Traditions of Europe
Carnival, Midsummer, Christmas markets, Easter, the village fête and the long Sunday lunch. 698 traditions on EveryParampara so far.
Countries
🇦🇱 Albania 26🇦🇩 Andorra 4🇦🇹 Austria 49🇧🇾 Belarus 30🇧🇪 Belgium 40🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 13🇧🇬 Bulgaria 47🇭🇷 Croatia 30🇨🇿 Czechia 18🇩🇰 Denmark 25🇪🇪 Estonia 17🇫🇮 Finland 33🇫🇷 France 91🇩🇪 Germany 113🇬🇷 Greece 67🇭🇺 Hungary 21🇮🇸 Iceland 19🇮🇪 Ireland 72🇮🇹 Italy 109🇽🇰 Kosovo 17🇱🇻 Latvia 17🇱🇮 Liechtenstein 2🇱🇹 Lithuania 22🇱🇺 Luxembourg 14🇲🇹 Malta 15🇲🇩 Moldova 11🇲🇨 Monaco 1🇲🇪 Montenegro 11🇳🇱 Netherlands 28🇲🇰 North Macedonia 23🇳🇴 Norway 37🇵🇱 Poland 70🇵🇹 Portugal 25🇷🇴 Romania 38🇷🇺 Russia 98🇸🇲 San Marino 1🇷🇸 Serbia 42🇸🇰 Slovakia 16🇸🇮 Slovenia 24🇪🇸 Spain 96🇸🇪 Sweden 45🇨🇭 Switzerland 33🇺🇦 Ukraine 44🇬🇧 United Kingdom 193🇻🇦 Vatican City 3
Cities and towns
Rome 28London 26Moscow 17Dublin 16Vienna 16Athens 14Venice 14Paris 13Seville 12Kraków 11Riga 11Valencia 11
On the calendar
🇩🇪 Nuremberg, Germany and 5 moreChristkind
The traditional Christmas Eve gift-bringer across Central Europe and Latin AmericaFestival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreYule log
A log kept burning on the hearth through the twelve days of Christmas, for luckSeasonal
🇷🇴 Romania and 3 moreMărțișor
A spring custom of wearing intertwined red and white strings to welcome the new season.Festival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreBurns supperBurns Nicht
A Scottish celebratory meal of haggis, poetry and toasts in honour of Robert BurnsFestival · Dinner
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreTwelfth Night
The closing evening of the Christmas season, kept with cake, carols and wassailSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇧🇾 Belarus and 4 moreDziadyДзяды (Belarusian); Діди (Ukrainian); Dziady (Polish)
A Slavic tradition of feeding and welcoming the spirits of ancestors to ensure family fertility and peace.Spiritual
🇵🇱 Kraków, PolandKraków szopkaszopka krakowska
Elaborate Christmas cribs modelled on historic Polish architecture in KrakówCraft
🇭🇷 Sinj, CroatiaSinjska Alka
An annual jousting tournament in Sinj where galloping riders strike a hanging ringGame
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreEgg rolling
A spring game of rolling decorated hard-boiled eggs down hills or along lawnsGame
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 5 moreChristmas cracker
A decorative paper tube pulled apart with a bang during Christmas dinnerFestival · Dinner
🇭🇷 Dubrovnik, Croatia and 1 moreFestivity of Saint BlaiseFesta Svetog Vlaha
An annual patron saint festival in Dubrovnik with processions, relics and dovesFestival
🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreMidnight MassMissa in nocte
The first service of Christmas, kept late on Christmas Eve in many Western churchesSpiritual
🇩🇰 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
🇬🇷 GreeceAnthesteriaἈνθεστήρια
An ancient Greek three-day spring festival of Dionysus, new wine, and the deadFestival
🇩🇪 Cologne, Germany and 3 moreRosenmontag
The peak of German carnival, celebrated with satirical street parades and sweetsFestival
🇨🇿 Vlčnov, CzechiaRide of the KingsJízda králů
A Moravian spring procession where horsemen escort a silent boy king holding a roseFestival
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 7 moreKoliadaКоляда
A traditional winter caroling and solstice festival kept across Slavic EuropeFestival
🇷🇺 RussiaScarlet SailsАлые паруса
A summer graduation celebration on the Neva River in Saint PetersburgFestival
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 1 moreDidukhдідух
A wheat sheaf kept at Christmas to honour ancestors and pray for a bountiful harvestHome
🇪🇸 Valencia, SpainWater Tribunal of the plain of ValenciaTribunal de les Aigües de la Vega de València
A weekly outdoor gathering of Valencian farmers settling irrigation disputes by word of mouthCeremony
🇨🇿 Czechia and 2 moreEaster whippingpomlázka
An Easter Monday custom of tapping women with braided willow switches for vitalitySeasonal
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreClean MondayΚαθαρά Δευτέρα
The Monday that opens Great Lent, kept with fasting, forgiveness and kite-flyingSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇫🇮 Finland and 5 moreMolybdomancy
Pouring molten lead or tin into water, then reading the shape as an omenFolklore
🇷🇴 RomaniaDragobete
A Romanian festival of young love and spring, celebrated with early flowers and courtshipFestival
🇳🇴 Oslo, NorwayRussefeiring
A spring graduation rite of passage for Norwegian secondary school studentsRite of passage
🇬🇧 Edinburgh, United Kingdom and 2 moreRoyal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
An annual military music and performance show held on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in August.Performance
🇱🇻 Riga, Latvia and 4 moreJāņi
An annual Latvian summer solstice celebration of bonfires, singing and woven wreathsFestival
🇸🇮 Slovenia and 1 morePrešeren DayPrešernov dan
A national celebration of arts and literature observed across Slovenia on 8 FebruaryCeremony
🇦🇹 Austria and 4 moreAlmabtrieb
An Alpine autumn custom of leading decorated cattle from high pastures to valley barnsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇨🇭 Zurich, SwitzerlandSechseläutenSächsilüüte
Zurich's spring festival marked by guild parades and the burning of a snowman effigySeasonal
🇩🇪 Cologne, GermanyCologne CarnivalKölner Karneval
A street festival in Cologne with parades, masquerades and a ruling trioFestival
🇪🇸 Barcelona, SpainLa Mercè
