Traditions of Latin America and the Caribbean
Carnaval, Inti Raymi, quinceañera, mate, asado and the Day of the Dead. 117 traditions on EveryParampara so far.
Countries
🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda 0🇦🇷 Argentina 33🇧🇸 Bahamas 3🇧🇧 Barbados 7🇧🇿 Belize 5🇧🇴 Bolivia 21🇧🇷 Brazil 35🇨🇱 Chile 28🇨🇴 Colombia 19🇨🇷 Costa Rica 4🇨🇺 Cuba 13🇩🇲 Dominica 3🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 4🇪🇨 Ecuador 10🇸🇻 El Salvador 4🇬🇩 Grenada 1🇬🇹 Guatemala 15🇬🇾 Guyana 6🇭🇹 Haiti 5🇭🇳 Honduras 4🇯🇲 Jamaica 10🇳🇮 Nicaragua 5🇵🇦 Panama 4🇵🇾 Paraguay 7🇵🇪 Peru 29🇵🇷 Puerto Rico 8🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis 4🇱🇨 Saint Lucia 2🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1🇸🇷 Suriname 7🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago 12🇺🇾 Uruguay 8🇻🇪 Venezuela 12
On the calendar
🇵🇪 Cusco, Peru and 4 moreIntiinti (Quechua)
The Inca sun deity, honoured with temples, offerings and the June festival Inti RaymiSpiritual
🇱🇨 Saint Lucia and 1 moreJounen Kwéyòl
A day of Creole food, music and dress in Saint Lucia and Dominica, kept each OctoberFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇵🇾 Asunción, ParaguayÑandutí
Paraguayan needle lace named for a spider's web, worked in thread and cut freeCraft
🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilRio CarnivalCarnaval do Rio de Janeiro
Five days of samba parades, costumes and street parties in Rio, ending at LentFestival
🇵🇷 San Juan, Puerto Rico and 1 moreBomba
A Puerto Rican music and dance tradition where the drummer follows the dancer in a rhythmic dialogue.Performance
🇵🇦 Panama City, PanamaMola
Layered cloth panels hand-sewn by Guna women using reverse appliquéCraft
🇨🇺 CubaAbakuá
An Afro-Cuban initiatory brotherhood rooted in West African sacred traditionsSpiritual
🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilJongo
A nightlong dance and music gathering kept by Afro-Brazilian communities in the southeast of Brazil.Performance
🇹🇹 Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago and 1 moreDivali Nagar
An annual cultural exposition in Trinidad and Tobago celebrating Hindu traditions during the Diwali season.Festival
🇧🇧 BarbadosTuk band
A Barbadian musical ensemble with costumed figures that blends African drumming and British military traditions.Performance
🇭🇳 Honduras and 4 morePunta
A lively dance and music style of the Garifuna people, celebrated in Central America and the Caribbean.Performance
🇻🇪 Venezuela and 1 moreColeo
A Venezuelan and Colombian sport where riders chase cattle to snatch tails and pull them down.Game
🇵🇷 Ponce, Puerto Rico and 1 morePlena
Puerto Rican folk songs and dance sharing community news with rhythmic frame drumsPerformance
🇨🇱 Santiago, Chile and 3 moreCueca
A courtship dance of Chile and the Andes where partners trace circles with handkerchiefs to mimic a rooster and hen.Performance
🇦🇷 Salta, Argentina and 3 moreZamba
A graceful Argentine couple dance of circling steps and fluttering white handkerchiefsPerformance
🇨🇱 ChileNgillatun
A communal Mapuche rite of prayer, sacrifice and dance to maintain cosmic balanceSpiritual
🇩🇲 Dominica and 4 moreBéléBèlè
A Caribbean drum, call-and-response song, and courtship dance traditionPerformance
🇺🇾 Montevideo, UruguayNostalgia NightNoche de la Nostalgia
Uruguay's nationwide retro music and dance celebration held every 24 AugustFestival
🇧🇷 Belém, BrazilCarimbó
A dance and music genre from the Amazon region of Brazil, centered around a wooden drum.Performance
🇨🇱 Rancagua, Chile and 1 moreChilean rodeo
A Chilean equestrian sport and weekend festival contested in a crescent-shaped arenaGame
🇧🇸 Nassau, BahamasRake-and-scrape
A traditional Bahamian music style featuring saws, guitars and drums.Performance
🇧🇴 Potosí, BoliviaTinku
A ritual combat and dance from northern Potosí, Bolivia, honoring Pachamama through ceremonial fighting and performance.Festival
🇧🇷 Recife, Brazil and 1 moreMaracatu
A set of Afro-Brazilian performance traditions from Pernambuco and Ceará featuring drumming, dance, and royal pageantry.Performance
🇵🇷 Ponce, Puerto RicoVejigante
A masked folkloric character in Puerto Rican festivals, wearing ornate masks and performing a role of mischief or resistFestival
🇧🇷 São Paulo, BrazilMaculelê
An Afro-Brazilian stick dance from Bahia that blends rhythm, mock combat, and song.Performance
🇧🇷 BrazilForró
Music, dance and party from Brazil's Northeast, with accordion, triangle and zabumba drumPerformance
🇵🇪 Peru and 2 moreAyniAyni (Quechua and Aymara)
Giving and receiving as a duty, kept by Andean communitiesEtiquette
🇧🇴 Oruro, Bolivia and 3 moreMorenada
A Bolivian folk dance featuring heavy masks and rattling instruments, performed in festivals across the Andes.Performance
🇦🇷 Santiago del Estero, Argentina and 1 moreChacarera
A partner dance and folk music genre from Argentina's north-west, known for its distinctive rhythm and courtship steps.Performance
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 5 moreMoko Jumbie
