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
🇪🇸 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
🇲🇬 MadagascarFandroana
The Merina new year of Madagascar's highlands, with zebu feasting and a royal bathFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇨🇺 Remedios, CubaParrandas
Central Cuban street festivals featuring district rumba music, floats and fireworksFestival
🇮🇪 Killorglin, IrelandPuck FairAonach an Phoic
An annual Kerry gathering centred on the crowning of a mountain goat.Festival
🇵🇰 PakistanChilam Joshi
A spring festival of music, dance, and prayers celebrated by the Kalash peopleFestival
🇵🇭 Manila, PhilippinesFlores de Mayo
A month-long Philippine festival of daily Marian prayers, flower offerings and pageantsFestival · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreLentQuadragesima
Forty days of prayer, fasting and giving that lead Christians towards EasterSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 1 moreShofarשׁוֹפָר
A ram's horn blown in synagogue to mark the Jewish new year and the end of Yom KippurSpiritual
🇮🇷 Ashtian, Iran and 5 moreSamanuسمنو
A sweet sprouted-wheat paste stirred through the night for NowruzTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇱🇹 LithuaniaSaint Jonas's FestivalJoninės
A Lithuanian midsummer night of bonfires, wreaths, song and morning dewSeasonal
🇹🇹 Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago Carnival
An annual festival of street parades, masquerade bands, steelpan music and danceFestival
🇯🇵 JapanYuzu bath柚子湯
A winter solstice soak in hot water with whole yuzu citrus, kept across JapanSeasonal
🇳🇬 Abuja, NigeriaNew Yam FestivalIri ji
A yearly harvest thanksgiving across Nigeria, when the first new yams may be eatenFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇶 Karbala, Iraq and 5 moreMuharramٱلْمُحَرَّم
The sacred opening month of the Islamic year, observed through remembrance and fastingSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreAncestor worship
Honouring dead relatives with offerings and prayers, kept in many cultures worldwideSpiritual
🇨🇺 Santiago de Cuba, CubaCarnival of Santiago de CubaCarnaval
A summer street celebration of percussion troupes, dancing, and parades in eastern CubaFestival
🇳🇵 Bhaktapur, NepalBiska Jatra𑐧𑐶𑐳𑑂𑐎𑐵𑑅 𑐖𑐵𑐟𑑂𑐬𑐵
An annual solar new year festival in Nepal with chariot pulls and tall wooden poles.Festival
🇮🇸 Iceland and 2 moreYuleġēol (Old English); jól (Old Norse)
The Germanic midwinter festival that Christmas grew out of, kept today by HeathensSpiritual
🇱🇹 LithuaniaUžgavėnės
A Lithuanian winter-ending festival of masks, mock battles and pancakesFestival
🇱🇰 Sri LankaKiribathකිරිබත්
Rice cooked in coconut milk, the dish of Sinhalese New Year and family beginningsTable custom · Breakfast
🇬🇧 United KingdomCalennig
Welsh children carry a decorated apple door to door and sing for New Year giftsFestival
🇪🇸 Madrid, Spain and 5 moreTwelve GrapesLas doce uvas de la suerte
A grape for every chime at midnight on 31 December, welcoming the new yearFestival · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇮🇸 IcelandYule LadsJólasveinarnir
Thirteen mischievous brothers who visit Icelandic homes in the nights leading to Yule.Folklore
🇬🇧 United KingdomPlough Sunday
An English church blessing of the land and farm tools at the start of the yearSpiritual
🇬🇧 United KingdomLong sword dance
A Yorkshire winter sword dance kept by village teams at Christmas and Plough MondayPerformance
🇯🇵 Japan and 4 moreBodhi Day成道会
A Buddhist observance marking the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha under the Bodhi TreeSpiritual
🇪🇬 Thebes, EgyptBeautiful Festival of the Valleyhb nfr n jnt
An ancient Egyptian festival honouring the dead with river processions across ThebesSpiritual
🇮🇱 IsraelKiddushקידוש
A blessing over wine or grape juice that marks Shabbat and festivals as holySpiritual · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇿🇦 Cape Town, South AfricaCape Town Minstrel CarnivalKaapse Klopse
Cape Town's 2 January parade of minstrel troupes, ghoema drums and bright umbrellasFestival
🇪🇸 Buñol, SpainLa Tomatina
A one-hour tomato fight in Buñol on the last Wednesday of AugustFestival
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreHigh Holy Daysיָמִים נוֹרָאִים
The Jewish year's ten days of repentance, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom KippurSpiritual
🇬🇷 GreeceMagiritsaΜαγειρίτσα
A Greek lamb offal soup eaten after the midnight Easter service to break the fastTable custom · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇱🇺 Luxembourg and 3 moreBuergbrennen
A bonfire festival marking the end of winter on the first Sunday of Lent in LuxembourgSeasonal
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, IsraelRosh Chodeshרֹאשׁ חֹדֶשׁ
The start of each Hebrew month, marked by the new moon and kept with prayerSpiritual
🇱🇰 Mihintale, Sri LankaPoson
A Sri Lankan Buddhist festival marking the ancient arrival of Buddhism on the islandSpiritual