Barcelona’s main annual city festival, honoring the Virgin of Mercy each September.Festival
🇪🇸 Seville, SpainHoly Week in SpainSemana Santa
Annual Catholic penitential processions across Spain featuring floats, robes and music to mark the Passion of Christ.Spiritual
🇬🇷 Athens, Greece and 1 moreCelebration of the Greek RevolutionΕορτασμός της Ελληνικής Επανάστασης του 1821
An annual civic holiday of parades and church services marking Greek independenceCeremony
🇪🇸 Pamplona, Spain and 5 moreProcessional giants
Towering costumed figures carried through town streets during communal festivalsFestival
🇪🇸 Barcelona, Spain and 2 moreDiada de Sant Jordi
A Catalan feast day of literature and love, marked by giving books and red rosesFestival
🇲🇰 Galičnik, North MacedoniaGaličnik Wedding FestivalГаличка свадба
An annual village wedding festival celebrated every July in North MacedoniaFestival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreMummers' play
A comic folk drama of staged combat, death, and revival by an eccentric doctorPerformance
🇦🇱 Elbasan, Albania and 3 moreDita e Verës
An Albanian spring festival of bonfires, sweets and nature renewal on March 14Seasonal
🇸🇪 SwedenJul
A midwinter holiday of feast tables, doorstep gift givers, and candlelit morningsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇨🇭 Vevey, SwitzerlandFête des Vignerons
A once-in-a-generation wine festival and arena spectacle in Vevey, SwitzerlandFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreHandfastingceangal na lámh (Irish); pòsadh-bliadhna (Scottish Gaelic)
A couple's promise made with joined or bound hands, kept from betrothal to weddingRite of passage
🇬🇧 United KingdomSwan Upping
An annual five-day royal census and health check of swans along the River ThamesCeremony
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreRéveillon
A luxurious late-night feast that stretches until dawn across the winter holidaysTable custom · Dinner
🇪🇸 Valencia, SpainCremà
The ceremonial burning of large artistic street monuments across the Valencian communityFestival
🇷🇴 RomaniaSorcova
Children tap people with a flowered twig on New Year's morning, wishing health and luckSeasonal
🇷🇺 Khokhloma, RussiaKhokhlomaхохлома
Russian folk painting of red, black and gold flowers and berries on wooden tablewareCraft
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Processional giants: Jesús Serna, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Egg rolling: White House/Lawrence Jackson, Public domain, source
- Sinjska Alka: L. Carević, CC0, source
- Christkind: Roland Berger, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Festivity of Saint Blaise: August Dominus, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kraków szopka: user:cancre, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Rosenmontag: Aymx, Public domain, source
- Anthesteria: Unknown artist, Public domain, source
- Dziady: Stanisław Bagieński, Public domain, source
- Fastelavn: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Koliada: Konstantin Trutovsky, Public domain, source
- Jul: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Easter whipping: Chmee2, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Water Tribunal of the plain of Valencia: José Jordan, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo, source
- Ride of the Kings: Filipzverina, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Risalamande: Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Didukh: Bo&Ko, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Scarlet Sails: Kora27, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Russefeiring: Unknown author, CC BY 2.0, source
- Jāņi: Heinrihsons, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Burns supper: Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Almabtrieb: Feel free to use my photos, but please mention me as the author and if, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Prešeren Day: Franz von Kurz zum Thurn und Goldenstein, Public domain, source
- Celebration of the Greek Revolution: Stefanos Kofopoulos, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Holy Week in Spain: Rodelar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Christmas cracker: en:User:Cgros841, Public domain, source
- La Mercè: larry&flo, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Cologne Carnival: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Sechseläuten: anonymous, Public domain, source
- Mummers' play: Aladjov, CC BY 3.0, source
- Khokhloma: Dmfff, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Galičnik Wedding Festival: IvanaKrstik, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Diada de Sant Jordi: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dita e Verës: Bibiomn, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo: xlibber, CC BY 2.0, source
- Fête des Vignerons: "Groupement des photographes officiels" / Fête des vignerons Vevey / S, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cremà: Paula Ramírez Morant, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Swan Upping: Philip Allfrey, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Yule log: Pehr Arvid Säve (1811—1887), Public domain, source
- Twelfth Night: Hablot Knight Browne: scanned by Steven J Plunkett, Public domain, source
- Molybdomancy: Micha L. Rieser, Attribution, source
- Clean Monday: Перов, Public domain, source
- Handfasting: Sander van der Wel, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Midnight Mass: Atleett, CC0, source
- Sorcova: The original uploader was Alex:D at Romanian Wikipedia ., Public domain, source