Traditions of East Asia
Lunar New Year, tea ceremony, hanami, chuseok and the ancestors. 266 traditions on EveryParampara so far.
Countries
🇨🇳 China 156🇭🇰 Hong Kong 9🇯🇵 Japan 146🇲🇴 Macau 4🇲🇳 Mongolia 24🇰🇵 North Korea 22🇰🇷 South Korea 60🇹🇼 Taiwan 31
Cities and towns
On the calendar
🇯🇵 JapanKadomatsu門松
A Japanese New Year gateway decoration of pine and bamboo where a visiting deity can restSeasonal
🇯🇵 JapanToshikoshi soba年越し蕎麦
Buckwheat noodles eaten on New Year's Eve, cut easily to let the year goTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇰🇷 South KoreaJesa제사 (Jesa)
A Korean ancestral memorial ceremony held on death anniversaries and major holidays.Spiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇯🇵 Kishiwada, JapanKishiwada Danjiri Matsuri岸和田だんじり祭
A high-speed festival of wooden shrine floats pulled through Kishiwada, JapanFestival
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreMid-Autumn Festival中秋節
An annual harvest festival celebrating family reunions, full moons and mooncakesFestival · Sweets given and shared
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreQingming Festival清明节
A spring custom of sweeping family graves and honouring ancestors across East Asia.Spiritual
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 2 moreTanabataたなばた
A Japanese summer star festival of written wishes hung on leafy bamboo.Festival
🇨🇳 Shanghai, China and 1 moreJiaozi餃子
Crescent Chinese dumplings filled with meat or vegetables, eaten for fortune and feastsTable custom · Breakfast
🇨🇳 China and 7 moreGhost Festival中元節 / 中元节 (Zhōngyuán jié)
A full-moon night in the seventh lunar month for feeding ghosts and guiding souls homeSpiritual
🇨🇳 China and 2 moreQixi Festival七夕
A Chinese night of romance, needlecraft wishes and stargazing for two mythic loversFestival
🇯🇵 JapanChildren's Dayこどもの日
A Japanese holiday on May fifth celebrating the happiness and growth of childrenFestival
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreGanggangsullae강강술래
A Korean harvest dance where women hold hands and sing in circles under the full moonPerformance
🇰🇵 Pyongyang, North KoreaDay of the Sun태양절
North Korea's principal holiday, marking the birth anniversary of Kim Il SungCeremony
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreDouble Ninth Festival重陽節
An autumn festival of mountain walks, chrysanthemum wine and ancestor remembranceSeasonal · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanHatsumōde初詣
The first shrine or temple visit of the Japanese New Year to pray for good fortuneSpiritual
🇲🇳 Mongolia and 2 moreTsagaan SarЦагаан сар
The Mongolian Lunar New Year festival of peace, elders, white foods and renewalSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇯🇵 JapanHadaka Matsuri裸祭り
Japanese festivals where participants clad in loincloths seek luck and purificationSpiritual
🇹🇼 Taipei, TaiwanDouble Ten Day國慶日
The national holiday of Taiwan marking the start of the 1911 revolution.Ceremony
🇰🇵 Pyongyang, North KoreaDay of the Shining Star광명성절
A two-day national holiday in North Korea honouring the birth of Kim Jong Il.Ceremony
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreDaeboreum대보름
A Korean festival of the first lunar full moon, marked by fires, wishes and feastsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇨🇳 ChinaGolden Week黄金周
Seven- or eight-day national holiday periods in China for travel and family visitsSeasonal
🇰🇷 Boryeong, South KoreaBoryeong Mud Festival보령머드축제
A summer festival of mud baths, slides and music on the coast of South KoreaFestival
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreChuseok추석
A Korean harvest festival of ancestral rites, seasonal rice cakes, and folk gamesFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇯🇵 JapanHigan彼岸
A Japanese Buddhist week of reflection and ancestor remembrance at the equinoxesSpiritual
🇰🇷 South KoreaGimjang김장
Korea's late-autumn work of making enough kimchi to last the winterTable custom
🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanGozan no Okuribi五山送り火
Five giant bonfires lit across Kyoto's hills to bid farewell to ancestor spirits.Spiritual
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanDaijō-sai大嘗祭
The emperor's once-in-a-reign Shinto rite of thanks for the rice harvestSpiritual
🇯🇵 JapanYuzu bath柚子湯
A winter solstice soak in hot water with whole yuzu citrus, kept across JapanSeasonal
🇨🇳 Beijing, China and 1 moreLaba congee腊八粥
A ceremonial Chinese porridge of rice, beans and dried fruit, eaten at the Laba FestivalTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇯🇵 JapanTango no sekku端午の節句
A Japanese seasonal festival for children marked with carp streamers and iris leaves.Festival · Sweets given and shared
🇹🇼 TaiwanFlying Fish Festival飛魚祭
A months-long seasonal fishing observance kept by the Tao people of Orchid IslandSeasonal
🇨🇳 Hong Kong, China and 5 moreLunar New Year
New year festivals dated by the moon, kept from East Asia to the Middle EastFestival
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreAncestor worship
Honouring dead relatives with offerings and prayers, kept in many cultures worldwideSpiritual
🇰🇷 South KoreaJwibullori쥐불놀이
A Korean New Year game of whirling fire-cans to clear fields and wish good luckGame
