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.
🇳🇬 Argungu, NigeriaArgungu Fishing Festival
A four-day gathering in Nigeria where thousands compete to land giant river fishFestival
🇪🇹 Ethiopia and 2 moreSigdስግድ
An Ethiopian Jewish holiday of covenant renewal, fasting, and longing for ZionSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇬🇭 Accra, GhanaHomowo
A harvest festival of the Ga people in Ghana to remember surviving famineFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇪🇹 Ethiopia and 1 moreEnkutatashእንቁጣጣሽ
The Ethiopian New Year festival of song, yellow daisies and family feastsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇸🇿 Ludzidzini, EswatiniIncwala
The national kingship and first-fruits ritual of Eswatini, held at the summer solsticeCeremony · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇭 Cape Coast, GhanaFetu Afahye
A harvest festival of cleansing, boat races and royal durbars in Cape Coast, GhanaFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇭 Akropong, GhanaOdwira Festival
An annual harvest and purification festival celebrated by the Akuapem in GhanaFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇭 Kumasi, GhanaAkwasidae Festival
A Sunday gathering of the Ashanti people to honour ancestors and the kingSpiritual
🇳🇬 NigeriaIgbo New Yam FestivalIri ji
A harvest thanksgiving and feast marking the first yam crop among the Igbo of NigeriaSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇰🇪 Nairobi, KenyaMadaraka Day
Kenya's annual public holiday marking the start of self-governance on 1 June 1963Ceremony
🇷🇼 Kigali, RwandaUmuganda
A monthly morning of mandatory communal work and civic gathering across RwandaCeremony
🇲🇬 MadagascarFandroana
The Merina new year of Madagascar's highlands, with zebu feasting and a royal bathFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇭 GhanaAdae Festival
A sacred day of rest and ancestral rites observed across the Ashanti Region in GhanaSpiritual
🇿🇦 Nongoma, South AfricaUmkhosi Wokweshwama
The annual Zulu first fruits and harvest festival held around the December solsticeSeasonal
🇪🇹 Addis Ababa, EthiopiaIrreechaIrreessa
A thanksgiving festival at sacred lakes in Oromia, Ethiopia, at the end of the rainsFestival
🇳🇬 Abuja, NigeriaNew Yam FestivalIri ji
A yearly harvest thanksgiving across Nigeria, when the first new yams may be eatenFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇿🇦 Cape Town, South AfricaCape Town Minstrel CarnivalKaapse Klopse
Cape Town's 2 January parade of minstrel troupes, ghoema drums and bright umbrellasFestival
🇪🇹 Lalibela, Ethiopia and 1 moreTimkatጥምቀት
The Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Epiphany celebrating the baptism of JesusSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇪🇹 Ethiopia and 5 moreNativity Fast
A forty-day Christian period of abstinence and prayer observed in preparation for Christmas.Spiritual
🇳🇬 Kagoro, NigeriaAfan FestivalBwok Ǎfan
A New Year's Day festival of hunting and dances among the Oegworok peopleFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇳🇪 Niger and 1 moreSitta min Shawwalستة من شوال
A voluntary six-day Islamic fast observed during the month following RamadanSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇿🇲 Lundazi, Zambia and 1 moreKulonga
An annual harvest festival of thanksgiving celebrated by Tumbuka communitiesSeasonal
🇪🇹 EthiopiaGifaataaጊፋታ
The annual New Year celebration of the Wolayta people in southern EthiopiaSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇪🇹 Ethiopia and 1 moreFilsetaፍልሰታ
A fifteen-day fast and feast honouring the Dormition and Assumption of MarySpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Nativity Fast: User:LoKi, Public domain, source
- Argungu Fishing Festival: Jaekel, Francis., Public domain, source
- Umuganda: Masako Kato, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sigd: האגודה הישראלית למען יהודי אתיופיה, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Enkutatash: Nati Tad, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fetu Afahye: Kofiarkohbaidoo, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Incwala: iulian circo, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Odwira Festival: Duncanoff, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Akwasidae Festival: Nkansahrexford, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Umkhosi Wokweshwama: 撮影者はカールおじさんです。, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Irreecha: Mohammed Kassahun, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- New Yam Festival: Adimora chidinma, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cape Town Minstrel Carnival: George Duff, Public domain, source
- Homowo: Agbleyjill, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Timkat: Jean Rebiffé, CC BY 4.0, source