All traditions
2,280 traditions so far, best known first. 12,325 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
🇮🇪 Ireland and 2 moreWren DayLá an Dreoilín
A Saint Stephen's Day custom where groups parade a stuffed wren on a decorated pole through their community.Festival
🇮🇪 Killorglin, Ireland and 1 moreLughnasadhLúnasa
A Gaelic festival marking the start of harvest with feasts, fairs and mountain walksSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇦🇹 Salzburg, Austria and 5 morePerchta
A midwinter Alpine figure who checks spinning and tests good behaviourFolklore
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreEvil eye
A belief in harm cast by envious glares, met with protective charms and spoken blessingsFolklore
🇪🇸 SpainCorrefoc
Devil-costumed fire runs through the streets of Catalan and Valencian festival townsFestival
🇬🇧 Brockworth, United KingdomCooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake
A round of cheese, a steep hill, and runners chasing it down for the prizeGame
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 3 moreBanitsaБаница
A layered Bulgarian cheese pastry baked for morning meals and holiday fortunesTable custom · Breakfast
🇭🇺 Budapest, Hungary and 3 moreTáncház
A Hungarian folk dance gathering where anyone can learn the steps and dance to live musicPerformance
🇩🇪 Cologne, Germany and 2 moreGerman CarnivalKarneval
Pre-Lenten street parades, costume balls and local revels across German-speaking lands.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇱🇻 Riga, LatviaZiemassvētki
Latvia's midwinter festival of solstice customs, mumming and tree decorationSeasonal
🇱🇺 Luxembourg and 3 moreBuergbrennen
A bonfire festival marking the end of winter on the first Sunday of Lent in LuxembourgSeasonal
🇦🇱 Albania and 2 moreBesaBesë
A pledge of honour that an Albanian gives once and must never breakEtiquette
🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 3 moreMalankaМаланка
A Ukrainian folk celebration of masked mummers, feasting and New Year blessingsFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇸 IcelandYule LadsJólasveinarnir
Thirteen mischievous brothers who visit Icelandic homes in the nights leading to Yule.Folklore
🇱🇹 LithuaniaUžgavėnės
A Lithuanian winter-ending festival of masks, mock battles and pancakesFestival
🇱🇹 LithuaniaSaint Jonas's FestivalJoninės
A Lithuanian midsummer night of bonfires, wreaths, song and morning dewSeasonal
🇮🇪 Uisneach, Ireland and 1 moreBeltaneBealtaine
A Gaelic first-of-summer festival of bonfires, May flowers and feasting on 1 MaySeasonal
🇮🇪 Killorglin, IrelandPuck FairAonach an Phoic
An annual Kerry gathering centred on the crowning of a mountain goat.Festival
🇧🇪 Aalst, BelgiumAalst CarnivalAalst Carnaval
A three-day street carnival of satire, costumed parades and folk rituals in AalstFestival
🇲🇹 Nadur, MaltaNadur Carnival
An unscripted five-day costume festival filling the streets of Nadur before LentFestival
🇦🇱 Albania and 1 moreKanunKanû
Albanian customary law kept by word of mouth, centred on honour and the given wordEtiquette
🇸🇮 Ptuj, Slovenia and 1 moreKurentovanje
A rite of spring and carnival in Ptuj with masked bell-ringers chasing winter awayFestival
🇧🇪 Brussels, BelgiumMeyboomMaâbuum
An annual Brussels parade and ceremonial tree planting held every AugustFestival
🇧🇪 Binche, BelgiumCarnival of BincheCarnaval de Binche
A Belgian pre-Lenten festival known for masked dancers and orange tossingFestival
🇪🇸 SpainOlentzero
A Basque Christmas tradition of a charcoal burner bringing presents in midwinterFestival
🇪🇸 Barcelona, Spain and 4 moreCaganerEl Caganer
A defecating figurine placed in Catalan nativity scenes to bring good luck and fertilize the earth.Festival
🇵🇱 Kraków, PolandLajkonikLajkoniki
An annual hobby-horse pageant through the streets of Kraków each JuneFestival
🇧🇪 Binche, BelgiumGillesGille
Costumed carnival figures of Binche and surrounding Belgian townsFestival
🇪🇸 Spain and 1 moreTió de Nadal
A Catalan Christmas tradition where a decorated log is fed and beaten to produce small gifts for children.Festival
🇳🇱 Amsterdam, Netherlands and 3 moreZwarte Piet
Saint Nicholas's companion in the Low Countries, who hands out sweets to childrenFolklore · Sweets given and shared
🇦🇹 Austria and 5 moreKrampus
Saint Nicholas's horned companion, who comes for misbehaving children on 5 DecemberFolklore
🇧🇾 BelarusBatlejkaБатле́йка
A two-level puppet booth from Belarus, playing Nativity and folk scenes at ChristmasPerformance
🇺🇦 Kyiv, Ukraine and 1 moreUkrainian embroideryвишивка (vyshyvka)
A stitched folk art of Ukraine, worked into shirts, cloths and church furnishingsCraft
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreMaypole
A tall wooden pole, garlanded and danced around, raised at May Day, Whitsun or MidsummerFestival
