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.
About this page
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.
🇵🇭 Manila, PhilippinesHoly Week in the PhilippinesMahal na Araw
An eight-day observance of the Passion, death, and resurrection of Christ in the Philippines.Spiritual
🇵🇸 Jericho, PalestineNabi Musaٱلنَّبِي مُوْسَى
An annual Palestinian Muslim pilgrimage and festival honoring the prophet MosesSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇱🇺 Luxembourg City, LuxembourgSchueberfouer
An annual late-summer funfair and historic fair held in Luxembourg CityFestival
🇱🇦 Laos and 3 moreRocket Festivalບຸນບັ້ງໄຟ
A rainy-season festival of merit-making, music, parades and homemade rocketsFestival
🇹🇭 Bangkok, ThailandSongkranสงกรานต์
The three-day Thai New Year festival marked by water rituals and blessings for eldersFestival
🇲🇽 Oaxaca, MexicoNight of the RadishesNoche de Rábanos
An annual festival of intricate sculptures carved from oversized radishes in OaxacaCraft
🇺🇸 Pasadena, United StatesRose Parade
A New Year's Day floral parade of natural floats, bands and horses in CaliforniaFestival
🇨🇳 Suzhou, China and 3 moreDongzhi冬至
A midwinter festival celebrating the return of light with family feasts and dumplingsSeasonal · Dinner
🇱🇰 Sri LankaPoya
A monthly full moon Buddhist holiday of observance and fasting in Sri LankaSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇪🇸 Alicante, SpainBonfires of Saint John in AlicanteFogueres de Sant Joan
A midsummer festival of towering satirical monuments, music and fire in AlicanteFestival
🇮🇪 Killorglin, Ireland and 1 moreLughnasadhLúnasa
A Gaelic festival marking the start of harvest with feasts, fairs and mountain walksSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇯🇵 JapanHigan彼岸
A Japanese Buddhist week of reflection and ancestor remembrance at the equinoxesSpiritual
🇬🇧 United KingdomLammashlāfmæsse
A harvest festival marking the blessing of the first baked bread from the new wheat cropSeasonal
🇰🇷 South KoreaGimjang김장
Korea's late-autumn work of making enough kimchi to last the winterTable custom
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMothering Sunday
A mid-Lent Christian observance and family celebration of mothers and mother churchesSeasonal · Breakfast
🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanGozan no Okuribi五山送り火
Five giant bonfires lit across Kyoto's hills to bid farewell to ancestor spirits.Spiritual
🇦🇹 Salzburg, Austria and 5 morePerchta
A midwinter Alpine figure who checks spinning and tests good behaviourFolklore
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanJapanese New Year正月
An annual celebration of renewal, seasonal foods, and bell ringing across JapanSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇯🇵 Japan and 2 moreJoya no Kane除夜の鐘
A Japanese Buddhist New Year's Eve ritual where temple bells are struck to cleanse the year of worldly desires.Spiritual
🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreTashlikhתשליך
A Jewish new year rite of casting sins into flowing water, kept by the watersideSpiritual
🇮🇳 IndiaPushkaram
A river worship festival rotating across twelve sacred Indian rivers over twelve yearsSpiritual
🇮🇳 IndiaGanga Dussehra
A ten-day Hindu river festival celebrating the descent of the Ganges to earthSpiritual
🇮🇳 Madurai, IndiaJallikattuஜல்லிக்கட்டு
A traditional bull-embracing event held during harvest celebrations in Tamil NaduGame
🇮🇳 Kanchipuram, IndiaPanguni UthiramPaṅkuṉi Uttiram
A Tamil Hindu festival celebrating divine weddings and the virtues of married lifeSpiritual
🇮🇳 IndiaSarhul
A spring new year festival honoring nature and Sal blossoms across JharkhandSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 6 moreBoishakhi Melaবৈশাখী মেলা
A Bengali New Year fair in London each May, with a parade, music and food stallsFestival
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanDaijō-sai大嘗祭
The emperor's once-in-a-reign Shinto rite of thanks for the rice harvestSpiritual
🇪🇬 Egypt and 3 moreGreat LentΜεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή
The forty-day fast before Easter, kept by Eastern Christians as a season of prayerSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreMartenitsaмартеница
Red and white yarn dolls worn from 1 March until spring shows itselfFestival
🇪🇹 Addis Ababa, EthiopiaIrreechaIrreessa
A thanksgiving festival at sacred lakes in Oromia, Ethiopia, at the end of the rainsFestival
🇦🇺 Melbourne, AustraliaBoxing Day Test
Cricket's annual Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, starting each 26 DecemberGame
🇦🇹 Vienna, AustriaVienna New Year's ConcertNeujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker
A morning of waltzes and polkas on 1 January, played by the Vienna PhilharmonicPerformance
🇦🇲 Armenia and 1 moreTrndezտրնդեզ
An Armenian fire feast forty days after Christmas, kept with bonfires and shared sweetsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇨🇳 Beijing, China and 1 moreLaba congee腊八粥
A ceremonial Chinese porridge of rice, beans and dried fruit, eaten at the Laba FestivalTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇱 Safed, Israel and 5 moreHakafotהַקָּפוֹת
Circling the synagogue platform with the Torah scrolls, at Sukkot and Simchat TorahSpiritual
