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
🇮🇳 Barsana, IndiaLathmar Holi
A playful spring festival in two Uttar Pradesh towns where women strike men with sticks to reenact a divine legend.Festival
🇮🇳 IndiaGanga Dussehra
A ten-day Hindu river festival celebrating the descent of the Ganges to earthSpiritual
🇲🇲 Yangon, Myanmar and 1 moreShinbyuရှင်ပြု
A Burmese Buddhist rite in which a boy goes forth as a novice monk, often at New YearRite of passage
🇮🇳 Kochi, IndiaVallam Kalivaḷḷaṃ kaḷi
A traditional canoe racing festival held across the waters of Kerala during OnamGame
🇮🇳 Kanchipuram, IndiaPanguni UthiramPaṅkuṉi Uttiram
A Tamil Hindu festival celebrating divine weddings and the virtues of married lifeSpiritual
🇮🇳 Puri, IndiaNabakalebaraନବ କଳେବର (Navakalevara)
A rare ritual in Puri where the wooden idols of four Hindu deities are replaced with new carvings every twelve to nineteSpiritual
🇮🇳 IndiaSarhul
A spring new year festival honoring nature and Sal blossoms across JharkhandSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Sambalpur, IndiaSitalsasthiଶୀତଳ ଷଷ୍ଠୀ
A festival in western Odisha re-enacting the divine wedding of Shiva and ParvatiFestival
🇮🇹 Rome, Italy and 5 moreAll Souls' Day
A Christian observance on 2 November for prayer and remembrance of those who have died.Spiritual
🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreTashlikhתשליך
A Jewish new year rite of casting sins into flowing water, kept by the watersideSpiritual
🇯🇲 Kingston, Jamaica and 5 moreReggae
A Jamaican music of the late 1960s: a slow beat, a deep bass line and Rastafari rootsPerformance
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanDaijō-sai大嘗祭
The emperor's once-in-a-reign Shinto rite of thanks for the rice harvestSpiritual
🇪🇬 Egypt and 3 moreGreat LentΜεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή
The forty-day fast before Easter, kept by Eastern Christians as a season of prayerSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇭🇺 Hungary and 1 morePentecostπεντηκοστή (pentēkostē)
The Christian feast of the Holy Spirit, kept fifty days after EasterSpiritual
🇪🇹 Addis Ababa, EthiopiaIrreechaIrreessa
A thanksgiving festival at sacred lakes in Oromia, Ethiopia, at the end of the rainsFestival
🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreCompadre
A ritual kinship made at a child's baptism, binding parents and godparents for lifeSpiritual
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 5 moreTaiko太鼓 (taiko)
Japanese drums, and the ensemble style of playing themPerformance
🇦🇲 Armenia and 1 moreTrndezտրնդեզ
An Armenian fire feast forty days after Christmas, kept with bonfires and shared sweetsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇨🇳 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
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 1 moreSimchat Torahשִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה
The day Jewish communities finish the Torah reading and start it again, with dancingSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreKoulourakiaΚουλουράκια
Sweet butter pastries baked for Greek Easter and shaped into rings and braidsTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇮🇱 Israel and 4 moreTorah readingקריאת התורה
The public reading of the Torah scroll in synagogue, chanted to a special tuneSpiritual
🇮🇳 IndiaVision quest
A coming-of-age fast and vigil, kept by some Native American peoplesRite of passage
🇸🇦 Mecca, Saudi ArabiaUmrahعُمْرَة
A pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims may make at most times of year, unlike the HajjSpiritual
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreIomanteイオマンテ
An Ainu rite that sends a hand-raised bear cub's spirit home to the god-worldSpiritual
🇮🇳 Ahobilam, IndiaNarasimha Jayantiनरसिंहजयंती
A one-day Hindu festival marking Vishnu's man-lion avatar and the rescue of PrahladaSpiritual
🇮🇷 Mashhad, Iran and 7 moreIftarإفطار
The sunset meal that breaks the Ramadan fast, eaten with family and communityTable custom · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreHigh Holy Daysיָמִים נוֹרָאִים
The Jewish year's ten days of repentance, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom KippurSpiritual
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 4 moreKukeriкукери (kukeri)
Masked and belled figures who tour Bulgarian villages at New Year to drive off harmSpiritual
🇮🇩 Bali, IndonesiaNgaben
A Balinese Hindu cremation rite held to free the soul of the deadRite of passage
🇵🇱 PolandWigilia
Poland's meatless Christmas Eve supper, begun when the first star appearsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 IndiaAhoi Ashtami
A day of fasting by Hindu mothers before Diwali, for their children's wellbeingFestival · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇲🇼 Malawi and 2 moreGule Wamkulu
A masked Chewa dance of the Nyau society, danced at funerals and chief installationsPerformance
🇮🇱 IsraelKiddushקידוש
A blessing over wine or grape juice that marks Shabbat and festivals as holySpiritual · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇮🇳 Mumbai, India and 1 moreDhoti