🇬🇧 United KingdomPlough Monday
England's old start of the farming year, kept with ploughs, straw bears and sword dancesSeasonal
🇨🇳 Hong Kong, China and 5 moreLunar New Year
New year festivals dated by the moon, kept from East Asia to the Middle EastFestival
🇯🇵 JapanTango no sekku端午の節句
A Japanese seasonal festival for children marked with carp streamers and iris leaves.Festival · Sweets given and shared
🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 3 moreMalankaМаланка
A Ukrainian folk celebration of masked mummers, feasting and New Year blessingsFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 Yorkshire, United Kingdom and 3 moreMischief NightNoson Ddrygioni (Welsh); Oidhche nan Cleas (Scottish Gaelic)
An evening of pranks and tricks, kept before Halloween or Guy Fawkes NightFestival
🇰🇷 South KoreaJwibullori쥐불놀이
A Korean New Year game of whirling fire-cans to clear fields and wish good luckGame
🇮🇱 Israel and 4 moreTorah readingקריאת התורה
The public reading of the Torah scroll in synagogue, chanted to a special tuneSpiritual
🇨🇳 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
🇦🇲 Armenia and 1 moreTrndezտրնդեզ
An Armenian fire feast forty days after Christmas, kept with bonfires and shared sweetsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇩🇰 Denmark and 3 moreNissenisse (Danish, Norwegian); tomte (Swedish); tonttu (Finnish)
A small farm spirit of Nordic folklore, given porridge at midwinterFolklore
🇻🇳 Hội An, VietnamTết Trung Thu節中秋
A mid-autumn festival of lanterns, mooncakes and folklore celebrated across VietnamFestival · Sweets given and shared
🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreWinter solstice
The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked with fire, feasting and poetrySeasonal
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Trinidad and Tobago Carnival: Jean-Marc /Jo BeLo/Jhon-John, CC BY 2.0, source
- Plough Sunday: John Cowie, CC BY 3.0, source
- Yuzu bath: Nori Norisa, CC BY 2.0, source
- Cremà: Paula Ramírez Morant, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Buergbrennen: luxpim, CC BY 2.0, 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
- Poson: Hafiz Issadeen (YIM Hafiz), Dharga Town, Sri Lanka ( https://www.flick, CC BY 2.0, source
- Magiritsa: Andrew Dalby, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Beautiful Festival of the Valley: Norman de Garis Davies, Nina Davies (2-dimensional 1 to 1 Copy of an 1, Public domain, source
- Bodhi Day: Shirazibustan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yule Lads: Lusinemarg, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Užgavėnės: Algirdas at Lithuanian Wikipedia, GFDL, source
- Biska Jatra: Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Carnival of Santiago de Cuba: Christian Pirkl, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Muharram: Victor Armand Poirson, Public domain, source
- Saint Jonas's Festival: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Lent: Manuela Paki-Costa, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Flores de Mayo: Markytour777, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Chilam Joshi: Jugni, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Puck Fair: Gordon Hatton, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Parrandas: Juan ramon colina, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Trndez: Armineaghayan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Laba congee: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Torah reading: Sagie Maoz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Tango no sekku: tiseb, CC BY 2.0, source
- High Holy Days: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- La Tomatina: Graham McLellan, CC BY 2.0, source
- Kiddush: Dimitri, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Long sword dance: donald judge, CC BY 2.0, source
- Twelve Grapes: Ralf Roletschek, GFDL 1.2, source
- Kiribath: AntanO, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yule: Robert Chambers, Public domain, source
- Plough Monday: Rawpixel, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lunar New Year: Flying Pharmacist, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ancestor worship: Lyn Gateley, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mischief Night: Roseohioresident, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Jwibullori: KOREA.NET, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- New Yam Festival: Adimora chidinma, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nisse: AlphaZeta, CC0, source
- Samanu: Myone63, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cape Town Minstrel Carnival: George Duff, Public domain, source
- Rosh Chodesh: beth woodrum, CC BY 2.0, source
- Winter solstice: Image by Przemyslaw " Blueshade " Idzkiewicz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Sorcova: The original uploader was Alex:D at Romanian Wikipedia ., Public domain, source