All traditions
2,291 traditions so far, best known first. 12,311 more are on the list to be written. Filter by region, kind and meal.
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
🇱🇹 Vilnius, LithuaniaLithuanian Song FestivalLietuvių dainų ir šokių šventė
A periodic national festival of choral singing, dance and folklore in LithuaniaFestival
🇩🇴 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
🇬🇭 GhanaPanafest
A biennial Ghanaian festival uniting Africans and the diaspora through arts and healingFestival
🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreDutarدوتار
A long-necked lute crafted from wood and played across Iran and Central AsiaPerformance
🇩🇴 Santo Domingo, Dominican RepublicDominican Carnival
A February street festival of masks, music and parades across the Dominican Republic.Festival
🇨🇦 Canada and 2 moreMummering
A festive midwinter custom of disguised visits, music and playful guessing gamesFestival · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇺🇦 Kyiv, UkraineVertepвертеп
A two-tiered Ukrainian puppet theatre that mixes the nativity story with satirical comedy and folk music.Performance
🇵🇭 Bacolod, PhilippinesMassKara FestivalPista sang MassKara
A street festival of smiling masks, parades and music in Bacolod, PhilippinesFestival
🇺🇸 Philadelphia, United StatesMummers Parade
An annual New Year's Day street parade in Philadelphia featuring music and costumed clubsFestival
🇲🇽 Oaxaca, Mexico and 1 moreGuelaguetza
An annual Oaxacan festival of indigenous dance, music, costumes and communal sharingFestival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreCarol service
A Christmas church service of seasonal hymns, scripture readings and candlelightSpiritual
🇧🇩 Dhaka, Bangladesh and 1 moreBaul traditionবাউল
A Bengali devotional minstrel path uniting mystic poetry, music and dancePerformance
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 3 moreObonお盆 (Obon)
A Japanese Buddhist festival honoring the spirits of ancestors through dance, light, and family reunion.Festival
🇮🇳 Sambalpur, IndiaSitalsasthiଶୀତଳ ଷଷ୍ଠୀ
A festival in western Odisha re-enacting the divine wedding of Shiva and ParvatiFestival
🇮🇳 Ahmedabad, India and 1 moreGarbaगर्भ
A Gujarati circle dance performed around a sacred flame during the festival of NavratriPerformance
🇮🇳 IndiaKoodiyattamകൂടിയാട്ടം
An ancient Sanskrit temple drama and dance tradition from Kerala, IndiaPerformance
🇻🇺 VanuatuSand drawingsandroing
One unbroken line drawn in sand with a finger, used to tell stories in VanuatuCraft
🇬🇧 Abbots Bromley, United KingdomAbbots Bromley Horn Dance
A September folk dance in an English village featuring dancers with reindeer antlers and a hobby horse.Performance
🇨🇳 ChinaMuqamمۇقام
A Uyghur modal system of melody types, and the twelve long cycles built on itPerformance
🇯🇲 Kingston, Jamaica and 5 moreReggae
A Jamaican music of the late 1960s: a slow beat, a deep bass line and Rastafari rootsPerformance
🇭🇷 Konavle, Croatia and 2 moreOjkanje
A throat-shaking style of folk singing from Croatia's Dinaric highlandsPerformance
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 6 moreBoishakhi Melaবৈশাখী মেলা
A Bengali New Year fair in London each May, with a parade, music and food stallsFestival
🇨🇻 Boa Vista, Cape Verde and 5 moreMorna
Cape Verde's guitar-and-voice song, danced in pairs, listed by UNESCO in 2019Performance
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 5 moreTaiko太鼓 (taiko)
Japanese drums, and the ensemble style of playing themPerformance
🇮🇱 Israel and 4 moreTorah readingקריאת התורה
The public reading of the Torah scroll in synagogue, chanted to a special tuneSpiritual
🇩🇪 Munich, Germany and 3 moreSchuhplattler
An Alpine folk dance of stomps, claps and flat-hand slaps on shoes, knees and thighsPerformance
🇹🇷 Istanbul, TurkeyTurkish folk dance
Regional line and circle dances of Turkey, each with its own step and rhythmPerformance
🇷🇴 Bucharest, Romania and 7 moreHorahoră (Romanian), хоро (Bulgarian), оро (Macedonian), הורה (Hebrew)
A circle dance from Southeast Europe, danced at weddings and festivalsPerformance
🇺🇸 Hilo, United StatesMerrie Monarch Festival
A spring week of hula in Hilo, closing with three nights of competitionFestival
🇮🇪 Dublin, Ireland and 3 moreIrish dance
Ireland's traditional solo and group dances, from social halls to world competitionsPerformance
🇮🇳 Ahobilam, IndiaNarasimha Jayantiनरसिंहजयंती
A one-day Hindu festival marking Vishnu's man-lion avatar and the rescue of PrahladaSpiritual
🇨🇳 Yining, China and 1 moreMeshrepمەشرەپ
A Uyghur gathering of music, poetry, dance and moral counsel at harvest and weddingsPerformance
🇰🇷 Honam, South Korea and 2 morePansori판소리
A Korean art of sung storytelling, with one singer, one drummer and a listening crowdPerformance