A stilt-walking tradition from the Caribbean that blends African heritage with local carnival celebrations.Performance
🇧🇷 BrazilBaião
A syncopated folk rhythm and partnered dance from northeastern BrazilPerformance
🇦🇷 Córdoba, ArgentinaCuarteto
An upbeat partner dance and music tradition born in Córdoba, ArgentinaPerformance
🇧🇿 Dangriga, Belize and 4 morePunta rock
A fast-paced Garifuna dance music mixing traditional percussion with electric guitarsPerformance
🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilCapoeira
An Afro-Brazilian martial art and musical game played inside a circleGame
🇵🇾 ParaguayParaguayan harp
Paraguay's national harp, strung with 32 to 46 strings and plucked with long fingernailsPerformance
🇭🇹 Haiti and 1 moreRara
A Haitian street music of bamboo trumpets and drums, played in the Easter seasonPerformance
🇨🇱 ChileCurantokurantu
A traditional earth oven feast of seafood, meat, and potatoes from Chiloé, ChileTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 3 moreSteelpan
A tuned percussion tradition forged from industrial steel containers in TrinidadPerformance
🇵🇪 Cusco, Peru and 2 moreInti Raymi
A major Andean festival honoring the sun god Inti and marking the winter solstice in Cusco.Festival
🇨🇴 Barranquilla, ColombiaBarranquilla CarnivalCarnaval de Barranquilla
A four-day street festival of music, masquerade and dance in coastal ColombiaFestival
🇸🇷 Paramaribo, Suriname and 1 moreKetikotiKeti Koti
An annual Emancipation Day marking the end of slavery in Suriname and the NetherlandsFestival
🇨🇴 Pasto, ColombiaBlacks and Whites' CarnivalCarnaval de Negros y Blancos
A week of street games, parades and music held every January in Pasto, ColombiaFestival
🇧🇴 Oruro, BoliviaCarnival of OruroEl carnaval de Oruro
A Bolivian festival of masked pilgrimage dances honoring the Virgin of the MineshaftFestival
🇵🇪 Cusco, PeruQoyllur Rit'iQuyllurit'i
An Andean mountain pilgrimage uniting indigenous star lore and Catholic devotionSpiritual
🇵🇪 Lima, PeruLord of MiraclesSeñor de los Milagros
An October Catholic festival in Lima honouring a miraculous mural of ChristSpiritual · Sweets given and shared
🇦🇷 ArgentinaDía de la Tradición
An annual Argentine day celebrating gaucho customs on poet José Hernández's birthdayCeremony
🇨🇺 Santiago de Cuba, CubaCarnival of Santiago de CubaCarnaval
A summer street celebration of percussion troupes, dancing, and parades in eastern CubaFestival
🇭🇹 Port-au-Prince, HaitiHaitian CarnivalKanaval
Haiti's annual street festival of music, satirical plays and costumed paradesFestival · Tea-time and snacking customs
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Inti: Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, Public domain, source
- Inti Raymi: Cyntia Motta, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Barranquilla Carnival: el heraldo, Public domain, source
- Ketikoti: StarNieuws, CC BY 3.0, source
- Carnival of Oruro: Pame82s, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Blacks and Whites' Carnival: camiloAndres, CC BY 2.0, source
- Rio Carnival: Sergio Luiz, CC BY 2.0, source
- Lord of Miracles: Miguel Chong, Public domain, source
- Qoyllur Rit'i: AgainErick, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Haitian Carnival: User:Doron, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Forró: As fotos da Virada!, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ayni: Sr raleigh, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Carnival of Santiago de Cuba: Christian Pirkl, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Día de la Tradición: GCBA, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Paraguayan harp: Romina Santarelli, CC BY 2.0, source
- Rara: Lombinodr Alfonso Lomba, CC BY 3.0, source
- Ñandutí: Trey Jones, Public domain, source
- Cueca: Manuel Antonio Caro, Public domain, source
- Bomba: TechyLibrarian, CC BY 4.0, source
- Plena: Raylaur15, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Capoeira: Augustus Earle, Public domain, source
- Ngillatun: Francisco Cavallo, Public domain, source
- Curanto: Lin linao, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Steelpan: Shanel, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Abakuá: M. Puente, Public domain, source
- Chilean rodeo: Marco Antonio Correa Flores, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Carimbó: Palácio do Planalto, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mola: Johantheghost, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Punta: Pitxiquin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Coleo: Alorenz, Public domain, source
- Tinku: CassandraW1, CC BY 2.0, source
- Tuk band: Ronaldwalcott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jongo: Vanessa Freitas, Public domain, source
- Vejigante: Oscar Rohena, CC BY 2.0, source
- Maculelê: Joel Zimmer, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Maracatu: Prefeitura de Olinda, CC BY 2.0, source
- Morenada: Alfredobi, CC BY 3.0, source
- Chacarera: Pflatau, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Moko Jumbie: COD Newsroom, CC BY 2.0, source