Customs of food and drink
The customs around eating and drinking: feasts, fasts, hosting and ceremony. Not recipes.
EveryParampara follows the customs around food, not the dishes: the blessing before a meal, the order in which guests are served, the feast that marks a day, the fast and how it is broken, the ceremony of pouring tea. A named food appears here only where it has a role in the custom, such as the sweet offered at a shrine or the bread broken at a Sabbath table. For dishes, recipes and cuisines, see Thali, our food guide.
Meals as rituals
Many meals are ritual in themselves: the Passover seder follows a script, the iftar ends a day of fasting with a prayer, a wedding feast has toasts in a set order. EveryParampara lists these by country and by meal, with the dates where the day moves each year.
Manners at the table
Table customs vary widely: eating with the right hand, sharing a single dish, waiting for the eldest to begin, leaving a little on the plate or clearing it entirely. A guest learns the rules by watching, and a host will forgive mistakes. Behind the rules is a simple idea: the meal is a way of showing respect.
About this page
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Customs of food and drink (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.
🇮🇳 Nanded, IndiaGurpurabਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ
A Sikh festival marking the birth or martyrdom of a Guru with prayers, processions and community meals.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Kolkata, India and 5 moreNavaratriनवरात्रि (Navarātri)
A nine-night Hindu festival honoring the goddess Durga and her nine forms through prayer, fasting, and dance.Festival · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇳 Pune, India and 5 moreGanesh Chaturthiगणेश चतुर्थी
A Hindu festival celebrating the arrival of Ganesha, marked by clay idols, sweets, and public processions.Festival
🇮🇳 Kochi, India and 5 moreOnamഓണം
A ten-day harvest festival in Kerala celebrating the return of King Mahabali with feasts, flower carpets and boat races.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Amritsar, India and 2 moreVaisakhi
A spring harvest and new year festival kept across India and Pakistan by Hindus and Sikhs.Festival
🇮🇳 Prayagraj, India and 6 moreMakar Sankrantiमकरसङ्क्रान्ति (Makarasaṅkrānti)
A mid-winter harvest festival marking the sun's northward journey, celebrated across South and Southeast Asia with fairsFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇧🇩 Dhaka, Bangladesh and 1 morePohela Boishakhপহেলা বৈশাখ
The Bengali New Year festival marking the spring harvest and the start of the agricultural year.Festival
🇮🇳 Varanasi, India and 2 morePitri Pakshaपितृ पक्ष (Pitṛ pakṣa)
A sixteen-day Hindu period for honoring ancestors through food offerings and rites.Spiritual
🇮🇳 Guwahati, IndiaBihuবিহু (Assamese)
Three annual festivals in Assam marking the new year, crop cycles and harvest with dance, music and feasts.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Puri, IndiaAkshaya Tritiyaअक्षय तृतीया (Akṣaya Tṛtīyā)
A spring festival of lasting prosperity observed by Hindus and Jains in India.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Varanasi, India and 3 moreKartika Purnimaकार्त्तिकपूर्णिमा (Kārttikapūrṇimā)
A full moon festival of lights and holy baths celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains across South Asia.Festival
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreDhanterasधनतेरस (Hindi), धनत्रयोदशी (Sanskrit)
The first day of Diwali, a festival of lamps, health and wealth kept across India and Nepal.Festival
🇮🇳 Goa, IndiaGudi Padwaगुढी पाडवा
A spring festival marking the new year for Marathi and Konkani Hindus in Maharashtra and Goa.Festival
🇮🇳 Chandigarh, India and 1 moreTeejतीज (Tīja)
A monsoon festival where women fast and sing to celebrate the union of Shiva and Parvati.Festival
🇮🇳 Vrindavan, India and 2 moreGovardhan Puja
A Hindu festival of piled vegetarian foods and sculpted earth, honouring KrishnaSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 IndiaParyushana
An annual Jain holy period of intense fasting, reflection, and asking for forgivenessSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇳 IndiaMagh Bihu
A harvest festival of bonfires, feasts and winter games in AssamSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 IndiaSadyaസദ്യ
A vegetarian feast from Kerala, served on a banana leaf at Onam, Vishu and weddingsTable custom · Lunch
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreLangarਲੰਗਰ
The free kitchen at a gurdwara, where all sit and eat together as equalsTable custom
🇦🇫 Mazar-i-Sharif, AfghanistanNowruzنوروز
The Afghan spring new year, celebrated with picnics, wheat pudding and dried fruit.Seasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 IndiaSheetala Ashtami
A day for the goddess Shitala, kept eight days after Holi with food cooked in advanceSpiritual
🇱🇰 Sri LankaKiribathකිරිබත්
Rice cooked in coconut milk, the dish of Sinhalese New Year and family beginningsTable custom · Breakfast
🇧🇩 Dhaka, Bangladesh and 5 moreSuhurسحور
The pre-dawn meal Muslims eat before a day of fasting in RamadanTable custom · Breakfast
🇮🇳 Hyderabad, India and 3 moreBonalu
An annual festival of thanksgiving to Goddess Mahakali across Telangana, IndiaFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Palani, IndiaPanchamritaपञ्चामृत (Sanskrit); பஞ்சாமிர்தம் (Tamil)
Five sacred foods mixed and poured over temple images in Hindu and Jain worshipSpiritual · Sweets given and shared
🇮🇳 Madurai, India and 4 morePuthanduபுத்தாண்டு (Puttāṇṭu)
The first day of the Tamil solar calendar, celebrated by Tamils with family feasts and auspicious trays.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 IndiaNirjala Ekadashiनिर्जला एकादशी
A rigorous, waterless Hindu fast observed in early summer to honour the god Vishnu.Spiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇲🇻 MaldivesMaahefun
A Maldivian gathering for the last meal before the Ramadan fast beginsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreShagoranaসাগরানা
A ceremonial wedding feast platter presented to the groom in BangladeshTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Thiruvananthapuram, IndiaPongala
A harvest offering of sweet rice porridge prepared by millions of women in South IndiaFestival · Sweets given and shared
🇮🇳 Lucknow, IndiaBada Mangal
A Tuesday festival in Lucknow dedicated to Hanuman, known for communal feasts and interfaith participation.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sadya: Augustus Binu / facebook, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vaisakhi: Michael Clark, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ganesh Chaturthi: Original uploader was MatthieuMoy at fr.wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, source
- Onam: Jiteshgt, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pohela Boishakh: Abidhasan00, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Navaratri: Mukerjee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Govardhan Puja: Ms Sarah Welch, CC0, source
- Pongala: Sreeraj Krishna, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bihu: Diganta Talukdar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Akshaya Tritiya: Fgndgndgnr, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Langar: Harisingh at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gudi Padwa: Abhijit Tembhekar, CC BY 2.0, source
- Nowruz: Peretz Partensky, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Magh Bihu: Diganta Talukdar, CC BY 2.0, source
- Gurpurab: Gill Gagandeep, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kiribath: AntanO, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Suhur: Hussein Alazaat, CC BY 2.0, source
- Puthandu: Amila Tennakoon, CC BY 2.0, source
- Nirjala Ekadashi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Paryushana: Aayush18, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Teej: Ganesh Paudel at ne.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dhanteras: The original uploader was F16 at Hebrew Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Makar Sankranti: Saloni Desai, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Pitri Paksha: Firoz Shakir, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kartika Purnima: Pictowrit, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bonalu: Randhirreddy at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Shagorana: Caped CrusaderK, CC0, source
- Bada Mangal: Prabhat1729, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Maahefun: Ibrahim Asad, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Panchamrita: Skubydoo, CC BY-SA 4.0, source