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EveryParampara

Festivals and celebrations

The days a community stops, gathers and celebrates.

Festivals and celebrations are the days when a community stops its work, dresses up, eats together and makes noise. They may mark a season, a saint, a victory or just the pleasure of being together. From Carnival and Holi to Songkran and Oktoberfest, they show a place at its most generous and expressive. Many have religious roots, others are civic or seasonal, and a good number began as local fairs and grew famous. This page lists them by country, month and meaning, with notes on food, costume and music.

What makes a festival

Most festivals share a few features: a set date, a procession or gathering, special food, music and dance, a costume or colour, and an element of play. Some invert the usual order, letting servants command and the young tease the old, as at Carnival and Purim. Others are solemn, with lamps, silence or fasting. Whatever the tone, a festival gives people a shared memory, and the preparations, from cooking to costume making, are part of the pleasure.

Local and global

A festival that began in one village may now draw millions, and migrants carry festivals to new countries, where they take on new forms. Diwali is celebrated in London and Singapore, St Patrick's Day in Buenos Aires and Tokyo, Lunar New Year in Sydney and New York. At the same time, many small local festivals survive, and EveryParampara records these too, because a village fair is as much a part of the world's heritage as a great carnival.

About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Festivals and celebrations (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
🇯🇵 Kishiwada, JapanKishiwada Danjiri Matsuri岸和田だんじり祭 A high-speed festival of wooden shrine floats pulled through Kishiwada, JapanFestival 🇨🇳 China and 3 moreDragon dance舞龍 / 舞龙 A long dragon puppet on poles, danced by a team at Chinese New Year and other festivalsPerformance 🇯🇵 Fukuoka, JapanHakata Gion Yamakasa博多祇園山笠 A July festival in Fukuoka featuring heavy float races through the streets of Hakata.Festival 🇯🇵 Aomori, JapanAomori Nebuta Matsuri青森ねぶた祭 A summer festival in Aomori featuring large warrior floats and dancing participants.Festival 🇲🇳 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and 2 moreMongolian wrestlingBökh A traditional folk wrestling style of the Mongols, kept as a central part of Naadam festivals across Mongolia and neighbGame 🇰🇷 Seoul, South KoreaTemplestay템플스테이 A program that invites visitors to live in South Korean Buddhist temples and join the daily routines of monastic life.Spiritual · Dinner 🇨🇳 China and 5 moreLion dance舞獅 A dynamic ritual dance featuring costumed lions, drums and martial acrobaticsPerformance 🇹🇼 Yilan, Taiwan and 4 moreTaiwanese opera歌仔戲 A Taiwanese theatrical art of Hokkien balladry, stylized staging, and expressive song.Performance 🇨🇳 Tianjin, ChinaManchu-Han Imperial Feast滿漢全席 A grand multi-day banquet uniting Manchu and Han culinary traditions in ChinaTable custom · Feasts and festival meals 🇨🇳 China and 5 moreMid-Autumn Festival中秋節 An annual harvest festival celebrating family reunions, full moons and mooncakesFestival · Sweets given and shared 🇯🇵 Kyoto, Japan and 4 moreHanami花見 A Japanese spring custom of gathering under blooming cherry trees to eat, drink, and celebrate the fleeting beauty of thFestival · Lunch 🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanHinamatsuri雛祭り A March festival in Japan where families display ornamental dolls to pray for the health and happiness of young girls.Festival · Sweets given and shared 🇨🇳 China and 5 moreQingming Festival清明节 A spring custom of sweeping family graves and honouring ancestors across East Asia.Spiritual 🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 2 moreTanabataたなばた A Japanese summer star festival of written wishes hung on leafy bamboo.Festival 🇨🇳 Shanghai, China and 1 moreJiaozi餃子 Crescent Chinese dumplings filled with meat or vegetables, eaten for fortune and feastsTable custom · Breakfast 🇲🇳 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and 1 moreNaadamнаадам A midsummer festival of wrestling, horse racing, and archery kept by Mongols in Mongolia and neighboring regions.Festival · Feasts and festival meals 🇨🇳 China and 7 moreGhost Festival中元節 / 中元节 (Zhōngyuán jié) A full-moon night in the seventh lunar month for feeding ghosts and guiding souls homeSpiritual 🇨🇳 China and 2 moreQixi Festival七夕 A Chinese night of romance, needlecraft wishes and stargazing for two mythic loversFestival 🇯🇵 Fukuoka, Japan and 4 moreWhite Dayホワイトデー A day on 14 