🇮🇹 ItalyCantu a tenorecantu a tenòre
Four men singing in a tight circle, a vocal art of Sardinia's Barbagia hillsPerformance
🇷🇴 RomaniaDoina
A free-rhythm Romanian song of longing, sung alone or played to open a dancePerformance
🇦🇺 AustraliaBush ballad
Verse and song that tell stories of life in the Australian bushPerformance
🇲🇼 Malawi and 2 moreGule Wamkulu
A masked Chewa dance of the Nyau society, danced at funerals and chief installationsPerformance
🇬🇧 United KingdomLong sword dance
A Yorkshire winter sword dance kept by village teams at Christmas and Plough MondayPerformance
🇨🇳 ChinaChinese paper cutting剪紙 / 剪纸 (jiǎnzhǐ)
Chinese cut paper pictures, pasted on windows and doors for luck at New YearCraft
🇹🇷 Turkey and 2 moreSufi whirling
A Sufi meditation in which dervishes spin in circles to turn toward GodSpiritual
🇨🇭 Appenzell, Switzerland and 5 moreYodeling
A singing style switching between chest voice and falsetto, kept as a folk tradition across the Alps and globally.Performance
🇧🇷 Recife, BrazilFrevo
A fast, brass-driven dance and music of Recife's Carnival, danced with a small umbrellaPerformance
🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreKoloКоло
A South Slavic circle dance of linked hands, kept at weddings and gatheringsPerformance
🇲🇾 Kelantan, Malaysia and 2 moreMak yongTarian Mak Yong (Jawi: مق يوڠ)
A dance-drama of Kelantan and Patani, told in song, music and improvised speechPerformance
🇵🇪 Trujillo, PeruMarinera
A courtship dance from Peru's coast, with handkerchiefs and bare feetPerformance
🇪🇸 SpainCorrefoc
Devil-costumed fire runs through the streets of Catalan and Valencian festival townsFestival
🇨🇳 Chengdu, China and 1 moreSichuan opera川劇
A Chinese opera from Sichuan, known for split-second mask changes and a central clownPerformance
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sama: myself, Public domain, source
- Lithuanian Song Festival: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Merengue: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vallenato Legend Festival: Jdvillalobos, CC BY 3.0, source
- Dutar: Yuet Man Lee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dominican Carnival: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, source
- Mummering: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jerry_curtis/, CC0, source
- Vertep: Микола Василечко, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- MassKara Festival: Ceslou, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mummers Parade: Tyler McHenry at English Wikipedia ( Original text: Tyler McHenry (Thi, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Guelaguetza: A01321718, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Baul tradition: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
- Obon: Batholith, Public domain, source
- Garba: anurag agnihotri, CC BY 2.0, source
- Koodiyattam: Sreekanthv at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sand drawing: PhillipC, CC BY 2.0, source
- Abbots Bromley Horn Dance: Caeciliusinhorto, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Muqam: Liang Li, CC0, source
- Reggae: Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Boishakhi Mela: Ripon Miah, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Nyau: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Morna: Original uploader was Kotoviski at sv.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Taiko: Ohno.A, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Torah reading: Sagie Maoz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Schuhplattler: Harald Bischoff, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Turkish folk dance: quinn.ayna, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Hora: Chajeshukarie ( talk ), Public domain, source
- Merrie Monarch Festival: Allanbcool, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Irish dance: U.S. Army, Public domain, source
- Narasimha Jayanti: anonymous, Public domain, source
- Meshrep: https://www.flickr.com/photos/travelingmipo/, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Pansori: Steve46814, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cantu a tenore: Sardegnabella, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bush ballad: A. B. Paterson, Public domain, source
- Long sword dance: donald judge, CC BY 2.0, source
- Chinese paper cutting: Lanneixi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yodeling: Paebi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Frevo: Prefeitura de Olinda, CC BY 2.0, source
- Kolo: Sasa.mazinjanin, Public domain, source
- Marinera: Tomas Sobek, CC BY 2.0, source
- Correfoc: Calvesklein, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sichuan opera: No machine-readable author provided. Dice~commonswiki assumed (based o, CC BY-SA 3.0, source