Seasons, harvest and the calendar
Customs tied to a season, a harvest, a moon or a day of the week.
Seasonal and calendar traditions follow the turning of the year: the first thaw, the monsoon, the harvest, the longest night, the new moon. They also follow the days of the week, with Friday prayers, Sunday roast and Monday fasts. Because these customs are tied to nature and time, they appear almost everywhere, though each place names and keeps them in its own way. EveryParampara links them to the live calendar, so that you can see what is being kept today and what is coming in the year ahead.
Seasons and harvests
Farming societies marked the sowing, the first fruits and the harvest with offerings and feasts, and many of those festivals are still kept: Pongal, Chuseok, Thanksgiving, the New Yam Festival. Spring brings festivals of renewal, from Nowruz to Holi and Easter, and midwinter brings fire and light. In the tropics the rains rather than the temperature set the year, and festivals greet their arrival or their end.
Moons, weeks and days
Lunar calendars shape the dates of Ramadan, Lunar New Year, Vesak, Diwali and the Jewish festivals, so the dates move against the solar year. The week has its own rhythm, with a day of rest, a day of market and days of fasting for particular gods. EveryParampara's calendar and weekday pages show these patterns, so a visitor can see why Friday is couscous in Morocco and Saturday is Shabbat in Israel.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Seasons, harvest and the calendar (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.
🇨🇳 Yulin, ChinaYulin Dog Meat Festival狗肉节
A ten-day June festival in Yulin, China, where dog meat is eaten with lycheesFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇯🇵 JapanMarine Day海の日
A Japanese summer holiday to thank the ocean and mark the country's ties to the seaCeremony
🇨🇳 Suzhou, China and 4 moreDongzhi Festival冬至
A winter solstice festival of family reunions, ancestor rites and sweet rice ballsSeasonal · Dinner
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreFukubukuro福袋
Surprise discount grab bags sold by Japanese retailers for the New YearSeasonal
🇹🇼 Taipei, Taiwan and 1 moreRetrocession Day臺灣光復節 / 台湾光复节 (Táiwān guāngfùjié)
A public holiday on 25 October marking the end of Japanese rule in Taiwan in 1945Ceremony
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreDajiao打醮
An annual Taoist ritual and festival seeking peace and safety for the communitySpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇨🇳 Tianjin, China and 1 moreBa-zha八蜡
An old Chinese harvest rite of eight offerings, later a guardian against locustsSpiritual
🇰🇷 Busan, South KoreaBusan Sunrise Festival부산해맞이축제
A bell rung in Busan on 31 December, then the year's first sunrise at the beachSeasonal
🇰🇷 Jindo Island, South KoreaNamdo Field Songs남도 들노래
Farmers' choral work songs from South Jeolla, sung through the rice field yearPerformance
🇨🇳 Xiamen, China and 2 moreBo Bing博餅 (Bóbǐng)
A dice game played at Mid-Autumn, where mooncakes of many sizes are the prizesGame
🇨🇳 ChinaSanfutie三伏贴
A seasonal Chinese medicine practice applying herbal patches during peak summer heatSeasonal
🇨🇳 ChinaSymbolic stars神煞
Helpful and harmful influences read from the Chinese calendar's stems and branchesFolklore
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreTraditional games of Korea전통놀이 (jeontongnori)
Korean games kept through the seasons, from New Year board games to winter kitesGame
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Busan Sunrise Festival: Busan Metropolitan city, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Traditional games of Korea: Davidturnswood, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Yulin Dog Meat Festival: Maria Ly, CC BY 2.0, source
- Marine Day: Manish Prabhune, CC BY 2.0, source
- Retrocession Day: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Fukubukuro: Jnn, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dongzhi Festival: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Dajiao: 29cm, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Bo Bing: Xmhaoyu, CC BY 3.0, source