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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
🇪🇸 Valencia, SpainCremà The ceremonial burning of large artistic street monuments across the Valencian communityFestival 🇮🇳 IndiaGaye holudগায়ে হলুদ A Bengali pre-wedding ceremony where turmeric paste is applied to the bride and groomRite of passage 🇷🇴 RomaniaSorcova Children tap people with a flowered twig on New Year's morning, wishing health and luckSeasonal 🇨🇮 Ivory Coast and 1 moreAbissa A week-long New Year festival of the Nzema people in Ivory Coast and Ghana, marked by sacred drums, dance, and forgiveneFestival 🇦🇷 ArgentinaDía de la Tradición An annual Argentine day celebrating gaucho customs on poet José Hernández's birthdayCeremony 🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreWedding reception The party after a wedding, where the couple greet guests over food, cake and dancingFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇱🇹 LithuaniaSaint Jonas's FestivalJoninės A Lithuanian midsummer night of bonfires, wreaths, song and morning dewSeasonal 🇨🇳 Yining, China and 1 moreMeshrepمەشرەپ A Uyghur gathering of music, poetry, dance and moral counsel at harvest and weddingsPerformance 🇺🇸 Hilo, United StatesMerrie Monarch Festival A spring week of hula in Hilo, closing with three nights of competitionFestival 🇮🇳 Ahobilam, IndiaNarasimha Jayantiनरसिंहजयंती A one-day Hindu festival marking Vishnu's man-lion avatar and the rescue of PrahladaSpiritual 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 1 moreHenna ceremonyليلة الحناء A night of henna patterns on a bride's hands and feet, kept before the weddingRite of passage 🇮🇳 IndiaAhoi Ashtami A day of fasting by Hindu mothers before Diwali, for their children's wellbeingFestival · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇨🇺 Santiago de Cuba, CubaCarnival of Santiago de CubaCarnaval A summer street celebration of percussion troupes, dancing, and parades in eastern CubaFestival 🇧🇴 Oruro, Bolivia and 3 moreDiabladaDanza de los Diablos An Andean masked dance depicting a battle between devils and the Archangel MichaelPerformance 🇪🇹 Addis Ababa, EthiopiaIrreechaIrreessa A thanksgiving festival at sacred lakes in Oromia, Ethiopia, at the end of the rainsFestival 🇵🇰 PakistanShandur Polo Festivalشندور چوگان میلہ A three-day mountain polo competition played with freestyle rules in northern PakistanGame 🇳🇵 Bhaktapur, NepalBiska Jatra𑐧𑐶𑐳𑑂𑐎𑐵𑑅 𑐖𑐵𑐟𑑂𑐬𑐵 An annual solar new year festival in Nepal with chariot pulls and tall wooden poles.Festival 🇮🇸 Iceland and 2 moreYuleġēol (Old English); jól (Old Norse) The Germanic midwinter festival that Christmas grew out of, kept today by HeathensSpiritual 🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreMartenitsaмартеница Red and white yarn dolls worn from 1 March until spring shows itselfFestival 🇹🇼 Taichung, TaiwanDajia Mazu Pilgrimage大甲媽祖遶境進香 A nine-day walking procession across central Taiwan honouring the sea goddess MazuSpiritual 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreSuper Bowl Sunday The day the NFL championship is played, kept with gatherings and buffet foodFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇭🇺 Hungary and 1 morePentecostπεντηκοστή (pentēkostē) The Christian feast of the Holy Spirit, kept fifty days after EasterSpiritual 🇱🇹 LithuaniaUžgavėnės A Lithuanian winter-ending festival of masks, mock battles and pancakesFestival 🇮🇸 IcelandYule LadsJólasveinarnir Thirteen mischievous brothers who visit Icelandic homes in the nights leading to Yule.Folklore 🇻🇳 Huế, VietnamTraditional Vietnamese wedding A Vietnamese wedding: two families joined through proposal, engagement and ceremonyRite of passage 🇫🇯 Suva, FijiRatu Sir Lala Sukuna Day An annual Fijian civic observance commemorating statesman Ratu Sir Lala SukunaCeremony 🇬🇪 GeorgiaBerikaobaბერიკაობა An improvised Georgian folk theatre and masquerade of fertility, satire and dramaPerformance · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 IndiaSadyaസദ്യ A vegetarian feast from Kerala, served on a banana leaf at Onam, Vishu and weddingsTable custom · Lunch 🇪🇸 Buñol, SpainLa Tomatina A one-hour tomato fight in Buñol on the last Wednesday of AugustFestival 🇯🇵 Japan and 4 moreBodhi Day成道会 A Buddhist observance marking the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha under the Bodhi TreeSpiritual 🇫🇮 Helsinki, FinlandKalevala DayKalevalan päivä A Finnish national flag day celebrating the country's epic poetry and living artsCeremony 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 3 moreHosay An Indo-Caribbean Muharram commemoration with ornate floats, drumming and processionsSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇪🇬 Thebes, EgyptBeautiful Festival of the Valleyhb nfr n jnt An ancient Egyptian festival honouring the dead with river processions across ThebesSpiritual 🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 6 moreBoishakhi Melaবৈশাখী মেলা A Bengali New Year fair in London each May, with a parade, music and food stallsFestival 🇱🇰 Mihintale, Sri LankaPoson A Sri Lankan Buddhist festival marking the ancient arrival of Buddhism on the islandSpiritual 🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 3 moreMalankaМаланка A Ukrainian folk celebration of masked mummers, feasting and New Year blessingsFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇳🇴 NorwayBunad Norway's festive dress, tied to a home district and worn from weddings to 17 MayDress 🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreKoloКоло A South Slavic circle dance of linked hands, kept at weddings and gatheringsPerformance 🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreDoljanchi돌 (dol); 돌잔치 (doljanchi) A Korean first-birthday rite where a baby picks an object that hints at the years aheadRite of passage 🇪🇨 Latacunga, EcuadorMama Negra A twice-yearly festival in Latacunga blending Andean, Spanish and African heritageFestival 🇩🇪 Saalfeld, Germany and 5 moreEaster egg treeOstereierbaum A German springtime custom of dressing living trees and branches with blown eggsFestival 🇻🇳 Hội An, VietnamTết Trung Thu節中秋 A mid-autumn festival of lanterns, mooncakes and folklore celebrated across VietnamFestival · Sweets given and shared 🇧🇧 BarbadosCrop Over A Barbadian harvest festival marking the end of the sugar cane season with music and parades.Festival 🇹🇷 Edirne, TurkeyKırkpınar A three-day Turkish oil wrestling contest near Edirne, held each June since 1360Game 🇯🇲 Montego Bay, JamaicaReggae Sumfest An annual week-long reggae and dancehall music festival in Montego Bay, JamaicaFestival 🇱🇺 Luxembourg and 3 moreBuergbrennen A bonfire festival marking the end of winter on the first Sunday of Lent in LuxembourgSeasonal 🇱🇻 Riga, LatviaZiemassvētki Latvia's midwinter festival of solstice customs, mumming and tree decorationSeasonal 🇩🇪 Cologne, Germany and 2 moreGerman CarnivalKarneval Pre-Lenten street parades, costume balls and local revels across German-speaking lands.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
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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.

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Every week: one tradition from somewhere new, what is being celebrated around the world this week, and one idea explained.