Feasts and festival meals
The meal that marks a day, a rite or a season, and how it is kept.
A feast is the meal that makes a day: the Passover seder, the Georgian supra, the Thanksgiving table, the iftar that ends a Ramadan day, a wedding banquet. These pages are about the customs of the feast, such as who is invited, what is said and done, and how it is closed, and not about the recipes. For those, see Thali.
A meal with a script
Feasts usually have an order: a blessing, a toast, a symbolic first food, a story that is retold. Those who attend know when to speak, when to stand and what is expected of a guest.
Marking time
Feasts mark the year (harvest, new year, midwinter) and a life (birth, marriage, death). The same table can hold both: a village feast that celebrates the harvest and also settles who is married to whom.
About this page
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Feasts and festival meals (meal). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇵🇱 Poland and 5 moreChristmas Eve
The evening before Christmas, marked by church services, family meals, and gift preparations across Christian cultures.Festival · Dinner
🇵🇹 Lisbon, PortugalMarchas Populares
Neighbourhood teams march, dance and sing through Lisbon's June nights for St AnthonyFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreImbolcLá Fhéile Bríde
A Gaelic festival heralding spring and honoring Saint Brigid with woven rush crossesSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇵🇱 Poland and 5 moreFat Thursday
A Thursday before Lent when doughnuts, grilled meat and Carnival take overFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇪 Ireland and 6 moreSaint Stephen's Day
A Christian feast day celebrating the first martyr with feasts, rides and folk customs.Spiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇷🇸 SerbiaSlavaСлава
An annual Serbian family feast honouring their patron saint with blessed bread and wineSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇪 Dublin, Ireland and 4 moreMay Day
A traditional European festival welcoming summer with greenery, dances and bonfiresSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 Edinburgh, United KingdomHogmanay
The Scottish celebration of New Year's Eve and the first days of the new year.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreTwelfth Night
The closing evening of the Christmas season, kept with cake, carols and wassailSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 5 moreChristmas cracker
A decorative paper tube pulled apart with a bang during Christmas dinnerFestival · Dinner
🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark and 4 moreRisalamande
A chilled Danish Christmas rice dessert with cream, chopped almonds and cherry sauceTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark and 5 moreFastelavn
A pre-Lenten carnival in Northern Europe where children dress up, sing for treats, and break candy-filled barrels.Festival · Sweets given and shared
🇦🇹 Austria and 4 moreAlmabtrieb
An Alpine autumn custom of leading decorated cattle from high pastures to valley barnsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇸🇪 SwedenJul
A midwinter holiday of feast tables, doorstep gift givers, and candlelit morningsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreRéveillon
A luxurious late-night feast that stretches until dawn across the winter holidaysTable custom · Dinner
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreZakuskiзакуски
A laid-out table of cold small dishes that opens a Russian festive mealTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇬🇷 Greece and 4 moreVasilopitaΒασιλόπιτα
A New Year bread or cake with a coin baked inside, shared out slice by sliceTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreEasterΠάσχα
The day Christians mark the resurrection, kept with vigils, feasts and eggsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreChristmas dinner
The festive family meal of Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, with roast meats and puddingsTable custom · Dinner
🇪🇸 Jijona, Spain and 5 moreTurrón
A festive Mediterranean nut-and-honey confection shared at Christmas and local feastsTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreHarvest festival
A thanks for the gathered crop, kept with church meals, songs and shared foodSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreSaffron bun
A golden, spiced yeast roll flavoured with saffron, baked for festive and holy daysTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 3 moreBanitsaБаница
A layered Bulgarian cheese pastry baked for morning meals and holiday fortunesTable custom · Breakfast
🇩🇪 Cologne, Germany and 2 moreGerman CarnivalKarneval
Pre-Lenten street parades, costume balls and local revels across German-speaking lands.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 3 moreMalankaМаланка
A Ukrainian folk celebration of masked mummers, feasting and New Year blessingsFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 GreeceMagiritsaΜαγειρίτσα
A Greek lamb offal soup eaten after the midnight Easter service to break the fastTable custom · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇪🇸 Seville, SpainSeville FairFeria de Abril de Sevilla
A week-long spring festival in Seville of carriage parades, marquee tents and dancingFestival · Dinner
🇮🇸 IcelandÞorrablót
An Icelandic midwinter feast of dinner, speeches and poetryFestival · Dinner
🇮🇪 Dublin, Ireland and 3 moreLittle ChristmasNollaig na mBan
A January feast day marking the close of the twelve days of ChristmasSeasonal · Dinner
🇷🇺 Moscow, RussiaChristmas in RussiaРождество Христово
An Orthodox winter feast marked by church vigils, fasting suppers and festive mealsSpiritual · Supper
🇵🇱 PolandEaster in Poland
