Heritage news
HeritageThailand showcases Chud Thai craftsmanship in Paris ahead of UNESCO reviewArtsFamily Folk DanceHeritageWhy is Kolkata’s Durga Puja recognised as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage?HeritageWhy 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’WeddingsInternet sensation Mr Faisu gets married in traditional 'Nikah' ceremony, calls it a "blessing beyond words"Holy daysWhen is Diwali 2026? Key dates, significance, how to celebrateWeddingsArt of Betashar: Issatay Issabayev’s Lifelong Dialogue with Kazakh TraditionFestivalsSASE, AAA celebrate Asian culture at Mid-Autumn FestivalHeritageThailand showcases Chud Thai craftsmanship in Paris ahead of UNESCO reviewArtsFamily Folk DanceHeritageWhy is Kolkata’s Durga Puja recognised as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage?HeritageWhy 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’WeddingsInternet sensation Mr Faisu gets married in traditional 'Nikah' ceremony, calls it a "blessing beyond words"Holy daysWhen is Diwali 2026? Key dates, significance, how to celebrateWeddingsArt of Betashar: Issatay Issabayev’s Lifelong Dialogue with Kazakh TraditionFestivalsSASE, AAA celebrate Asian culture at Mid-Autumn Festival
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
🇱🇺 Echternach, LuxembourgDancing procession of EchternachIechternacher Sprangprëssioun A Roman Catholic hopping pilgrimage honouring Saint Willibrord in eastern LuxembourgSpiritual 🇲🇰 Ohrid, North MacedoniaOhrid Summer FestivalОхридско лето A summer season of concerts and theatre in Ohrid, running from mid-July to late AugustFestival 🇲🇹 Valletta, MaltaMaltese Carnivalil-Karnival ta' Malta A lively week of costumed parades, dancing, satirical floats and sweets across Malta.Festival · Sweets given and shared 🇪🇸 Valencia, SpainFallasFalles de València Valencia's five-day March fiesta of giant paper figures and bonfiresFestival 🇨🇭 Basel, SwitzerlandCarnival of BaselBasler Fasnacht A 72-hour masked carnival of drums, flutes and satire in northern SwitzerlandFestival 🇷🇸 Guča, SerbiaGuča Trumpet FestivalФестивал трубача у Гучи A weekend brass band competition and folk festival in western SerbiaFestival 🇪🇸 Alicante, SpainBonfires of Saint John in AlicanteFogueres de Sant Joan A midsummer festival of towering satirical monuments, music and fire in AlicanteFestival 🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreMaypole A tall wooden pole, garlanded and danced around, raised at May Day, Whitsun or MidsummerFestival 🇪🇸 Seville, Spain and 5 moreAzulejo Painted, tin-glazed ceramic tiles that cover walls and floors across Portugal and SpainCraft 🇪🇸 Barcelona, Spain and 1 moreSardana A Catalan circle dance, danced hand in hand to an eleven-player cobla bandPerformance 🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreKhorovodхоровод A Slavic circle dance with singing, danced with linked hands or little fingersPerformance 🇦🇹 Vienna, AustriaVienna New Year's ConcertNeujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker A morning of waltzes and polkas on 1 January, played by the Vienna PhilharmonicPerformance 🇬🇧 United KingdomTwmpath The Welsh word for a village dancing green, now used for a social dance eveningPerformance 🇭🇷 Omiš, CroatiaKlapa Unaccompanied harmony singing from Dalmatia, built by groups of friendsPerformance 🇸🇰 SlovakiaFujara A tall Slovak flute played by shepherds, with a deep voice built from overtonesPerformance 🇱🇹 Lithuania and 1 moreLithuanian folk songsliaudies dainos Songs of love, weddings, work and war, sung in unison or in harmony across LithuaniaPerformance 🇳🇱 Landgraaf, NetherlandsPinkpop A three-day pop and rock festival in the Netherlands, held on the Pentecost weekendFestival 🇩🇰 Roskilde, DenmarkRoskilde Festival A week-long Danish music festival south of Roskilde, run by volunteers since 1971Festival 🇬🇷 GreeceSymposiumσυμπόσιον An ancient Greek post-meal gathering for diluted wine, debate, music and lively gamesTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies 🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreYuri's Night An annual global celebration on April 12 marking milestones in space explorationFestival 