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
🇵🇱 Poland and 5 moreChristmas Eve
The evening before Christmas, marked by church services, family meals, and gift preparations across Christian cultures.Festival · Dinner
🇮🇹 Naples, Italy and 5 moreCaffè sospeso
An anonymous gift of a paid cup of coffee for a stranger in needTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 1 moreBanushбануш
A Carpathian cornmeal porridge cooked with sour cream and savoury toppingsTable custom
🇫🇷 France and 4 morePicnic
A meal taken outdoors in a park or scenic spot, often shared with friends and family.Festival · Lunch
🇮🇹 Venice, ItalyCicchettiCicheti
A Venetian custom of small counter snacks enjoyed with a glass of local white wineTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇮🇹 Naples, ItalyCaffè
Italy's daily coffee habit: espresso taken standing at the bar, and moka coffee at homeTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇷🇺 Tula, Russia and 3 moreSamovarсамовар
A heated urn that brews tea for a slow, sociable pour, from Russia to Iran and KashmirTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreMaslenitsaМасленица
A seven-day Eastern Slavic festival of pancakes and bonfires marking the end of winter before Lent.Festival · Breakfast
🇩🇪 Nuremberg, Germany and 5 moreChristmas marketWeihnachtsmarkt
A seasonal street market held during Advent in German-speaking regions and beyond, featuring stalls, food, and crafts.Festival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇪🇸 Spain and 1 moreTapasTapa
Small Spanish snacks or appetizers served hot or cold, often shared among friends.Table custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreAdvent calendarAdventskalender
A daily countdown to Christmas using doors, images, or small gifts.Festival
🇸🇪 Stockholm, Sweden and 4 moreSaint Lucy's Day
A December festival of light and song held across Scandinavia and Italy to honour a Christian martyr.Festival · Breakfast
🇵🇱 Poland and 5 moreFat Thursday
A Thursday before Lent when doughnuts, grilled meat and Carnival take overFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇪 Ireland and 2 moreMichaelmas
A Christian festival honouring the archangels, marked by autumn harvest foods and legal terms in the British Isles.Festival · Dinner
🇺🇦 Kyiv, UkraineChristmas in UkraineРіздво (Rizdvo)
A Ukrainian Christmas celebration with a twelve-dish vegan supper on Christmas Eve and observance on January 6 or DecembFestival · Supper
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreTwelfth Night
The closing evening of the Christmas season, kept with cake, carols and wassailSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreBurns supperBurns Nicht
A Scottish celebratory meal of haggis, poetry and toasts in honour of Robert BurnsFestival · Dinner
🇧🇾 Belarus and 4 moreDziadyДзяды (Belarusian); Діди (Ukrainian); Dziady (Polish)
A Slavic tradition of feeding and welcoming the spirits of ancestors to ensure family fertility and peace.Spiritual
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 5 moreChristmas cracker
A decorative paper tube pulled apart with a bang during Christmas dinnerFestival · Dinner
🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark and 4 moreRisalamande
A chilled Danish Christmas rice dessert with cream, chopped almonds and cherry sauceTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark and 5 moreFastelavn
A pre-Lenten carnival in Northern Europe where children dress up, sing for treats, and break candy-filled barrels.Festival · Sweets given and shared
🇨🇭 Vevey, SwitzerlandFête des Vignerons
A once-in-a-generation wine festival and arena spectacle in Vevey, SwitzerlandFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇸🇪 SwedenJul
A midwinter holiday of feast tables, doorstep gift givers, and candlelit morningsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreRéveillon
A luxurious late-night feast that stretches until dawn across the winter holidaysTable custom · Dinner
🇷🇴 Romania and 2 morePlăcintă
A traditional thin, filled pastry baked across Romania, Moldova, and parts of Ukraine.Table custom · Sweets given and shared
🇬🇧 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
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 3 moreBanitsaБаница
A layered Bulgarian cheese pastry baked for morning meals and holiday fortunesTable custom · Breakfast
🇬🇷 GreeceMagiritsaΜαγειρίτσα
A Greek lamb offal soup eaten after the midnight Easter service to break the fastTable custom · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇪🇸 Seville, SpainSeville FairFeria de Abril de Sevilla
A week-long spring festival in Seville of carriage parades, marquee tents and dancingFestival · Dinner
🇮🇸 IcelandÞorrablót
An Icelandic midwinter feast of dinner, speeches and poetryFestival · Dinner
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 6 moreAsh WednesdayDies Cinerum
A solemn Christian holy day of prayer, fasting, and the placing of ashesSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇪🇸 Jijona, Spain and 5 moreTurrón
A festive Mediterranean nut-and-honey confection shared at Christmas and local feastsTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇵🇱 PolandEaster in Poland
A spring holiday of family breakfasts, blessed baskets, decorated eggs, and water games.Festival · Breakfast
