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
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreJur Sitalजुड़ शीतल
The first day of the Maithil year, kept with a rice meal, gifts and water blessingsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇹🇭 Lopburi, ThailandMonkey Buffet Festival
A yearly feast of fruit and vegetables set out for Lopburi's macaquesFestival
🇳🇬 Kagoro, NigeriaAfan FestivalBwok Ǎfan
A New Year's Day festival of hunting and dances among the Oegworok peopleFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇬🇭 Winneba, GhanaAboakyer festival
A deer hunt kept by the people of Winneba, Ghana, on the first Saturday in MayFestival
🇮🇳 Imphal, India and 2 moreLai Haraobaꯂꯥꯏ ꯍꯔꯥꯎꯕ
A ritual dance and music festival kept by the Meitei people to please their deities.Festival
🇦🇷 Rosario, ArgentinaFlag DayDía de la Bandera Nacional
Argentina's national day for its flag, kept on 20 June in memory of Manuel BelgranoCeremony
🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyVolturnalia
An ancient Roman festival honouring the water deity Volturnus and his daughter JuturnaSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇱🇧 Beirut, LebanonLebanese Independence Dayعيد الاستقلال اللبناني
Lebanon's national day, marking the end of French mandate rule in 1943Ceremony
🇬🇭 Anloga, Ghana and 1 moreHogbetsotso festival
An Anlo Ewe festival in Anloga recalling an escape from NotsieFestival
🇮🇸 IcelandFirst Day of Summersumardagurinn fyrsti
Iceland's holiday on the first Thursday after 18 April, opening the old calendar's summerSeasonal
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreHip hip hooray
A traditional celebratory cheer of call and response to honour someoneFestival
🇧🇪 Geraardsbergen, BelgiumKrakelingen and Tonnekensbrand
A bread throw and a hilltop bonfire that close the winter in GeraardsbergenFestival
🇧🇴 San Ignacio de Moxos, BoliviaIchapekene Piesta
A four-day festival of dance, feathers and procession in San Ignacio de Moxos, BoliviaFestival
🇬🇷 Thebes, GreeceDaphnephoria
A nine-year festival in ancient Thebes featuring a laurel-bearer procession for Apollo.Festival
🇮🇹 ItalyDivalia
A Roman festival held on December 21 to honor the goddess Angerona.Festival
🇬🇷 Orchomenus, GreeceAgrionia
An ancient Greek nocturnal festival dedicated to Dionysus AgrioniusSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇧🇪 Ghent, BelgiumGentse Feesten
Ten days of free music, theatre and street performance across central Ghent every JulyFestival
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandChalandamarz
A bell-ringing march on the first of March that sends winter out of the Grisons valleysSeasonal
🇪🇸 Spain and 1 moreAberri Eguna
An annual Basque nationalist gathering held on Easter Sunday to celebrate national identity and culture.Festival
🇦🇱 Gjirokastër, Albania and 5 moreDodola and Perperuna
A rainmaking ritual kept across Southeast Europe, where children dressed in greenery lead processions to call for summerSpiritual
🇧🇦 Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina and 1 moreMedjugorje International Youth Festival
A six-day August gathering of Catholic youth in Medjugorje, Bosnia and HerzegovinaFestival
🇬🇷 Nicopolis, Greece and 1 moreActiaἌκτια
A festival of music, sport, and naval displays kept in ancient times to honor a Roman emperor's victory.Festival
🇬🇷 Athens, GreeceDionysiaΔιονύσια
Ancient Athenian festivals of theatre, processions and sacrifices in honour of the god Dionysus.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇷🇴 RomaniaCapra
A New Year's ritual in Romania where a masked dancer visits homes to bring luck and predict the weather.Festival
🇬🇹 Antigua Guatemala, GuatemalaHoly Week in GuatemalaSemana Santa
Street processions of floats, purple-robed penitents and sawdust carpets in GuatemalaSpiritual
🇦🇹 Austria and 2 morePerchten
Masked midwinter walks in the Alps, with carved wooden masks and sheepskinFolklore
🇹🇭 Dan Sai, ThailandPhi Ta Khonผีตาโขน
A three-day festival in Dan Sai, north-east Thailand, of ghost masks and merit-makingFestival
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreFirst haircut
A rite of passage marking a child's first shave or trim across many cultures and faiths.Rite of passage
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreDajiao打醮
An annual Taoist ritual and festival seeking peace and safety for the communitySpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇷🇴 Bucharest, Romania and 2 moreCaloian
A Romanian rainmaking and fertility ritual centered on the creation, funeral, and rebirth of a clay effigy.Festival
🇵🇱 Poland and 3 morePodłaźniczka
A decorated evergreen branch hung over the Christmas Eve table in Poland and SlovakiaFestival
🇮🇷 IranKhāne-takānīخانهتکانی
A spring cleaning ritual in Iran that prepares homes for the Norouz new year.Festival
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreRäucherkerze
A scented incense cone burned in German and Czech homes during the Christmas season to fill rooms with fragrance.Festival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreMischief Night
