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.
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.
🇨🇴 Valledupar, ColombiaVallenato Legend FestivalFestival de la Leyenda Vallenata
An annual gathering in Valledupar celebrating Colombian vallenato music and verseFestival
🇭🇹 Port-au-Prince, HaitiIndependence Day
A national celebration of liberation, freedom, and unity observed every New Year's Day.Ceremony
🇧🇿 Dangriga, BelizeGarifuna Settlement Day
An annual Belizean holiday marking the arrival and heritage of the Garifuna peopleFestival
🇩🇴 Santo Domingo, Dominican RepublicDominican Carnival
A February street festival of masks, music and parades across the Dominican Republic.Festival
🇨🇷 San Antonio de Escazú, Costa RicaCosta Rican oxcartscarretas
Oxen-drawn carts, hand-painted in bright patterns, kept as a national symbol of Costa RicaCraft
🇧🇷 Recife, BrazilFrevo
A fast, brass-driven dance and music of Recife's Carnival, danced with a small umbrellaPerformance
🇵🇷 Puerto Rico and 1 moreParranda
A Puerto Rican Christmas custom of night-time visits with songs, food and drinkPerformance · Supper
🇧🇴 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
🇪🇨 Quito, EcuadorFanesca
Ecuador's Holy Week soup of grains, beans and salt cod, made for Good FridayTable custom · Lunch
🇦🇷 Mendoza, ArgentinaFiesta Nacional de la Vendimia
Argentina's national grape harvest festival, celebrated each year in MendozaSeasonal
🇨🇴 Medellín, ColombiaFestival of the FlowersFeria de las Flores
An annual week-long celebration of floral craft and regional culture in MedellínFestival
🇧🇸 Bahamas and 3 moreJunkanoo
A Caribbean masquerade festival of masked dancing, goatskin drumming, and cowbellsFestival
🇺🇾 Montevideo, UruguayCarnival in Uruguay
An extended festival of drum processions, stage satire, and dance across Uruguay.Festival
🇧🇷 Salvador, BrazilLavagem do Bonfim
An annual inter-religious procession and cleansing ritual in Salvador, BrazilSpiritual
🇧🇷 BrazilFesta JuninaFestas Juninas
A Brazilian midwinter celebration marked by bonfires, folk dances and countryside gamesFestival
🇧🇴 Tiwanaku, Bolivia and 2 moreWillkakuti
An Aymara new year at the June solstice, marking the sun's returnSeasonal
🇨🇱 Chile and 1 moreWe TripantuWiñoy Tripantu
The Mapuche new year, kept on the June solstice as the sun turns backFestival
🇻🇪 Mérida, VenezuelaFeria del Sol
Mérida's February fair: bullfights, parades, concerts and the Queen of the SunFestival
🇨🇴 ColombiaLittle Candles DayDía de las velitas
Candles and paper lanterns across Colombia on the night before the Immaculate ConceptionSpiritual
🇵🇪 Santo Tomás, PeruTakanakuy
A December tradition in Peru where community members settle disputes through regulated fistfights and dance.Festival
🇦🇷 Rosario, ArgentinaFlag DayDía de la Bandera Nacional
Argentina's national day for its flag, kept on 20 June in memory of Manuel BelgranoCeremony
🇧🇴 San Ignacio de Moxos, BoliviaIchapekene Piesta
A four-day festival of dance, feathers and procession in San Ignacio de Moxos, BoliviaFestival
🇬🇹 Antigua Guatemala, GuatemalaHoly Week in GuatemalaSemana Santa
Street processions of floats, purple-robed penitents and sawdust carpets in GuatemalaSpiritual
🇻🇪 Caracas, VenezuelaCaracas Pride
An annual pride march in Venezuela calling for equal rights for LGBTQ communitiesCeremony
🇦🇷 Buenos Aires, ArgentinaBuenos Aires International Festival of Independent CinemaBuenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente
An annual independent film festival bringing screenings and workshops to Buenos AiresFestival
🇦🇷 Villa General Belgrano, ArgentinaNational Beer Festival
An annual Bavarian-style folk and beer gathering in Villa General Belgrano, Argentina.Festival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇨🇱 Tarapacá, ChileFestival of San Lorenzo
An annual festival of religious dance and pilgrimage honoring Saint Lawrence in TarapacáSpiritual
🇨🇴 ColombiaFestival of Industry, Trade and Culture
An eight-day celebration in Itagüí, Colombia, for local music, art, dance and tradeFestival
🇻🇪 El Callao, VenezuelaCalypso de El Callao
Calypso sung at carnival in El Callao, Venezuela, with yearly king and queen contestsFestival
🇪🇨 Quito, EcuadorFiestas de Quito
A week of parades, music and street parties marking the founding of QuitoFestival
🇰🇳 Basseterre, Saint Kitts and NevisLa festival de Capisterre
A September community festival uniting four villages in the Capisterre region of Saint Kitts and Nevis.Festival
🇧🇧 Oistins, BarbadosOistins Fish Festival
An annual Easter celebration in Oistins, Barbados, honoring the local fishing community with food and folk games.Festival · Dinner
🇸🇷 Suriname and 1 moreSuriPop
A biennial songwriting festival and gala performance held in SurinamePerformance
🇰🇳 Charlestown, Saint Kitts and NevisCulturama
An annual summer carnival celebrating Nevisian heritage and returning islandersFestival
🇨🇱 ChileFiesta de La Tirana
A week-long pilgrimage and dance festival in northern Chile honoring the Virgin of Mount Carmel.Festival
🇧🇿 BelizeSeptember Celebrations
Belize's two national holidays, eleven days apart, marked by parades and CarnivalCeremony
🇯🇲 Kingston, JamaicaJamaica Independence Festival
An August festival of music, pageantry and parades marking Jamaican freedomCeremony
🇵🇾 Ypacaraí, Paraguay and 5 moreFestival of the Lake YpacaraíFestival del Lago Ypacaraí
A Paraguayan folk festival celebrating national music, dance and poetry at the shores of Lake Ypacaraí.Festival
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Vallenato Legend Festival: Jdvillalobos, CC BY 3.0, source
- Dominican Carnival: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, source
- Costa Rican oxcarts: Victor Quirós A, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Frevo: Prefeitura de Olinda, CC BY 2.0, source
- Parranda: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ekeko: Ciudades, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fanesca: Agencia de Noticias ANDES, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Little Candles Day: CarUno, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ichapekene Piesta: Viaje al corazón de Bolivia, CC BY 2.0, source
- Festival of Industry, Trade and Culture: Jameseventzx, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Holy Week in Guatemala: derivative work: Sir James ( talk ) VolcanAguaPascuas.jpg :Infrogmatio, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Feria del Sol: Original uploader was MeridaItalia at it.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia: Javinaselli, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema: Foto de Roblespepe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Festival of the Flowers: SajoR, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Junkanoo: WikiPedant, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Festival of the Lake Ypacaraí: Level4, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Carnival in Uruguay: Graham Stanley, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Lavagem do Bonfim: Adenilson Nunes/ AGECOM, CC BY 2.0, source
- Festa Junina: Leandro Neumann Ciuffo, CC BY 2.0, source
- Festival of San Lorenzo: Freddy Alexander Bugueño Tolmo, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Willkakuti: Tuco Quispe, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- National Beer Festival: Jmmuguerza, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- We Tripantu: Lonkonao, CC BY-SA 4.0, source