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreElevenses
A short mid-morning pause for a drink and a small bite, kept in many countriesTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreKoulourakiaΚουλουράκια
Sweet butter pastries baked for Greek Easter and shaped into rings and braidsTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 4 moreKorovaiкоровай (Ukrainian), каравай (Russian)
A round wedding bread of Eastern Europe, baked with songs and shared by all the guestsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇵🇱 PolandWigilia
Poland's meatless Christmas Eve supper, begun when the first star appearsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇪🇸 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
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 4 moreAfternoon tea
A late-afternoon spread of tea, small sandwiches and cakes, kept across BritainTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreZakuskiзакуски
A laid-out table of cold small dishes that opens a Russian festive mealTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇭🇷 Zagreb, Croatia and 1 moreLicitarlicitarska srca
A hand-painted honey biscuit given as a gift at weddings and on Valentine's DayCraft · Sweets given and shared
🇦🇹 Vienna, AustriaViennese coffee house cultureWiener Kaffeehauskultur
A Viennese social ritual where patrons linger for hours with a single coffee and newspapers.Etiquette · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇬🇷 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
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreChristmas dinner
The festive family meal of Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, with roast meats and puddingsTable custom · Dinner
🇮🇪 Galway, IrelandGalway International Oyster Festival
An annual autumn gathering in Galway honouring native oysters with shucking contestsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇳🇴 NorwayJul
An eight-week Norwegian midwinter season of feasts, family gatherings, and gift-givingSeasonal · Lunch
🇲🇹 Valletta, MaltaMaltese Carnivalil-Karnival ta' Malta
A lively week of costumed parades, dancing, satirical floats and sweets across Malta.Festival · Sweets given and shared
🇸🇪 Sweden and 3 moreGlögg
A spiced, warm winter wine served across Nordic countries around ChristmasTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Christmas in Ukraine: Halyna Kuchmanych, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Picnic: Thomas Cole, Public domain, source
- Saint Lucy's Day: Fredrik Magnusson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Advent calendar: Andrea Schaufler, CC BY 2.5, source
- Michaelmas: Julian P Guffogg, CC BY 2.0, source
- Maslenitsa: Лобачев Владимир, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dziady: Stanisław Bagieński, Public domain, source
- Fastelavn: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Jul: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Risalamande: Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Burns supper: Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Christmas cracker: en:User:Cgros841, Public domain, source
- Saffron bun: Nenniu, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Banitsa: Sheku80, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Magiritsa: Andrew Dalby, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Caffè: Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Seville Fair: Sevilla Congress & Convention Bureau, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Fat Thursday: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Ash Wednesday: Oxh973, Public domain, source
- Banush: Trzewik, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Turrón: Tamorlan, CC BY 3.0, source
- Easter in Poland: Silar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Twelfth Night: Hablot Knight Browne: scanned by Steven J Plunkett, Public domain, source
- Cicchetti: Benreis, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Caffè sospeso: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, source
- Elevenses: Sam Hood, Public domain, source
- Koulourakia: foodistablog, CC BY 2.0, source
- Samovar: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Korovai: Olli Niemitalo, CC0, source
- Wigilia: Przykuta, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Twelve Grapes: Ralf Roletschek, GFDL 1.2, source
- Afternoon tea: joyosity, CC BY 2.0, source
- Zakuski: Timothy Post, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Licitar: Seanpu1, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Viennese coffee house culture: Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, source
- Vasilopita: Μυρμηγκάκι, Public domain, source
- Christmas dinner: Austin McGee, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Christmas Eve: Carl Larsson, Public domain, source
- Fête des Vignerons: "Groupement des photographes officiels" / Fête des vignerons Vevey / S, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Christmas market: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tapas: Elemaki, CC BY 3.0, source
- Galway International Oyster Festival: Thoslee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Maltese Carnival: Ronny Siegel, CC BY 3.0, source
- Glögg: Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Plăcintă: Unknown author, Public domain, source