A spring holiday of family breakfasts, blessed baskets, decorated eggs, and water games.Festival · Breakfast
🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreSerbian ChristmasБожић
A three-day midwinter observance focused on oak logs, floor straw and family gatheringsSpiritual · Dinner
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 4 moreKorovaiкоровай (Ukrainian), каравай (Russian)
A round wedding bread of Eastern Europe, baked with songs and shared by all the guestsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇵🇱 PolandWigilia
Poland's meatless Christmas Eve supper, begun when the first star appearsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇪 Galway, IrelandGalway International Oyster Festival
An annual autumn gathering in Galway honouring native oysters with shucking contestsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇳🇴 NorwayJul
An eight-week Norwegian midwinter season of feasts, family gatherings, and gift-givingSeasonal · Lunch
🇩🇰 DenmarkJul
Winter feasts, carols around the tree, and family gatherings across DenmarkFestival · Lunch
🇳🇴 Norway and 2 moreJulebord
A Scandinavian Christmas banquet of traditional dishes, festive drinks and celebrationTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMothering Sunday
A mid-Lent Christian observance and family celebration of mothers and mother churchesSeasonal · Breakfast
🇫🇮 FinlandChristmas in Finlandjoulu
A quiet midwinter festival of saunas, grave candles and table casseroles across FinlandSeasonal · Dinner
🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia and 5 moreNovy GodНовый Год
A secular winter celebration of decorated trees, family feasts and midnight giftsFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 4 moreBabindenБабинден
A Bulgarian feast honoring midwives and new mothers with rituals of bathing, feasting, and blessing.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreSamhain
A Gaelic festival marking the start of winter with bonfires and ancestor feastsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇪 Killorglin, Ireland and 1 moreLughnasadhLúnasa
A Gaelic festival marking the start of harvest with feasts, fairs and mountain walksSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇳🇱 Amsterdam, Netherlands and 4 moreSinterklaasSinterklaas / Sint-Nicolaas
A Dutch winter feast on 5 and 6 December, when Saint Nicholas brings gifts to childrenFestival · Sweets given and shared
🇸🇪 Sweden and 3 moreCrayfish partykräftskiva
Boiled crayfish, snaps and paper lanterns at a late-summer party in Sweden and FinlandTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇸🇪 Stockholm, Sweden and 2 moreSmorgasbordsmörgåsbord
A Swedish table of hot and cold dishes where guests serve themselvesTable custom · Lunch
🇮🇹 Venice, Italy and 5 moreCarnival
A season of parades, masks and feasting in the days before LentFestival · 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.
- Harvest festival: High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de, source
- Imbolc: Culnacreann, CC BY 3.0, source
- Slava: Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- May Day: Bryan Ledgard, CC BY 2.0, source
- Fastelavn: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Jul: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Risalamande: Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Christmas cracker: en:User:Cgros841, Public domain, source
- Saffron bun: Nenniu, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Banitsa: Sheku80, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- German Carnival: Neva Micheva, CC BY 2.5, source
- Malanka: Viktoriyasechkar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Magiritsa: Andrew Dalby, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Seville Fair: Sevilla Congress & Convention Bureau, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Fat Thursday: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Turrón: Tamorlan, CC BY 3.0, source
- Christmas in Russia: Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Easter in Poland: Silar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Serbian Christmas: Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Twelfth Night: Hablot Knight Browne: scanned by Steven J Plunkett, Public domain, source
- Marchas Populares: Taisir85, CC BY 4.0, source
- Korovai: Olli Niemitalo, CC0, source
- Wigilia: Przykuta, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Zakuski: Timothy Post, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Vasilopita: Μυρμηγκάκι, Public domain, source
- Easter: Piero della Francesca, Public domain, source
- Christmas dinner: Austin McGee, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Christmas Eve: Carl Larsson, Public domain, source
- Almabtrieb: Feel free to use my photos, but please mention me as the author and if, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hogmanay: Robbie Shade, CC BY 2.0, source
- Saint Stephen's Day: Carlo Crivelli, Public domain, source
- Galway International Oyster Festival: Thoslee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jul: Erik Christensen, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Julebord: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mothering Sunday: Jonathunder, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Christmas in Finland: Uploaded by Sigketill, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Novy God: Евгений Самарин, CC BY 4.0, source
- Babinden: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Samhain: Daniel Maclise, Public domain, source
- Lughnasadh: Mountainash333, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sinterklaas: R.F. (Roel) Jorna, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Crayfish party: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Smorgasbord: Jordan Klein, CC BY 2.0, source
- Carnival: Etienne Le Cocq, CC BY-SA 3.0, source