Traditions of New York
A city of immigrants, whose Thanksgiving parade, Lunar New Year and Puerto Rican Day all share the avenues.
New York City has welcomed more peoples to the United States than any other port, and its calendar of parades and festivals reflects them. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the St. Patrick's Day parade, and the Puerto Rican Day parade are held on the avenues, and neighbourhoods hold street feasts for their saints.
Parades and feasts
The Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy and the Lunar New Year parade in Chinatown draw crowds. On Thanksgiving morning, giant balloons fly down Central Park West. On New Year's Eve, a ball drops in Times Square. Diwali and Eid are public school holidays, and Caribbean communities hold the West Indian American Day Carnival in Brooklyn at Labor Day.
At the table
Bagels with lox, pizza by the slice, hot dogs, pastrami sandwiches and black-and-white cookies are the city's daily bites. Dim sum in Flushing, halal carts, and arepas in Queens show the mix. Egg creams are a soda fountain classic. Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, cranberry and pumpkin pie is the most widely shared family meal of the year.
Signature traditions of New York
Also part of it, and being written: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (The parade.), New York-style pizza (The slice.), Bagel (The roll.).
A trail idea for New York
- Smorgasburg Eat in the open.
- Chinatown See the Lunar New Year.
- Arthur Avenue Visit the Bronx's Little Italy.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇮🇹 Rome, Italy and 4 moreChristmas
A festival of Jesus's birth, kept on 25 December with gifts, lights and shared mealsFestival
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreHalloween
An annual observance on 31 October marking the eve of All Saints' Day, rooted in Christian tradition and Celtic heritageFestival · Sweets given and shared
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 1 moreHanukkahחֲנֻכָּה
An eight-day Jewish festival marking the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of a single day'Festival
🇺🇸 New York, United States and 4 moreFeast of the Ascension
The fortieth day of Easter, when Christians remember Jesus being taken up into heavenSpiritual
🇺🇸 New York, United States and 1 moreFortune-telling
Reading cards, palms or tea leaves to tell a client what may lie aheadFolklore
🇺🇸 New York, United StatesGhost Dance
A circle dance ceremony kept by Native American communities to reunite with ancestors and restore peace.Spiritual
🇵🇭 Manila, Philippines and 5 moreNovena
A nine-day Christian prayer tradition for petitions, feasts, or mourning.Spiritual
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 1 moreShemini Atzeretשְׁמִינִי עֲצֶרֶת
The eighth day of assembly, kept right after Sukkot with a prayer for rainSpiritual
🇺🇸 New York, United States and 1 moreFeast of San GennaroFesta di San Gennaro
A patronal festival of parades, street food and prayer honouring Saint JanuariusFestival · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreLangarਲੰਗਰ
The free kitchen at a gurdwara, where all sit and eat together as equalsTable custom
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 3 moreHanukkah menorah
A nine-branched lamp that gains one more flame on each of Hanukkah's eight nightsSpiritual
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreJoss paper金紙 (jīnzhǐ)
Paper money burned for ancestors and gods, folded and offered in Chinese worshipSpiritual
🇬🇹 Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala and 3 moreMaximón
A folk saint of the Guatemalan highlands, asked for health, crops and protectionFolklore
🇮🇱 Israel and 3 moreKashrutכַּשְׁרוּת (Hebrew)
The Jewish dietary laws: what may be eaten, and how it is preparedTable custom
🇺🇸 New York, United States and 5 moreWorld Religion Day
An annual day in January dedicated to spiritual unity and harmony across all faiths.Spiritual
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreBuddhist initiation受戒
A public ceremony where a lay follower takes refuge in the Triple Gem and accepts moral precepts.Spiritual
🇷🇺 RussiaBlack wedding
A traditional Jewish crisis wedding held in a cemetery to ward off diseaseSpiritual
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Jack-o'-lantern: Toby Ord, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Christmas: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Public domain, source
- Hanukkah: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, source
- Feast of San Gennaro: MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Langar: Harisingh at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Buddhist initiation: ScooterSponson, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fortune-telling: Taras Shevchenko, Public domain, source
- West Indian Day Parade: Fordmadoxfraud, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Shemini Atzeret: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ghost Dance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Novena: Catedrales e Iglesias/Cathedrals and Churches, CC BY 2.0, source
- Hanukkah menorah: Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Joss paper: Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Maximón: Sapfan (Jan Pesula), Public domain, source
- Feast of the Ascension: Gebhard Fugel, Public domain, source
- Kashrut: Daniel Ventura, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Black wedding: American Colony Photo Department, Public domain, source