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.
🇲🇽 Mexico City, Mexico and 1 moreDay of the DeadDía de Muertos
A Mexican remembrance of deceased family and friends with altars, marigolds and feastsFestival · Sweets given and shared
🇲🇽 Mexico and 1 moreTamalada
A gathering where tamales are the main dish or a communal tamale-making party in Mexican and Hispanic cultures.Festival · Lunch
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreBarn raising
A communal tradition where neighbours assemble to erect a farm barn in a few daysCraft · Lunch
🇺🇸 United StatesNalukataq
A spring whaling festival of the Iñupiat in Northern Alaska, featuring a blanket toss and communal feast.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreIslamic marriageنِكَاح
The sacred contract, agreement and wedding celebration forming an Islamic marriageRite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreSaint Patrick's Day in the United States
An annual celebration of Irish heritage across America with parades, feasts and green dyeFestival · Dinner
🇺🇸 Chicago, United States and 4 moreKwanzaa
A seven-day African American celebration of heritage, family and community valuesFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇨🇦 Canada and 1 morePotlatch
A ceremonial feast of gift-giving and wealth distribution among First Nations on the Northwest Coast.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 Washington, United StatesThanksgiving
An annual American holiday of gratitude, family gatherings and an autumn harvest feastFestival · Dinner
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreHoʻoponopono
A Hawaiian family ritual of prayer, confession and forgiveness that sets wrongs rightSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇲🇽 Mexico and 7 moreLas Posadas
A nine-night Christmas pageant remembering Mary and Joseph seeking shelterSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 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
🇨🇦 CanadaThanksgivingAction de grâce
An annual Canadian autumn holiday celebrating the harvest with family feastsFestival · Dinner
🇺🇸 United StatesRehearsal dinner
A meal the night before a US wedding, when the wedding party gathers to toast and thankRite of passage · Dinner
🇲🇽 Tijuana, Mexico and 1 moreBirria
A rich, seasoned meat stew from western Mexico, cooked for gatherings and holidaysTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 United StatesLūʻau
A Hawaiian feast of kālua pig and poi, eaten by hand outdoors with music and hulaTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreTailgate party
Grilling, sharing and drinking beside a car before the game, mostly in North AmericaTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 Cleveland, United StatesClambake
Shellfish steamed over seaweed in a pit, eaten outdoors along the New England coastTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 United StatesMakahiki
A four-month Hawaiian new year season of peace, harvest gifts, feasts and gamesSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreSuper Bowl Sunday
The day the NFL championship is played, kept with gatherings and buffet foodFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreWedding reception
The party after a wedding, where the couple greet guests over food, cake and dancingFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreYom HaHatzalahיום ההצלה
A Sat Hasidic holiday marking the rescue of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum from the Holocaust on the 21st of Kislev.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇨🇦 Toronto, CanadaRamadan in Canada
A month of fasting, prayer and shared evening meals, kept by Muslims across CanadaSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇺🇸 New York, United StatesBark Mitzvah
A lighthearted coming of age celebration held by dog owners for their petsFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 Manhattan, United StatesJews and Thanksgiving
An American national holiday kept by most US Jews, and debated by their rabbisFestival · Dinner
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Potlatch: James Gilchrist Swan (1818–1900), Public domain, source
- Kwanzaa: Apavlo at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Thanksgiving: Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, Public domain, source
- Las Posadas: Yavidaxiu, CC BY 3.0, source
- Feast of San Gennaro: MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Thanksgiving: Lars Plougmann, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Birria: Equipo 9mkt, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Makahiki: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Barn raising: Alexander W. Galbraith, Public domain, source
- Hoʻoponopono: Makana Chai, Public domain, source
- Saint Patrick's Day in the United States: White House/Chuck Kennedy, Public domain, source
- Islamic marriage: عامر شاہین, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Nalukataq: Floyd Davidson, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Super Bowl Sunday: Tech. Sgt. Steve Horton, U.S. Air Force, Public domain, source
- Wedding reception: Konstantin Makovsky, Public domain, source
- Lūʻau: Ralawami, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tailgate party: Ben Vardi, Public domain, source
- Clambake: inuyaki.com, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Jews and Thanksgiving: Executive Committee of Congregation Shearith Israel., Public domain, source
- Day of the Dead: RubeHM, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tamalada: Tania Solá (WMMX), CC BY-SA 4.0, source