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 36🇨🇱 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
🇨🇴 Cali, ColombiaCali FairLa Feria de Cali
A six-day Colombian celebration of salsa music, street parades, and regional cultureFestival
🇯🇲 Montego Bay, JamaicaReggae Sumfest
An annual week-long reggae and dancehall music festival in Montego Bay, JamaicaFestival
🇺🇾 Montevideo, UruguayCarnival in Uruguay
An extended festival of drum processions, stage satire, and dance across Uruguay.Festival
🇧🇧 BarbadosCrop Over
A Barbadian harvest festival marking the end of the sugar cane season with music and parades.Festival
🇧🇸 Bahamas and 3 moreJunkanoo
A Caribbean masquerade festival of masked dancing, goatskin drumming, and cowbellsFestival
🇪🇨 Latacunga, EcuadorMama Negra
A twice-yearly festival in Latacunga blending Andean, Spanish and African heritageFestival
🇧🇷 BrazilFesta JuninaFestas Juninas
A Brazilian midwinter celebration marked by bonfires, folk dances and countryside gamesFestival
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 3 moreHosay
An Indo-Caribbean Muharram commemoration with ornate floats, drumming and processionsSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇧🇷 Salvador, BrazilLavagem do Bonfim
An annual inter-religious procession and cleansing ritual in Salvador, BrazilSpiritual
🇨🇴 Medellín, ColombiaFestival of the FlowersFeria de las Flores
An annual week-long celebration of floral craft and regional culture in MedellínFestival
🇨🇺 Santiago de Cuba, CubaCarnival of Santiago de CubaCarnaval
A summer street celebration of percussion troupes, dancing, and parades in eastern CubaFestival
🇦🇷 ArgentinaDía de la Tradición
An annual Argentine day celebrating gaucho customs on poet José Hernández's birthdayCeremony
🇺🇾 Montevideo, Uruguay and 3 moreMurga
A lively Carnival musical theatre of chorus, percussion and social satirePerformance
🇦🇷 Mendoza, ArgentinaFiesta Nacional de la Vendimia
Argentina's national grape harvest festival, celebrated each year in MendozaSeasonal
🇨🇺 Remedios, CubaParrandas
Central Cuban street festivals featuring district rumba music, floats and fireworksFestival
🇹🇹 Port of Spain, Trinidad and TobagoCanboulay
An early Trinidadian celebration that shaped modern Carnival and calypso musicFestival
🇹🇹 Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago Carnival
An annual festival of street parades, masquerade bands, steelpan music and danceFestival
🇬🇾 Georgetown, GuyanaMashramani
Guyana's national republic celebration filled with street pageantry, music and dance.Festival
🇨🇱 Santiago, ChileFiestas Patrias
Chile's homeland festivities celebrating national identity with music, dance, and foodCeremony
🇩🇴 Santiago, Dominican Republic and 3 moreMerengue
A fast-paced folk dance and music tradition born in the Dominican RepublicPerformance
🇨🇴 Valledupar, ColombiaVallenato Legend FestivalFestival de la Leyenda Vallenata
An annual gathering in Valledupar celebrating Colombian vallenato music and verseFestival
🇭🇹 Port-au-Prince, HaitiIndependence Day
A national celebration of liberation, freedom, and unity observed every New Year's Day.Ceremony
🇧🇿 Dangriga, BelizeGarifuna Settlement Day
An annual Belizean holiday marking the arrival and heritage of the Garifuna peopleFestival
🇩🇴 Santo Domingo, Dominican RepublicDominican Carnival
A February street festival of masks, music and parades across the Dominican Republic.Festival
🇺🇾 Montevideo, Uruguay and 4 morePayada
Improvised ten-line verses traded by guitar-playing payadores in the Río de la PlataPerformance
🇯🇲 Kingston, Jamaica and 5 moreReggae
A Jamaican music of the late 1960s: a slow beat, a deep bass line and Rastafari rootsPerformance
🇵🇪 Peru and 1 moreChulloch'ullu
An earflapped Andean hat in alpaca or llama wool, worn against the coldDress
🇵🇦 Las Tablas, Panama and 2 morePollera
A handmade skirt and outfit worn in Panama, Bolivia and Peru, and a marker of identityDress
🇨🇷 San Antonio de Escazú, Costa RicaCosta Rican oxcartscarretas
Oxen-drawn carts, hand-painted in bright patterns, kept as a national symbol of Costa RicaCraft
🇬🇹 GuatemalaWorry dollMuñecas quitapenas
Hand-made dolls from highland Guatemala that children tell their worries to at nightFolklore
🇧🇷 Recife, BrazilFrevo
A fast, brass-driven dance and music of Recife's Carnival, danced with a small umbrellaPerformance
🇵🇪 Trujillo, PeruMarinera
A courtship dance from Peru's coast, with handkerchiefs and bare feetPerformance
🇺🇾 Uruguay and 3 moreTango
A social partner dance of the Río de la Plata, improvised step by stepPerformance
🇦🇷 Argentina and 4 moreAsado
A slow fire, a grill and a shared table: how people gather to cook and eat meatTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇧🇴 Tiwanaku, Bolivia and 2 moreWillkakuti
