Greetings, manners and hospitality
How people greet, host, give gifts and behave at the table.
Greetings, manners and hospitality are the small rules that tell people how to treat each other: how to say hello, how to eat, how to give a gift, how to refuse and how to leave. They differ in each culture, and a gesture that is warm in one place may be rude in another. EveryParampara gathers them by country, from the Thai wai and the Japanese bow to Ethiopian coffee, Iranian taarof and the Maori hongi, so that visitors and curious readers can understand what is going on.
Greeting and giving
Greetings may involve a bow, a handshake, a kiss, a hand on the heart or the joining of palms. Gifts have their own rules: both hands in East Asia, the right hand in much of Africa and the Middle East, no white flowers in China, no alcohol in a Muslim home. Wrapping, timing and the way a gift is received all matter. When in doubt, a small gift of food or sweets, given with a smile, is welcome almost anywhere.
At the table and at the door
Shoes off at the door, a seat of honour for the guest, the eldest served first, a refused offer pressed again: the rules of the table and the threshold are widely shared in spirit if not in detail. A good guest watches, thanks the host and does not rush. A good host feeds the guest, lets the guest leave with food, and walks them to the gate. These small customs make the visit a pleasure for both.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Greetings, manners and hospitality (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.
🇸🇦 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and 4 moreMajlis
A traditional sitting room and community assembly for hospitality and civic counselEtiquette
🇾🇪 Mokha, Yemen and 7 moreArabic coffeeqahwa (Arabic: قهوة)
A bitter, spiced brew served as a gesture of hospitality across the Arab world.Table custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇮🇷 IranTaarofتعارف
An Iranian code of ritual politeness, where offers and refusals are traded with graceEtiquette
🇹🇷 Istanbul, TurkeyTurkish tea culture
Two stacked pots, tulip glasses, and a choice of strong or weak tea in TurkeyTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇹🇷 Turkey and 5 moreCoffee culture
The habits and etiquette of drinking coffee, and the cafés built around itTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇮🇷 Iran and 1 moreEidiyahعيدية
The holiday custom of presenting cash and gifts to children and relativesFestival
🇹🇷 Turkey and 3 moreYashmakyaşmak
A traditional face and head veil worn in Turkey, Egypt and TurkmenistanDress
🇹🇷 Ankara, TurkeySohbet meetingsGeleneksel Sohbet Toplantıları
Men's gatherings of talk, music and food, kept in towns across TurkeyPerformance
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Majlis: Abū Zayd ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Zayd, CC0, source
- Arabic coffee: Canbel, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Taarof: Oxlaey, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Turkish tea culture: henribergius, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Coffee culture: The original uploader was Hajor at English Wikipedia ., CC BY 3.0 br, source
- Yashmak: Jean-Léon Gérôme, Public domain, source
- Eidiyah: Rahbar Emamdadi, CC BY 4.0, source