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All traditions

2,290 traditions so far, best known first. 12,323 more are on the list to be written. Filter by region, kind and meal.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

🇫🇷 France and 5 moreRéveillon A luxurious late-night feast that stretches until dawn across the winter holidaysTable custom · Dinner

🇷🇺 Moscow, RussiaChristmas in RussiaРождество Христово An Orthodox winter feast marked by church vigils, fasting suppers and festive mealsSpiritual · Supper

🇳🇱 Amsterdam, Netherlands and 4 moreSinterklaasSinterklaas / Sint-Nicolaas A Dutch winter feast on 5 and 6 December, when Saint Nicholas brings gifts to childrenFestival · Sweets given and shared

🇨🇳 ChinaTorch Festival火把节 A summer fire holiday celebrated by Yi and neighbouring communities in southwest ChinaFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇦🇲 Armenia and 1 moreTrndezտրնդեզ An Armenian fire feast forty days after Christmas, kept with bonfires and shared sweetsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇨🇳 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 🇮🇪 Dublin, Ireland and 3 moreLittle ChristmasNollaig na mBan A January feast day marking the close of the twelve days of ChristmasSeasonal · Dinner

🇱🇰 Sri LankaKiribathකිරිබත් Rice cooked in coconut milk, the dish of Sinhalese New Year and family beginningsTable custom · Breakfast

🇳🇬 Abuja, NigeriaNew Yam FestivalIri ji A yearly harvest thanksgiving across Nigeria, when the first new yams may be eatenFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇬🇷 Greece and 4 moreVasilopitaΒασιλόπιτα A New Year bread or cake with a coin baked inside, shared out slice by sliceTable custom · Sweets given and shared

🇮🇪 Killorglin, Ireland and 1 moreLughnasadhLúnasa A Gaelic festival marking the start of harvest with feasts, fairs and mountain walksSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreEasterΠάσχα The day Christians mark the resurrection, kept with vigils, feasts and eggsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreSamhain A Gaelic festival marking the start of winter with bonfires and ancestor feastsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇵🇸 Jericho, PalestineNabi Musaٱلنَّبِي مُوْسَى An annual Palestinian Muslim pilgrimage and festival honoring the prophet MosesSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇪🇸 Jijona, Spain and 5 moreTurrón A festive Mediterranean nut-and-honey confection shared at Christmas and local feastsTable custom · Sweets given and shared

🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia and 5 moreNovy GodНовый Год A secular winter celebration of decorated trees, family feasts and midnight giftsFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇦🇫 Mazar-i-Sharif, AfghanistanNowruzنوروز The Afghan spring new year, celebrated with picnics, wheat pudding and dried fruit.Seasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreHarvest festival A thanks for the gathered crop, kept with church meals, songs and shared foodSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇫🇮 FinlandChristmas in Finlandjoulu A quiet midwinter festival of saunas, grave candles and table casseroles across FinlandSeasonal · Dinner

🇳🇵 NepalMha Pujaम्हपुजा A Newar New Year ritual of self-worship, mandalas and renewal in NepalSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMothering Sunday A mid-Lent Christian observance and family celebration of mothers and mother churchesSeasonal · Breakfast

🇮🇳 IndiaSarhul A spring new year festival honoring nature and Sal blossoms across JharkhandSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanJapanese New Year正月 An annual celebration of renewal, seasonal foods, and bell ringing across JapanSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreChuseok추석 A Korean harvest festival of ancestral rites, seasonal rice cakes, and folk gamesFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇸 IcelandÞorrablót An Icelandic midwinter feast of dinner, speeches and poetryFestival · Dinner

🇺🇸 United StatesMakahiki A four-month Hawaiian new year season of peace, harvest gifts, feasts and gamesSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇪🇹 Lalibela, Ethiopia and 1 moreTimkatጥምቀት The Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Epiphany celebrating the baptism of JesusSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇨🇳 Suzhou, China and 3 moreDongzhi冬至 A midwinter festival celebrating the return of light with family feasts and dumplingsSeasonal · Dinner

🇵🇰 Lahore, Pakistan and 1 moreBasant A Punjabi spring festival marked by rooftop kite flying, yellow clothing and fairsFestival · Sweets given and shared

🇳🇴 Norway and 2 moreJulebord A Scandinavian Christmas banquet of traditional dishes, festive drinks and celebrationTable custom · Feasts and festival meals