March when men give a return gift to the women who gave them chocolateFestival 🇯🇵 Sapporo, JapanSapporo Snow Festival札幌雪祭り (Sapporo Yuki-matsuri) A week-long winter festival in Sapporo featuring hundreds of large snow and ice sculptures.Festival 🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanShichi-Go-San七五三 A Japanese festival celebrating the growth of three-year-old girls, five-year-old boys, and seven-year-old girls.Rite of passage 🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanSetsubun節分 A Japanese ritual of throwing roasted soybeans to banish evil spirits and welcome spring.Festival · Feasts and festival meals 🇯🇵 JapanChildren's Dayこどもの日 A Japanese holiday on May fifth celebrating the happiness and growth of childrenFestival 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Weekゴールデンウィーク (Gōruden Wīku) A major Japanese holiday period from late April to early May featuring four public holidays and widespread travel.Festival 🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreGanggangsullae강강술래 A Korean harvest dance where women hold hands and sing in circles under the full moonPerformance 🇰🇵 Pyongyang, North KoreaDay of the Sun태양절 North Korea's principal holiday, marking the birth anniversary of Kim Il SungCeremony 🇨🇳 China and 5 moreDouble Ninth Festival重陽節 An autumn festival of mountain walks, chrysanthemum wine and ancestor remembranceSeasonal · Tea-time and snacking customs 🇰🇵 Pyongyang, North KoreaArirang Mass Games아리랑 축제 A massive civic spectacle of gymnastics, dance, and card stunts in PyongyangCeremony 🇲🇳 Mongolia and 2 moreTsagaan SarЦагаан сар The Mongolian Lunar New Year festival of peace, elders, white foods and renewalSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals 🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanHatsumōde初詣 The first shrine or temple visit of the Japanese New Year to pray for good fortuneSpiritual 🇯🇵 JapanComing of Age Day成人の日 A Japanese public holiday welcoming new adults with municipal rites and celebrationsRite of passage 🇯🇵 JapanHadaka Matsuri裸祭り Japanese festivals where participants clad in loincloths seek luck and purificationSpiritual 🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanJidai Matsuri時代祭 An autumn costume procession celebrating Kyoto's imperial heritage and historyFestival 🇰🇷 Seoul, South KoreaYeondeunghoe연등회 A Korean lantern festival celebrating the Buddha's birthday with glowing lotus lightsSpiritual 🇹🇼 Taipei, TaiwanDouble Ten Day國慶日 The national holiday of Taiwan marking the start of the 1911 revolution.Ceremony 🇰🇵 Pyongyang, North KoreaDay of the Shining Star광명성절 A two-day national holiday in North Korea honouring the birth of Kim Jong Il.Ceremony 🇯🇵 Osaka, JapanTsukimi月見 (Tsukimi) / お月見 (Otsukimi) A Japanese autumn festival honoring the harvest moon with seasonal foods and pampas grass decorations.Festival · Dinner 🇨🇳 China and 5 moreChinese New Year's Evechúxī A reunion day for ethnic Chinese families before the Lunar New Year, marked by feasts, rituals, and staying up late.Festival · Dinner 🇨🇳 Beijing, ChinaLaba Festival臘八節 A winter porridge festival marking the start of the Chinese New Year seasonFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇰🇷 Boryeong, South KoreaBoryeong Mud Festival보령머드축제 A summer festival of mud baths, slides and music on the coast of South KoreaFestival 🇨🇳 Lhasa, China and 2 moreSho Dun Festivalཞོ་སྟོན། (Tibetan), 雪頓節 (Chinese) A summer festival in Lhasa where a monks' retreat ends with yogurt and all-day operaFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanSanja Matsuri三社祭 A loud three-day Shinto festival in Tokyo honoring the founders of Sensō-ji temple.Festival 🇯🇵 Osaka, JapanTenjin Matsuri天神祭 A major Shinto festival in Osaka featuring a street procession and a river boat parade on the Okawa River.Festival 🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreChuseok추석 A Korean harvest festival of ancestral rites, seasonal rice cakes, and folk gamesFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanGion Matsuri祇園祭 A month-long Kyoto festival of grand floats, evening markets and purifying ritualsFestival 🇨🇳 ChinaTorch Festival火把节 A summer fire holiday celebrated by Yi and neighbouring communities in southwest ChinaFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 5 moreTaiko太鼓 (taiko) Japanese drums, and the ensemble style of playing themPerformance 🇯🇵 Takayama, JapanTakayama Festival高山祭 Twin seasonal shrine festivals in Japan famed for elaborate lantern-lit floatsFestival
More traditions

Photo credits on this page

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

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