippines and 1 moreTinikling A Philippine folk dance where dancers step between clapping bamboo polesPerformance 🇿🇦 Cape Town, South AfricaGumboot danceIsicathulo A percussive South African dance born in the mines, performed in Wellington boots to communicate and celebrate.Performance 🇮🇳 IndiaSatsangसत्सङ्ग Sitting in the company of truth, to hear, sing and meditate in northern IndiaSpiritual 🇵🇷 Ponce, Puerto Rico and 1 morePlena Puerto Rican folk songs and dance sharing community news with rhythmic frame drumsPerformance
PreviousMore traditions

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly EveryParampara

Every week: one tradition from somewhere new, what is being celebrated around the world this week, and one idea explained.