A long unstitched cloth men wrap like trousers, for worship and formal daysDress
🇿🇦 South AfricaUlwaluko
A Xhosa rite that takes a boy into manhood through seclusion and teachingRite of passage
🇮🇹 Venice, ItalyFesta del RedentoreFesta del Redentor
Venice's July festival of fireworks over the water, kept in thanks for the plague's endFestival
🇮🇸 Iceland and 2 moreYuleġēol (Old English); jól (Old Norse)
The Germanic midwinter festival that Christmas grew out of, kept today by HeathensSpiritual
🇨🇳 Lhasa, China and 5 moreButter teaབོད་ཇ་
A salted tea churned with yak butter, served to guests across the HimalayaTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇹🇷 Turkey and 2 moreSufi whirling
A Sufi meditation in which dervishes spin in circles to turn toward GodSpiritual
🇪🇸 Spain and 2 moreLas arras
Thirteen gold coins, blessed at a wedding and given by the groom to the brideRite of passage
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreDoljanchi돌 (dol); 돌잔치 (doljanchi)
A Korean first-birthday rite where a baby picks an object that hints at the years aheadRite of passage
🇲🇾 Kelantan, Malaysia and 2 moreMak yongTarian Mak Yong (Jawi: مق يوڠ)
A dance-drama of Kelantan and Patani, told in song, music and improvised speechPerformance
🇹🇷 Edirne, Turkey and 3 moreOil wrestlingYağlı güreş
Oiled wrestlers in leather trousers: Turkey's national sport, centred on KırkpınarGame
🇮🇹 Naples, Italy and 5 moreNativity scene
A seasonal set of figures showing Jesus's birth, put up by Christians at ChristmasFestival
🇰🇷 Seoul, South KoreaJongmyo jerye종묘 제례
Ancestral rite for Korea's Joseon kings, with court music and a line dance, held in SeoulSpiritual
🇷🇺 RussiaRussian wedding traditions
A Russian wedding runs two days to a week, with ransom games, crowns and toastsRite of passage
🇨🇳 China and 4 moreSky burialབྱ་གཏོར་ (bya gtor)
A Tibetan funeral in which the dead are laid out on a rock for vulturesRite of passage
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sama: myself, Public domain, source
- Lathmar Holi: Original: Sachinghai09 Derivative work: Radomianin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ganga Dussehra: Barry Silver, CC BY 2.0, source
- Shinbyu: Lionslayer, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vallam Kali: Arun Sinha, CC BY 2.0, source
- Panguni Uthiram: Krithika.R.S, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nabakalebara: Jitpattnaikpuri, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sarhul: Gurpreet Singh Ranchi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- All Souls' Day: William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Public domain, source
- Tashlikh: Yaakov Saar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Reggae: Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Daijō-sai: Abasaa, Public domain, source
- Great Lent: Stalinsunnykvj, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pentecost: See The Holy Land, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Nyau: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Irreecha: Mohammed Kassahun, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Taiko: Ohno.A, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Trndez: Armineaghayan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Laba congee: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Simchat Torah: No machine-readable author provided. Merlin assumed (based on copyrigh, CC BY 2.5, source
- Koulourakia: foodistablog, CC BY 2.0, source
- Torah reading: Sagie Maoz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Umrah: The original uploader was Medineli at English Wikipedia ., CC0, source
- Iomante: Murase Yoshinori, Public domain, source
- Narasimha Jayanti: anonymous, Public domain, source
- Iftar: Shariful Islam (Masum), CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- High Holy Days: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Kukeri: Nenko Lazarov, CC BY 2.5, source
- Ngaben: by kibitan, CC BY 2.0, source
- Wigilia: Przykuta, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ahoi Ashtami: आशीष भटनागर, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kiddush: Dimitri, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dhoti: Redaloes at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Ulwaluko: Dingeman, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Butter tea: Yosomono, CC BY 2.0, source
- Festa del Redentore: Photographer: Riccardo Speziari, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Yule: Robert Chambers, Public domain, source
- Las arras: penny, CC BY 2.0, source
- Doljanchi: en:User:Jamsong, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Oil wrestling: No machine-readable author provided. Math34 assumed (based on copyrigh, Public domain, source
- Nativity scene: Yvonne Bentele, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jongmyo jerye: David McNally, USAG-Yongsan, Public domain, source
- Russian wedding traditions: GeorgeLouis, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sky burial: FishOil at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source