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreMartenitsaмартеница
Red and white yarn dolls worn from 1 March until spring shows itselfFestival
🇸🇪 Nusnäs, Sweden and 1 moreDala horseDalahäst
A carved painted wooden horse from Dalarna, a children's toy that became a national symbolCraft
🇬🇧 Llangollen, United Kingdom and 5 moreEisteddfod
A Welsh festival of poetry and music competitions, featuring the chairing and crowning of winning bards.Festival
🇬🇷 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
🇵🇹 Barcelos, Portugal and 1 moreRooster of BarcelosGalo de Barcelos
A Portuguese tale of a roast rooster that crowed to clear an innocent manFolklore
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreSwabian-Alemannic FastnachtFastnacht
A late-winter carnival of masks and jesters kept before Lent in the Alemannic landsFestival
🇩🇰 Denmark and 3 moreNissenisse (Danish, Norwegian); tomte (Swedish); tonttu (Finnish)
A small farm spirit of Nordic folklore, given porridge at midwinterFolklore
🇬🇧 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
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreTracht
Traditional dress of the German-speaking regions, from lederhosen to the dirndlDress
🇮🇪 Dublin, IrelandShamrockseamróg
A small three-leaved clover, worn in Ireland on St Patrick's Day as a national emblemFolklore
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 4 moreKukeriкукери (kukeri)
Masked and belled figures who tour Bulgarian villages at New Year to drive off harmSpiritual
🇩🇪 Aachen, Germany and 4 moreStraw bearStrohbär
A carnival figure wrapped in straw, paraded through German towns to mark the end of winter.Festival
🇵🇱 Poland and 5 moreZaduszkiZaduszki, Dzień Zaduszny
A Polish day of prayer for the dead on 2 November, kept with candles at the gravesSpiritual
🇬🇧 United KingdomPlough Monday
England's old start of the farming year, kept with ploughs, straw bears and sword dancesSeasonal
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Beltane: Stefan Schäfer, Lich, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake: Dave Farrance, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Banitsa: Sheku80, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- German Carnival: Neva Micheva, CC BY 2.5, source
- Buergbrennen: luxpim, CC BY 2.0, source
- Malanka: Viktoriyasechkar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yule Lads: Lusinemarg, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Užgavėnės: Algirdas at Lithuanian Wikipedia, GFDL, source
- Saint Jonas's Festival: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Puck Fair: Gordon Hatton, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Aalst Carnival: Wikisid, CC BY 3.0, source
- Nadur Carnival: Thyes, Public domain, source
- Kanun: Lekë Dukagjini & Shtjefën Gjeçovi, Public domain, source
- Kurentovanje: Aleš Kravos, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Meyboom: Henxter, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Carnival of Binche: Marie-Claire, CC BY 3.0, source
- Olentzero: Josu Goñi Etxabe, Public domain, source
- Caganer: Roeland P., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lajkonik: Igor123121, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tió de Nadal: Slastic, Public domain, source
- Wren Day: Manx James, CC0, source
- Lughnasadh: Mountainash333, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Perchta: Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Maypole: Uploaded by Mikael Häggström, CC0, source
- Martenitsa: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Rooster of Barcelos: Adriculas, Public domain, source
- Shamrock: Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kukeri: Nenko Lazarov, CC BY 2.5, source
- Straw bear: Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, source
- Zaduszki: Ivan Mrkvička, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Zwarte Piet: The illustrator is Daan Hoeksma, who died in 1935. The author is liste, Public domain, source
- Correfoc: Calvesklein, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Krampus: Naturpuur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Plough Monday: Rawpixel, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tracht: David Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mischief Night: Roseohioresident, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Nisse: AlphaZeta, CC0, source
- Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht: Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, source
- Vasilopita: Μυρμηγκάκι, Public domain, source
- Rushnyk: Pavlo Boyko, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Eisteddfod: Llywelyn2000, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dala horse: User:Mysid, Public domain, source
- Batlejka: user:Хомелка, CC BY 3.0, source
- Evil eye: FocalPoint, CC BY-SA 3.0, source