🇻🇳 VietnamTếtTết Nguyên Đán The Vietnamese festival of the lunar new year, welcoming spring with family gatheringsFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇩🇿 Tiaret, Algeria and 1 moreMawsimموسم An annual regional festival and pilgrimage across Northwest AfricaSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇮🇪 Galway, IrelandGalway International Oyster Festival An annual autumn gathering in Galway honouring native oysters with shucking contestsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals

🇮🇹 Venice, Italy and 5 moreCarnival A season of parades, masks and feasting in the days before LentFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇲🇬 MadagascarFandroana The Merina new year of Madagascar's highlands, with zebu feasting and a royal bathFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇩🇰 DenmarkJul Winter feasts, carols around the tree, and family gatherings across DenmarkFestival · Lunch

🇬🇷 GreeceMagiritsaΜαγειρίτσα A Greek lamb offal soup eaten after the midnight Easter service to break the fastTable custom · Fasting and breaking the fast

🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 3 moreMalankaМаланка A Ukrainian folk celebration of masked mummers, feasting and New Year blessingsFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇻🇳 Hội An, VietnamTết Trung Thu節中秋 A mid-autumn festival of lanterns, mooncakes and folklore celebrated across VietnamFestival · Sweets given and shared

🇩🇪 Cologne, Germany and 2 moreGerman CarnivalKarneval Pre-Lenten street parades, costume balls and local revels across German-speaking lands.Festival · Feasts and festival meals

🇭🇹 Port-au-Prince, HaitiHaitian CarnivalKanaval Haiti's annual street festival of music, satirical plays and costumed paradesFestival · Tea-time and snacking customs 🇳🇴 NorwayJul An eight-week Norwegian midwinter season of feasts, family gatherings, and gift-givingSeasonal · Lunch

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreSaffron bun A golden, spiced yeast roll flavoured with saffron, baked for festive and holy daysTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs

🇸🇪 Sweden and 3 moreCrayfish partykräftskiva Boiled crayfish, snaps and paper lanterns at a late-summer party in Sweden and FinlandTable custom · Feasts and festival meals

🇮🇳 India and 5 moreNativity of Mary A Christian feast day honouring the birth of Mary, the mother of JesusSpiritual · Lunch

🇮🇹 Rome, ItalySaturnalia A December festival of ancient Rome, with feasting, gifts, gambling and role reversalSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇹🇷 Edirne, TurkeyKakava A Romani night by the river in Edirne: bonfire, candles and pilafFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreRadonitsaРа́доница (Russian), Ра́даўніца (Belarusian) A spring day when Orthodox families visit graves, share Easter food and greet the deadSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Harvest festival: High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de, source
Japanese New Year: No machine-readable author provided. Sixgimic assumed (based on copyri, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Saffron bun: Nenniu, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Haitian Carnival: User:Doron, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
German Carnival: Neva Micheva, CC BY 2.5, source
Tết Trung Thu: The imperial government of the Nguyễn Dynasty, French Indo-China., Public domain, source
Malanka: Viktoriyasechkar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Magiritsa: Andrew Dalby, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Mawsim: Beghdadi Walid, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tết: vi:Lưu Ly, Public domain, source
Nowruz: Peretz Partensky, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Turrón: Tamorlan, CC BY 3.0, source
Torch Festival: Zhangmoon618, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Christmas in Russia: Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Chuseok: by Joseph Steinberg (Baltimoron in Korea) at Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Sarhul: Gurpreet Singh Ranchi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Trndez: Armineaghayan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Laba congee: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Kiribath: AntanO, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
New Yam Festival: Adimora chidinma, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Vasilopita: Μυρμηγκάκι, Public domain, source
Easter: Piero della Francesca, Public domain, source
Kakava: CeeGee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Radonitsa: Perohanych, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Nativity of Mary: Giotto, Public domain, source
Saturnalia: Themadchopper, Antoine-François Callet, CC0, source
Galway International Oyster Festival: Thoslee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Jul: Erik Christensen, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Julebord: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Basant: Haseeb Ahmad Farooqi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Dongzhi: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Timkat: Jean Rebiffé, CC BY 4.0, source
Makahiki: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Mothering Sunday: Jonathunder, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Mha Puja: Karrattul, Public domain, source
Christmas in Finland: Uploaded by Sigketill, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Novy God: Евгений Самарин, CC BY 4.0, source
Nabi Musa: Mujaddara, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Samhain: Daniel Maclise, Public domain, source
Lughnasadh: Mountainash333, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Sinterklaas: R.F. (Roel) Jorna, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Crayfish party: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Carnival: Etienne Le Cocq, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

The weekly EveryParampara

Every week: one tradition from somewhere new, what is being celebrated around the world this week, and one idea explained.