🇯🇵 Japan and 2 moreJoya no Kane除夜の鐘
A Japanese Buddhist New Year's Eve ritual where temple bells are struck to cleanse the year of worldly desires.Spiritual
🇯🇵 Japan and 4 moreBodhi Day成道会
A Buddhist observance marking the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha under the Bodhi TreeSpiritual
🇨🇳 Dali, ChinaThird Month Fair三月街
A mountain-foot bazaar, festival, and sports gathering among the Bai in YunnanFestival
🇯🇵 Takayama, JapanTakayama Festival高山祭
Twin seasonal shrine festivals in Japan famed for elaborate lantern-lit floatsFestival
🇨🇳 ChinaTorch Festival火把节
A summer fire holiday celebrated by Yi and neighbouring communities in southwest ChinaFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanGion Matsuri祇園祭
A month-long Kyoto festival of grand floats, evening markets and purifying ritualsFestival
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanJapanese New Year正月
An annual celebration of renewal, seasonal foods, and bell ringing across JapanSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanKoinobori鯉のぼり
Carp-shaped windsocks flown across Japan for Children's Day in springFestival
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreKorean New Year설날
A three-day Korean festival celebrating the lunisolar new year with family and feastsSeasonal
🇨🇳 Suzhou, China and 3 moreDongzhi冬至
A midwinter festival celebrating the return of light with family feasts and dumplingsSeasonal · Dinner
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreMoon rabbit月兔
A hare seen in the Moon's dark patches, pounding rice cakes or the elixir of lifeFolklore
🇭🇰 Cheung Chau, Hong KongCheung Chau Bun Festival包山節
A week of vegetarian days, bun towers and a midnight scramble on a Hong Kong islandFestival
🇰🇷 Seoul, South KoreaYunnori윷놀이
A Korean board and stick-tossing game played with tokens during the Lunar New YearGame
🇨🇳 Nanjing, China and 4 moreSingles' Day光棍节
A day for people without a partner that grew into the world's biggest shopping eventFestival
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Hatsumōde: KKPCW, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Children's Day: Comissão de Jovens, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Koinobori: 663highland, CC BY 2.5, source
- Japanese New Year: No machine-readable author provided. Sixgimic assumed (based on copyri, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tanabata: Laika ac, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Day of the Sun: Uri Tours, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Qixi Festival: shizhao ( talk )拍摄，画者不明, Public domain, source
- Tsagaan Sar: User:Chinneeb, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Jiaozi: Bioniclepluslotr, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Yuzu bath: Nori Norisa, CC BY 2.0, source
- Daeboreum: hojusaram, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Boryeong Mud Festival: Stinkie Pinkie, CC BY 2.0, source
- Toshikoshi soba: Osamu Iwasaki, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Kadomatsu: Nesnad, CC BY 4.0, source
- Bodhi Day: Shirazibustan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Third Month Fair: ZhaoScorpio, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Takayama Festival: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Torch Festival: Zhangmoon618, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gion Matsuri: 江戸村のとくぞう, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Chuseok: by Joseph Steinberg (Baltimoron in Korea) at Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Higan: Kakidai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Gimjang: USAG- Humphreys, CC BY 2.0, source
- Gozan no Okuribi: J_o, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Joya no Kane: Leung Ming Ho (Michael) (MHLeung), CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri: Kounosu, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Daijō-sai: Abasaa, Public domain, source
- Laba congee: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tango no sekku: tiseb, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mid-Autumn Festival: Shizhao, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Lunar New Year: Flying Pharmacist, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ancestor worship: Lyn Gateley, CC BY 2.0, source
- Jwibullori: KOREA.NET, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Double Ten Day: 總統府, CC BY 2.0, source
- Hadaka Matsuri: CES, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Singles' Day: Chrionexfleckeri1350, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Day of the Shining Star: Nicor, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Qingming Festival: Jacklee ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Golden Week: User:czhongwu, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ghost Festival: Chong Fat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ganggangsullae: originally by photoren, CC BY 2.0, source
- Korean New Year: Kang Byeong Kee, CC BY 3.0, source
- Dongzhi: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Moon rabbit: An artist, Public domain, source
- Cheung Chau Bun Festival: ．怪貓．, CC BY 2.0, source
- Yunnori: 국립국어원, CC BY-SA 2.0 kr, source
- Double Ninth Festival: Sgerbic, CC BY-SA 4.0, source