🇮🇱 Israel and 4 moreTorah readingקריאת התורה
The public reading of the Torah scroll in synagogue, chanted to a special tuneSpiritual
🇯🇵 JapanTango no sekku端午の節句
A Japanese seasonal festival for children marked with carp streamers and iris leaves.Festival · Sweets given and shared
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreBonfire Night
Yearly nights of bonfires and fireworks, kept in Britain, Ireland and beyondFestival
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreHigh Holy Daysיָמִים נוֹרָאִים
The Jewish year's ten days of repentance, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom KippurSpiritual
🇪🇸 Buñol, SpainLa Tomatina
A one-hour tomato fight in Buñol on the last Wednesday of AugustFestival
🇭🇰 Cheung Chau, Hong KongCheung Chau Bun Festival包山節
A week of vegetarian days, bun towers and a midnight scramble on a Hong Kong islandFestival
🇵🇱 Poland and 5 moreZaduszkiZaduszki, Dzień Zaduszny
A Polish day of prayer for the dead on 2 November, kept with candles at the gravesSpiritual
🇮🇱 IsraelKiddushקידוש
A blessing over wine or grape juice that marks Shabbat and festivals as holySpiritual · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇬🇧 United KingdomLong sword dance
A Yorkshire winter sword dance kept by village teams at Christmas and Plough MondayPerformance
🇪🇸 Madrid, Spain and 5 moreTwelve GrapesLas doce uvas de la suerte
A grape for every chime at midnight on 31 December, welcoming the new yearFestival · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇬🇧 United KingdomCalennig
Welsh children carry a decorated apple door to door and sing for New Year giftsFestival
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreMoon rabbit月兔
A hare seen in the Moon's dark patches, pounding rice cakes or the elixir of lifeFolklore
🇱🇰 Sri LankaKiribathකිරිබත්
Rice cooked in coconut milk, the dish of Sinhalese New Year and family beginningsTable custom · Breakfast
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Holy Week in the Philippines: LMP 2001, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nabi Musa: Mujaddara, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Schueberfouer: Denise Hastert, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Rocket Festival: Takeaway, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Songkran: ผู้สร้างสรรค์ผลงาน/ส่งข้อมูลเก็บในคลังข้อมูลเสรีวิกิมีเดียคอมมอนส์ - เ, CC BY 3.0, source
- Night of the Radishes: AlejandroLinaresGarcia, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Rose Parade: Prayitno / Thank you for (12 millions +) view, CC BY 2.0, source
- Dongzhi: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bonfires of Saint John in Alicante: Fernando Pastor, CC BY 2.0, source
- Lughnasadh: Mountainash333, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Higan: Kakidai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lammas: Paddy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gimjang: USAG- Humphreys, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mothering Sunday: Jonathunder, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gozan no Okuribi: J_o, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Perchta: Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Japanese New Year: No machine-readable author provided. Sixgimic assumed (based on copyri, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Joya no Kane: Leung Ming Ho (Michael) (MHLeung), CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tashlikh: Yaakov Saar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pushkaram: Adityamadhav83, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ganga Dussehra: Barry Silver, CC BY 2.0, source
- Jallikattu: Mahendrabalan, CC BY 3.0, source
- Panguni Uthiram: Krithika.R.S, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sarhul: Gurpreet Singh Ranchi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Boishakhi Mela: Ripon Miah, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Daijō-sai: Abasaa, Public domain, source
- Great Lent: Stalinsunnykvj, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Martenitsa: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Irreecha: Mohammed Kassahun, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Boxing Day Test: Flickr user, mugley, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Vienna New Year's Concert: Michal Osmenda, CC BY 2.0, source
- Trndez: Armineaghayan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Laba congee: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hakafot: Meir624, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Torah reading: Sagie Maoz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Tango no sekku: tiseb, CC BY 2.0, source
- Bonfire Night: Jpdfive, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- High Holy Days: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- La Tomatina: Graham McLellan, CC BY 2.0, source
- Cheung Chau Bun Festival: ．怪貓．, CC BY 2.0, source
- Zaduszki: Ivan Mrkvička, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kiddush: Dimitri, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Long sword dance: donald judge, CC BY 2.0, source
- Twelve Grapes: Ralf Roletschek, GFDL 1.2, source
- Moon rabbit: An artist, Public domain, source
- Kiribath: AntanO, CC BY-SA 4.0, source