An informal autumn evening of neighbourhood tricks, practical jokes and street pranksFestival
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreMayian
A pre-wedding cleansing ritual in Punjabi traditions, using turmeric paste to prepare the couple for marriage.Rite of passage
🇲🇽 Tlayacapan, MexicoChinelos
Masked dancers from Morelos who spoof colonial manners at CarnivalPerformance
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreStatue rubbing
A global custom of touching public statues to seek luck, love, or a return to the city.Festival
🇩🇿 AlgeriaWezeeaوزيعة
A communal meat-sharing custom fostering rural solidarity across AlgeriaSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 GreeceKalanta ChristougenonΚάλαντα Χριστουγέννων
A Greek Christmas carol, sung around the feast with triangle and guitarPerformance
🇬🇷 GreeceLipothymiarikosΛιποθυμιάρικος (Χορός της νύφης)
A men-only Greek wedding dance where one dancer pretends to faint and springs upPerformance
🇮🇹 Venice, Italy and 2 moreFeast of Saint MarkFesta di san Marco
Saint Mark's day on 25 April, kept with rosebuds in Venice and harvest care in LithuaniaSpiritual
🇪🇸 Spain and 1 moreFlabiol
A Catalan woodwind flute played alongside a small drum in folk dancesPerformance
🇲🇪 Herceg Novi, MontenegroSunčane Skale
A three-day summer pop music festival and song competition in MontenegroPerformance
🇪🇪 Kuremaa, EstoniaJõgevatreff
An annual international motorcycle festival held in Kuremaa, EstoniaFestival
🇨🇿 Prague, CzechiaPrague SoundsStruny podzimu
An annual music festival in Prague presenting jazz, classical and electronic artistsFestival
🇭🇷 Hvar, CroatiaZa križen
A night procession on Hvar island where six villages walk simultaneously to honor the cross.Spiritual
🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreĐurđevdanЂурђевдан
A spring festival and feast of Saint George kept across the Balkans and Eastern EuropeFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Thiruvananthapuram, IndiaAttukal Pongala
A ten-day Hindu festival in Kerala where millions of women cook rice offerings in earthen pots for the goddess.Festival
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mischief Night: Roseohioresident, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Khāne-takānī: Niloofar Rakhshan, CC BY 4.0, source
- Monkey Buffet Festival: Mr.Peerapong Prasutr, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- First Day of Summer: ArniGael, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lebanese Independence Day: Adib Ibrahim, Public domain, source
- Lai Haraoba: Kullachandra Singh, Ngariyambam, CC0, source
- Aboakyer festival: Fquasie, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Gentse Feesten: Gordito1869, CC BY 3.0, source
- Jur Sital: PCNWorld at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Phi Ta Khon: E.D.W., Public domain, source
- Chinelos: AlejandroLinaresGarcia, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dionysia: Unknown artist, Public domain, source
- Daphnephoria: Frederic Leighton, Public domain, source
- Feast of Saint Mark: No machine-readable author provided. Cremedia assumed (based on copyri, Public domain, source
- Flabiol: P0mbal, CC0, source
- Actia: Flavius Hermogenes at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- First haircut: https://www.flickr.com/people/69061470@N05, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Capra: Michał Elwiro Andriolli, Public domain, source
- Caloian: Costică Acsinte Archive, No restrictions, source
- Jõgevatreff: Aleksei Malogin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mayian: Rakzika, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Za križen: E.mil.mil, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Đurđevdan: Anonymous Russian icon painter (before 1917) Public domain image (acco, Public domain, source
- Attukal Pongala: Maheshsudhakar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Holy Week in Guatemala: derivative work: Sir James ( talk ) VolcanAguaPascuas.jpg :Infrogmatio, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Perchten: Anita Martinz, CC BY 2.0, source
- Chalandamarz: Claudio Schneider, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Räucherkerze: Richard Huber, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Krakelingen and Tonnekensbrand: Jan Coppens at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 1.0, source
- Hogbetsotso festival: JY midey, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Aberri Eguna: Fondo Marín. Pascual Marín, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Podłaźniczka: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Ichapekene Piesta: Viaje al corazón de Bolivia, CC BY 2.0, source
- Medjugorje International Youth Festival: Piotr Frydecki, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Statue rubbing: Matthias Rosenkranz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Dajiao: 29cm, CC BY-SA 2.0, source