An Aymara new year at the June solstice, marking the sun's returnSeasonal
🇵🇷 Puerto Rico and 1 moreParranda
A Puerto Rican Christmas custom of night-time visits with songs, food and drinkPerformance · Supper
🇨🇱 Chile and 1 moreWe TripantuWiñoy Tripantu
The Mapuche new year, kept on the June solstice as the sun turns backFestival
🇧🇴 La Paz, Bolivia and 1 moreEkekoIqiqu
A small figurine of abundance kept in Andean homes and carried at the Alasitas fair to invite prosperity.Spiritual
🇬🇹 Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala and 3 moreMaximón
A folk saint of the Guatemalan highlands, asked for health, crops and protectionFolklore
🇪🇨 Quito, EcuadorFanesca
Ecuador's Holy Week soup of grains, beans and salt cod, made for Good FridayTable custom · Lunch
🇵🇾 Paraguay and 3 moreTereré
Paraguay's cold yerba mate drink, passed around in one cup with a metal strawTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇨🇺 Santiago de Cuba, CubaTumba francesa
An Afro-Cuban art of dance, song and drumming kept by societies in eastern CubaPerformance
🇯🇲 JamaicaItal
A Rastafari way of eating: food from the earth, kept to raise livityTable custom
🇻🇪 Mérida, VenezuelaFeria del Sol
Mérida's February fair: bullfights, parades, concerts and the Queen of the SunFestival
🇵🇪 Mito, PeruHuaconada
A three-day January ritual dance in Mito, Peru, led by masked men called huaconesPerformance
🇨🇴 ColombiaLittle Candles DayDía de las velitas
Candles and paper lanterns across Colombia on the night before the Immaculate ConceptionSpiritual
🇵🇪 Santo Tomás, PeruTakanakuy
A December tradition in Peru where community members settle disputes through regulated fistfights and dance.Festival
🇦🇷 Rosario, ArgentinaFlag DayDía de la Bandera Nacional
Argentina's national day for its flag, kept on 20 June in memory of Manuel BelgranoCeremony
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Cali Fair: Jyon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Reggae Sumfest: Psycler who is also known as AlfredMoya.com for Jamaica MAX, CC BY 3.0, source
- Carnival in Uruguay: Graham Stanley, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Junkanoo: WikiPedant, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mama Negra: Agencia de Noticias ANDES, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Festa Junina: Leandro Neumann Ciuffo, CC BY 2.0, source
- Hosay: Julius Eduard Muller, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lavagem do Bonfim: Adenilson Nunes/ AGECOM, CC BY 2.0, source
- Festival of the Flowers: SajoR, CC BY-SA 2.5, 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
- Murga: Mediared, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia: Javinaselli, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Parrandas: Juan ramon colina, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Trinidad and Tobago Carnival: Jean-Marc /Jo BeLo/Jhon-John, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mashramani: King sheik at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Fiestas Patrias: Osmar Valdebenito, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Merengue: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vallenato Legend Festival: Jdvillalobos, CC BY 3.0, source
- Dominican Carnival: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, source
- Payada: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Reggae: Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chullo: El archivo fue elegido de manera aleatoria sin uso necesario de su lic, Public domain, source
- Pollera: Pedro Szekely, CC BY 2.0, source
- Costa Rican oxcarts: Victor Quirós A, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Worry doll: Leena, CC BY 3.0, source
- Frevo: Prefeitura de Olinda, CC BY 2.0, source
- Marinera: Tomas Sobek, CC BY 2.0, source
- Tango: carlos luque, CC BY 2.5, source
- Asado: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Willkakuti: Tuco Quispe, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Parranda: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- We Tripantu: Lonkonao, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ekeko: Ciudades, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Maximón: Sapfan (Jan Pesula), Public domain, source
- Fanesca: Agencia de Noticias ANDES, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Tereré: Genialnico, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tumba francesa: Christian Pirkl, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ital: Chrysaora, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Feria del Sol: Original uploader was MeridaItalia at it.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Huaconada: Alfredo Palacios, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Little Candles Day: CarUno, CC BY-SA 4.0, source