Dinner
The evening table: who sits where, who is served first, what is said.
The evening meal is where the strictest table customs tend to live: seating, order of serving, who speaks and who stays silent, what is said before eating. These pages gather those customs, from the Japanese phrases said before and after a meal to the Georgian supra with its toastmaster. For the food itself, see Thali.
Seating and order
Many cultures keep a place for the head of the household, serve guests and elders first, or wait until everyone is seated before anyone lifts a spoon. In some, eating is done by hand from shared dishes with rules about which hand and which side of the plate. In others the order of courses, or of toasts, is as fixed as a ceremony.
Words and silences
Saying grace, a blessing, a thanks to the cook or a call to begin is common worldwide. So are the opposite customs: no talking until the meal ends, no phones, no leaving before the elder rises. Dinner is where children learn what their own community counts as good manners.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Dinner (meal). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇺🇸 United StatesFestivus
A secular December observance marked by bare poles, voiced grievances, and wrestlingFestival · Dinner
🇨🇳 Suzhou, China and 4 moreDongzhi Festival冬至
A winter solstice festival of family reunions, ancestor rites and sweet rice ballsSeasonal · Dinner
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreSaint Sylvester's Day
A Christian feast day and year-end celebration marked across Europe and beyondSeasonal · Dinner
🇩🇿 Tlemcen, AlgeriaAshura in Algeriaيوم عاشوراء
A day of fasting, almsgiving, evening feasting and regional folk masquerades.Festival · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇧🇧 Oistins, BarbadosOistins Fish Festival
An annual Easter celebration in Oistins, Barbados, honoring the local fishing community with food and folk games.Festival · Dinner
🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreĐurđevdanЂурђевдан
A spring festival and feast of Saint George kept across the Balkans and Eastern EuropeFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇭🇷 CroatiaBadnjakBadnji dan
A Christmas Eve oak log burned in the hearth across Croatia to welcome the holiday.Festival · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreTsiknopemptiΤσικνοπέμπτη
A Greek Carnival feast of grilled meats held on the second to last Thursday before Lent.Festival · Dinner
🇨🇦 Canada and 1 moreStag and doe
A Canadian fundraising party for an engaged couple, featuring games, food, and raffles to help pay for the wedding.Festival · Dinner
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 1 moreHoshana Rabbahהוֹשַׁעְנָא רַבָּה
The seventh and final day of Sukkot, marked by seven synagogue processions and night-long study.Festival · Dinner
🇮🇸 IcelandIcelandic weddings
A blend of church rites and long feasts, where guests sit by family lines and gifts are saved for the morning.Rite of passage · Dinner
🇺🇸 Manhattan, United StatesJews and Thanksgiving
An American national holiday kept by most US Jews, and debated by their rabbisFestival · Dinner
🇧🇹 Punakha, BhutanTraditional Day of OfferingBuelwa Phuewi Nyim
A Bhutanese New Year marked by offerings to Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal and family feasts.Festival · Breakfast
🇮🇸 IcelandChristmas in IcelandJól
A winter festival of mountain folklore, family feasts and thirteen mischievous visitorsFestival · Dinner
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Dongzhi Festival: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Đurđevdan: Anonymous Russian icon painter (before 1917) Public domain image (acco, Public domain, source
- Hoshana Rabbah: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Jews and Thanksgiving: Executive Committee of Congregation Shearith Israel., Public domain, source
- Christmas in Iceland: Bryan Ledgard, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ashura in Algeria: Jan Janssonius, Public domain, source
- Festivus: en:User:DRosenbach Original uploader was DRosenbach at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Saint Sylvester's Day: Unknown medieval artist in Rome, Public domain, source
- Badnjak: Vidonjac, CC BY 2.0, source
- Tsiknopempti: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0, source