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.

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Photo credits on this page

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

Dongzhi Festival: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Feast of the Sacred Heart: José de Páez, Public domain, source
Mid-Sha'ban: sayyed shahab-o- din vajedi, CC BY 4.0, source
Kakava: CeeGee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Radonitsa: Perohanych, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Erzya Language Day: Erzianj jurnalist, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Yulin Dog Meat Festival: Maria Ly, CC BY 2.0, source
Pakistan Day: Imniazi001, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Marine Day: Manish Prabhune, CC BY 2.0, source
Dozhinki: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Victory Day: Jubair1985, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Cavalcade of Magi: Diario de Madrid, CC BY 4.0, source
Reunification Day: HappyMidnight, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Vechornytsi: Гейслер, Кристиан Готфрид Генрих, Public domain, source
Retrocession Day: Unknown author, Public domain, source
No Bra Day: Ralf Roletschek, GFDL, source
Workers' Memorial Day: Jungpionier, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Twelve Days of Christmas: Giotto, Public domain, source
Youth Day: Andrey Butko, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Asperges: Ian42, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Ambarvalia: Alberto Pisa, Public domain, source
Tasu'a: Alirajabzadeh49, CC BY 4.0, source
Children's Day: Schekinov Alexey Victorovich, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Rogation days: Ray Trevena, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Mourning of Muharram: Naser Jafari, CC BY 4.0, source
Feast of the Holy Name of Mary: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, CC BY 3.0, source
Fast of the Firstborn: J. M. W. Turner, Public domain, source
Fatimiyya: Mohsen Ataei, CC BY 4.0, source
Fukubukuro: Jnn, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Monlam Prayer Festival: Evan-Lovely, CC BY 2.0, source
Songkran: Khunmoohan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Feast of the Transfiguration: Unknown artist, Public domain, source
Kulig: various, Public domain, source
Saint Sylvester's Day: Unknown medieval artist in Rome, Public domain, source
Need-fire: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Day of Republika Srpska: Ministry of Defence of Republic of Serbia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Republic Day: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source