🇬🇷 Athens, Greece and 2 moreDionysian Mysteries Ancient Greek and Roman initiation rites of wine, ecstatic dance and spiritual rebirthSpiritual · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies 🇪🇪 Tartu, Estonia and 5 moreEuropeade An annual gathering of folk dancers, musicians and singers across EuropeFestival 🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreAnastenariaΑναστενάρια A barefoot firewalking and dance rite honouring Saint Constantine and Saint HelenSpiritual 🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreKoledariколядники A Slavic winter caroling custom of visiting homes with songs, masks and blessingsFestival 🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreTauroctonyταυροκτόνος The sacred bull-slaying imagery at the heart of the ancient Roman Mithraic mysteriesSpiritual 🇺🇦 Ukraine and 8 moreVechornytsiвечорниці Evening gatherings of Ukrainian youth, with songs, jokes, games and winter divinationSeasonal 🇺🇦 Ukraine and 10 moreEgg decorating Decorating eggs with dye, wax and carving, kept at Easter, Nowruz and springCraft 🇧🇬 BulgariaJuly Morning A Bulgarian summer gathering where crowds watch the first sunrise of July with music and song.Festival 🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreDelphic Games of the modern era Global competitions and exhibitions across the arts, modelled on ancient Greek gamesPerformance 🇮🇪 Galway, IrelandSeachtain na Gaeilge Seventeen days of Irish-language events, from 1 March to St Patrick's DayFestival 🇧🇪 Ghent, BelgiumGentse Feesten Ten days of free music, theatre and street performance across central Ghent every JulyFestival 🇬🇷 Athens, GreeceDionysiaΔιονύσια Ancient Athenian festivals of theatre, processions and sacrifices in honour of the god Dionysus.Festival · Feasts and festival meals 🇬🇷 Nicopolis, Greece and 1 moreActiaἌκτια A festival of music, sport, and naval displays kept in ancient times to honor a Roman emperor's victory.Festival 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreFlyting A ritual contest of poetic insults exchanged between two parties in verse.Performance 🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreLazariceлазарице A spring procession of girls in flower wreaths, singing door to door before Palm SundaySpiritual 🇬🇧 United KingdomGarland dance A nineteenth-century English dance tradition performed with flower-covered garlandsPerformance 🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreFilifilí (Irish) Ireland's and Scotland's trained poets, storytellers and seersPerformance 🇳🇱 Amsterdam, NetherlandsTangomagia An annual Amsterdam tango festival held in the last days of DecemberPerformance 🇪🇸 SpainThe Water of LifeL'aigua de vida A Catalan folk tale of a quest for magic water, a fragrant branch and a talking birdPerformance 🇬🇧 United KingdomAssipattle and the Stoor Worm An Orcadian dragon-slayer tale of a fireside daydreamer who defeats a giant sea monsterFolklore 🇲🇹 MaltaFestival Kanzunetta IndipendenzaKonkors Kanzunetta Indipendenza An annual music contest in Malta celebrating native songwriting around Independence DayPerformance 🇬🇧 Linton, United KingdomLinton Worm A Borders dragon killed with a burning spear, told in Roxburghshire since the 12th centuryFolklore 🇲🇹 Valletta, MaltaMużika Mużika A national song competition in Malta that selects artists for the Eurovision contest and celebrates Maltese music.Performance 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreSelkieselkie fowk The seal shapeshifters of Scottish and northern island folkloreFolklore 🇷🇺 RussiaRussian folk music The village songs, choirs and instruments of Russia's ethnic Russian peoplePerformance 🇬🇧 East Kilbride, United KingdomKate Dalrymple A traditional Scottish reel and comic Scots song about a muirland spinsterPerformance 🇺🇦 Dnipro, UkraineCossack songs of the Dnipropetrovsk RegionКозацькі пісні Дніпропетровщини Folk songs made by Cossacks, still sung in villages of the Dnipropetrovsk regionPerformance 🇧🇪 Brussels, BelgiumKunstenfestivaldesarts An annual May arts festival in Brussels, with theatre, dance, film and visual artPerformance
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.