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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
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreTailgate party Grilling, sharing and drinking beside a car before the game, mostly in North AmericaTable custom · Feasts and festival meals 🇬🇧 Lewes, United KingdomLewes Bonfire A Sussex town marks 5 November with torchlit processions, burning crosses and bonfiresFestival 🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreEid al-Ghadirعید الغدیر A Shia Muslim festival of prayer, gifts and shared meals, kept on 18 Dhu al-HijjahSpiritual 🇬🇧 United KingdomPlough Monday England's old start of the farming year, kept with ploughs, straw bears and sword dancesSeasonal 🇰🇪 Kenya and 1 moreAdumuEnkipaata A Maasai warrior dance of high jumps from a circle, done at weddings and ritesPerformance 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico and 1 moreParranda A Puerto Rican Christmas custom of night-time visits with songs, food and drinkPerformance · Supper 🇨🇳 Hong Kong, China and 5 moreLunar New Year New year festivals dated by the moon, kept from East Asia to the Middle EastFestival 🇮🇩 Jakarta, Indonesia and 3 moreRijsttafel Many small dishes around rice: a colonial-era banquet still served in the NetherlandsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals 🇺🇸 Cleveland, United StatesClambake Shellfish steamed over seaweed in a pit, eaten outdoors along the New England coastTable custom · Feasts and festival meals 🇧🇴 La Paz, Bolivia and 1 moreEkekoIqiqu A small figurine of abundance kept in Andean homes and carried at the Alasitas fair to invite prosperity.Spiritual 🇬🇧 Yorkshire, United Kingdom and 3 moreMischief NightNoson Ddrygioni (Welsh); Oidhche nan Cleas (Scottish Gaelic) An evening of pranks and tricks, kept before Halloween or Guy Fawkes NightFestival 🇪🇬 Cairo, Egypt and 1 moreNayrouzالنيروز (Arabic); ⲡⲓⲭⲗⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ ϯⲣⲟⲙⲡⲓ (Coptic) A Coptic feast marking the new year and honoring martyrs, kept in Egypt and Ethiopia.Festival 🇳🇬 Abuja, NigeriaNew Yam FestivalIri ji A yearly harvest thanksgiving across Nigeria, when the first new yams may be eatenFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇵🇬 Goroka, Papua New GuineaGoroka Show An annual cultural gathering and sing-sing in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New GuineaFestival 🇪🇨 Quito, EcuadorFanesca Ecuador's Holy Week soup of grains, beans and salt cod, made for Good FridayTable custom · Lunch 🇵🇭 San Fernando, Philippines and 3 moreParolparól A Filipino star lantern of bamboo and paper, hung at Christmas from September to JanuaryFestival 🇧🇪 Antwerp, Belgium and 2 moreOmmegangommegang (Dutch) Medieval town processions of the Low Countries, with giants, guilds and horsesCeremony 🇪🇬 Cairo, EgyptFanousفانوس An Egyptian lantern of metal and glass, hung in streets and homes through RamadanFestival 🇲🇽 Mexico City, MexicoOfrenda A home altar of food, flowers and candles that welcomes the dead home at Día de MuertosSpiritual 🇦🇹 Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria and 2 moreSilent NightStille Nacht, heilige Nacht A Christmas carol composed in Austria in 1818, now sung worldwide as a symbol of peace.Performance 🇮🇩 Bali, IndonesiaTumpengꦠꦸꦩ꧀ꦥꦼꦁ (Javanese); ᬢᬸᬫ᭄ᬧᭂᬂ (Balinese) A tall cone of rice ringed with side dishes, central to Javanese ceremonies and partiesTable custom · Feasts and festival meals 🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreSwabian-Alemannic FastnachtFastnacht A late-winter carnival of masks and jesters kept before Lent in the Alemannic landsFestival 🇮🇳 Baripada, IndiaChhau dance A masked dance of eastern India, blending martial steps with epic storiesPerformance 🇲🇽 Mexico and 1 moreCalaca Skull and skeleton figures made for the Day of the Dead, joyful rather than sadCraft 🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreEpiphany A January feast of the Magi, the Jordan baptism and the Cana miracle, kept by ChristiansSpiritual 🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreSeharane A Kurdish Jewish festival of campfires, circle dances and shared foodFestival 🇧🇩 BangladeshEid prayersصلاة العيد The yearly festival prayer of the two Eids, offered in the morning by MuslimsSpiritual 🇬🇧 Llangollen, United Kingdom and 5 moreEisteddfod A Welsh festival of poetry and music competitions, featuring the chairing and crowning of winning bards.Festival 🇳🇬 Lagos, Nigeria and 2 moreAso ebiAsọ-Ẹbí Matching cloth worn by family and friends at Yoruba weddings, funerals and partiesDress 🇮🇱 Israel and 2 moreSukkahסוכה A temporary hut with a branch roof, lived in for the seven days of SukkotSpiritual 🇬🇧 Cardiff, United KingdomGorsedd CymruGorsedd Cymru (yr Orsedd) A Welsh society of poets and writers that holds ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod to honour cultural achievements.Festival 🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreEasterΠάσχα The day Christians mark the resurrection, kept with vigils, feasts and eggsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals 🇧🇾 BelarusBatlejkaБатле́йка A two-level puppet booth from Belarus, playing Nativity and folk scenes at ChristmasPerformance 🇨🇳 Meizhou Island, China and 5 moreMazu媽祖 A sea goddess of the Chinese coast, asked for calm water and a safe returnSpiritual 🇿🇦 Cape Town, South AfricaCape Town Minstrel CarnivalKaapse Klopse Cape Town's 2 January parade of minstrel troupes, ghoema drums and bright umbrellasFestival 🇵🇹 Coimbra, PortugalPraxePraxe Académica A set of student initiation rituals and traditions in Portuguese universities.Rite of passage 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreChristmas dinner The festive family meal of Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, with roast meats and puddingsTable custom · Dinner 🇦🇷 Mendoza, ArgentinaFiesta Nacional de la Vendimia Argentina's national grape harvest festival, celebrated each year in MendozaSeasonal 🇯🇵 Suwa, JapanOnbashira Festival式年造営御柱大祭 A rite in Nagano where massive fir logs are dragged down mountains and raised at shrinesSpiritual 🇱🇧 Beirut, Lebanon and 7 moreEid il-Burbaraعيد البربارة A winter feast of costumes, sweet boiled wheat, and sprouting seeds across the LevantFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇵🇰 Pakistan and 3 moreChaand Raatचाँद रात, چاند رات The South Asian night of moon-sighting and celebration before EidFestival 🇮🇹 Siena, ItalyPalio Traditional Italian competitions where local districts race horses, donkeys, or boats to win prizes and pride.Festival 🇵🇰 Lahore, PakistanMela Chiraghanمیلہ چراغاں A three-day Lahore festival honouring the sixteenth-century Sufi poet Shah Hussain.Spiritual 🇮🇳 India and 2 morePandal Temporary decorated pavilions and arches built for festivals and gatheringsFestival 🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreSaint Patrick's DayLá Fhéile Pádraig An annual Irish holiday of parades, church services, green dress and shamrocksFestival 🇮🇪 Galway, IrelandGalway International Oyster Festival An annual autumn gathering in Galway honouring native oysters with shucking contestsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals 🇸🇬 Singapore and 2 moreChingay Parade妝藝 A lively street procession of floats, giant flags, and performing arts in Southeast AsiaFestival 🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreMoors and ChristiansMoros y Cristianos Theatrical parades and mock battles staging historic clashes across Spain and beyondFestival
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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.

The weekly EveryParampara

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