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All traditions

2,291 traditions so far, best known first. 12,316 more are on the list to be written. Filter by region, kind and meal.

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RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
KindSpiritualFestivalRite of passageTable customSeasonalDressPerformanceEtiquetteCraftGameFolkloreHomeCeremony
MealBreakfastLunchDinnerSupperTea-time and snacking customsTea, coffee and drinking ceremoniesSweets given and sharedFeasts and festival mealsFasting and breaking the fast
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 2 moreRushnykрушник A sacred embroidered cloth used in East Slavic rituals, weddings and daily life.Dress 🇱🇻 LatviaDaina Short, traditional Latvian folk songs and verses sung across the human life cyclePerformance 🇮🇪 Ireland and 2 moreWake A gathering before a funeral, where family and friends keep watch over the deadRite of passage 🇷🇺 RussiaScarlet SailsАлые паруса A summer graduation celebration on the Neva River in Saint PetersburgFestival 🇳🇴 Oslo, NorwayRussefeiring A spring graduation rite of passage for Norwegian secondary school studentsRite of passage 🇲🇰 Galičnik, North MacedoniaGaličnik Wedding FestivalГаличка свадба An annual village wedding festival celebrated every July in North MacedoniaFestival 🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreHandfastingceangal na lámh (Irish); pòsadh-bliadhna (Scottish Gaelic) A couple's promise made with joined or bound hands, kept from betrothal to weddingRite of passage 🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreKeeningCaoineadh A sung mourning cry at Gaelic funerals, once led by hired women singersRite of passage 🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 4 moreBabindenБабинден A Bulgarian feast honoring midwives and new mothers with rituals of bathing, feasting, and blessing.Festival · Feasts and festival meals 🇺🇦 UkraineTraditional Ukrainian wedding A wedding spread over many days, with matchmaking, bread, wreaths and songRite of passage 🇵🇹 Coimbra, PortugalPraxePraxe Académica A set of student initiation rituals and traditions in Portuguese universities.Rite of passage 🇫🇷 FranceConfirmation A Christian rite of laying on of hands that completes baptism and strengthens faithRite of passage 🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreCompadre A ritual kinship made at a child's baptism, binding parents and godparents for lifeSpiritual 🇺🇦 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 🇱🇹 Lithuania and 1 moreLithuanian folk songsliaudies dainos Songs of love, weddings, work and war, sung in unison or in harmony across LithuaniaPerformance 🇪🇸 Spain and 2 moreLas arras Thirteen gold coins, blessed at a wedding and given by the groom to the brideRite of passage 🇷🇺 RussiaRussian wedding traditions A Russian wedding runs two days to a week, with ransom games, crowns and toastsRite of passage 🇩🇪 Germany and 5 morePolterabend Guests smash porcelain the night before a wedding to wish the couple luckRite of passage 🇦🇱 Albania and 5 moreSworn virginburrnesha A vow of chastity that lets a woman of the northern Balkans live as a manRite of passage 🇬🇷 Olympia, GreeceHeraean Games An ancient Greek festival of running races for unmarried young women at OlympiaGame 🇷🇺 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 🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreAdelphopoiesisἀδελφοποίησις A historical Christian church ceremony creating a spiritual bond of brotherhoodSpiritual 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreShoe throwing The act of hurling footwear for sport, wedding luck, protest or overhead display.Folklore 🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreLustratio An ancient Greek and Roman cleansing rite using processions and animal sacrifice.Spiritual 🇫🇷 FranceMos Teutonicus A medieval European funerary custom of boiling bones to return nobles home for burialRite of passage 🇮🇹 Italy and 4 moreRosalia An ancient Roman festival of decorating graves, statues, and standards with fresh flowersSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals 🇺🇦 Ukraine and 8 moreVechornytsiвечорниці Evening gatherings of Ukrainian youth, with songs, jokes, games and winter divinationSeasonal 🇬🇷 Athens, GreeceAmphidromiaτὰ Ἀμφιδρόμια An ancient Athenian family ritual welcoming a newborn around the household hearthRite of passage · Feasts and festival meals 🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreSecular coming-of-age ceremony A non-religious rite of passage for adolescents in Europe and North America, marking the transition to adulthood throughRite of passage 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreBreeching A rite of passage when a young boy first wore trousers instead of a dress.Rite of passage 🇩🇪 Worms, Germany and 2 moreHollekreisch An Ashkenazi birth ritual where children name a newborn with a secular name.Rite of passage 🇬🇷 GreeceLipothymiarikosΛιποθυμιάρικος (Χορός της νύφης) A men-only Greek wedding dance where one dancer pretends to faint and springs upPerformance 🇬🇧 London, United KingdomQueen Charlotte's Ball A historic coming-of-age gala where young women curtsey to an ornate birthday cakeRite of passage 🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 1 moreMarriage vows The promises a couple speak to each other as they marryRite of passage 🇮🇹 Rome, Italy and 2 moreInsufflation A ritual of blowing and breathing, used at baptism to drive out evil and breathe in graceSpiritual 🇮🇹 ItalyDies lustricus An ancient Roman naming ceremony where a newborn was purified and given their first name.Rite of passage · Feasts and festival meals 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreQuaker wedding A silent marriage ceremony in a Quaker meeting, with no priest and no set orderRite of passage 🇷🇺 RussiaOctobering A short-lived Soviet naming rite that put the Red Star in place of the baptismal crossRite of passage 🇽🇰 Kosovo and 2 morePodruga A Balkan custom in which a childless wife agreed to a second wife joining the householdRite of passage 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreBridesmaid The companions and attendants who support a bride during a weddingRite of passage 🇮🇸 IcelandIcelandic weddings A blend of church rites and long feasts, where guests sit by family lines and gifts are saved for the morning.Rite of passage · Dinner 🇫🇷 France and 5 moreRespite SanctuarySanctuaire à répit A historical Catholic custom of seeking brief revival to baptise stillborn infantsSpiritual 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreCorpse road Historical paths used to carry the dead to parish burial grounds across Britain and Ireland.Rite of passage 🇷🇺 RussiaBlack wedding A traditional Jewish crisis wedding held in a cemetery to ward off diseaseSpiritual 🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreBride-showсмотр невест A court custom in which emperors and tsars chose a wife from young women brought before themCeremony 🇸🇰 SlovakiaName days in SlovakiaMeniny The Slovak tradition of celebrating personal name days alongside birthdaysSeasonal

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

The weekly EveryParampara

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