Heritage news
HeritageThailand’s Chud Thai Stops in Paris Ahead of UNESCO Intangible Heritage Inscription BidHeritageOtsu Festival Parades Elaborate Floats Following UNESCO RecognitionSeasonsGreen Bay kicks off Hmong New Year celebrationsHeritageThailand showcases Chud Thai craftsmanship in Paris ahead of UNESCO reviewFestivalsItalian Festival at the Mount celebrates heritage, community and a taste of the old country (79 photos)ArtsFamily Folk DanceHeritageWhy is Kolkata’s Durga Puja recognised as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage?HeritageWhy is Kolkata’s Durga Puja recognised as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage?WeddingsCalifornia city hall goes jurassic with dino wedding ceremonyCarnival28th Latino Heritage Parade and Festival Set for Today, Recognizing City’s ‘Unsung Heroes’HeritageThailand’s Chud Thai Stops in Paris Ahead of UNESCO Intangible Heritage Inscription BidHeritageOtsu Festival Parades Elaborate Floats Following UNESCO RecognitionSeasonsGreen Bay kicks off Hmong New Year celebrationsHeritageThailand showcases Chud Thai craftsmanship in Paris ahead of UNESCO reviewFestivalsItalian Festival at the Mount celebrates heritage, community and a taste of the old country (79 photos)ArtsFamily Folk DanceHeritageWhy is Kolkata’s Durga Puja recognised as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage?HeritageWhy is Kolkata’s Durga Puja recognised as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage?WeddingsCalifornia city hall goes jurassic with dino wedding ceremonyCarnival28th Latino Heritage Parade and Festival Set for Today, Recognizing City’s ‘Unsung Heroes’
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
🇮🇳 IndiaSarhul A spring new year festival honoring nature and Sal blossoms across JharkhandSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 Sambalpur, IndiaSitalsasthiଶୀତଳ ଷଷ୍ଠୀ A festival in western Odisha re-enacting the divine wedding of Shiva and ParvatiFestival 🇮🇹 Rome, Italy and 5 moreAll Souls' Day A Christian observance on 2 November for prayer and remembrance of those who have died.Spiritual 🇬🇧 Abbots Bromley, United KingdomAbbots Bromley Horn Dance A September folk dance in an English village featuring dancers with reindeer antlers and a hobby horse.Performance 🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 6 moreBoishakhi Melaবৈশাখী মেলা A Bengali New Year fair in London each May, with a parade, music and food stallsFestival 🇭🇺 Hungary and 1 morePentecostπεντηκοστή (pentēkostē) The Christian feast of the Holy Spirit, kept fifty days after EasterSpiritual 🇧🇬 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 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreSuper Bowl Sunday The day the NFL championship is played, kept with gatherings and buffet foodFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 5 moreTaiko太鼓 (taiko) Japanese drums, and the ensemble style of playing themPerformance 🇦🇲 Armenia and 1 moreTrndezտրնդեզ An Armenian fire feast forty days after Christmas, kept with bonfires and shared sweetsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 1 moreSimchat Torahשִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה The day Jewish communities finish the Torah reading and start it again, with dancingSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals 🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreKoulourakiaΚουλουράκια Sweet butter pastries baked for Greek Easter and shaped into rings and braidsTable custom · Sweets given and shared 🇨🇳 China and 1 moreReunion dinner團圓飯 A family gathering meal on lunar new year's eve, kept in China and VietnamTable custom · Dinner 🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreBachelor party A send-off for a groom-to-be, kept in the days and weeks before a weddingRite of passage 🇯🇵 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 🇹🇷 Edirne, TurkeyKırkpınar A three-day Turkish oil wrestling contest near Edirne, held each June since 1360Game 🇳🇴 NorwayBunad Norway's festive dress, tied to a home district and worn from weddings to 17 MayDress 🇺🇸 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 🇺🇸 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 🇨🇳 Yining, China and 1 moreMeshrepمەشرەپ A Uyghur gathering of music, poetry, dance and moral counsel at harvest and weddingsPerformance 🇸🇦 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 🇻🇳 Huế, VietnamTraditional Vietnamese wedding A Vietnamese wedding: two families joined through proposal, engagement and ceremonyRite of passage 🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 4 moreKukeriкукери (kukeri) Masked and belled figures who tour Bulgarian villages at New Year to drive off harmSpiritual 🇩🇪 Aachen, Germany and 4 moreStraw bearStrohbär A carnival figure wrapped in straw, paraded through German towns to mark the end of winter.Festival 🇪🇸 Buñol, SpainLa Tomatina A one-hour tomato fight in Buñol on the last Wednesday of AugustFestival 🇨🇷 San Antonio de Escazú, Costa RicaCosta Rican oxcartscarretas Oxen-drawn carts, hand-painted in bright patterns, kept as a national symbol of Costa RicaCraft 🇵🇱 PolandWigilia Poland's meatless Christmas Eve supper, begun when the first star appearsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 IndiaAhoi Ashtami A day of fasting by Hindu mothers before Diwali, for their children's wellbeingFestival · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇪🇸 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 🇮🇹 Venice, ItalyFesta del RedentoreFesta del Redentor Venice's July festival of fireworks over the water, kept in thanks for the plague's endFestival 🇮🇸 Iceland and 2 moreYuleġēol (Old English); jól (Old Norse) The Germanic midwinter festival that Christmas grew out of, kept today by HeathensSpiritual 🇧🇷 Recife, BrazilFrevo A fast, brass-driven dance and music of Recife's Carnival, danced with a small umbrellaPerformance 🇷🇸 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 🇮🇹 Naples, Italy and 5 moreNativity scene A seasonal set of figures showing Jesus's birth, put up by Christians at ChristmasFestival 🇮🇹 Foligno, ItalyGiostra della Quintana A June and September joust in Foligno, where ten knights spear ringsFestival 🇪🇸 SpainCorrefoc Devil-costumed fire runs through the streets of Catalan and Valencian festival townsFestival 🇦🇹 Austria and 5 moreKrampus Saint Nicholas's horned companion, who comes for misbehaving children on 5 DecemberFolklore 🇷🇺 RussiaRussian wedding traditions A Russian wedding runs two days to a week, with ransom games, crowns and toastsRite of passage 🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 1 moreVyshyvankaвишиванка (Ukrainian), вышыванка (Belarusian) An embroidered shirt of Ukraine and Belarus, its patterns marking region and familyDress 🇼🇸 Samoa and 1 moreʻAva ceremony A solemn ritual of shared drink and oratory in Samoa and Tonga to mark chiefly titles and important gatherings.Festival 🇮🇷 Urmia, IranKurdish danceGovend (گۆڤەند) Circle dances of the Kurds, led by handkerchief twirlers, for weddings and NewrozPerformance 🇬🇭 Bonwire, Ghana and 1 moreKente clothNwentoma Hand-woven Ghanaian cloth of silk and cotton strips, worn for ceremonies and graduationsDress 🇨🇳 China and 6 moreRed envelope紅包 / 红包 (hóngbāo) Money in a red packet, given at Lunar New Year, weddings and other big daysEtiquette 🇺🇸 United StatesLūʻau A Hawaiian feast of kālua pig and poi, eaten by hand outdoors with music and hulaTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
PreviousMore traditions

Photo credits on this page

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

The weekly EveryParampara

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