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
🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilCapoeira
An Afro-Brazilian martial art and musical game played inside a circleGame
🇨🇱 ChileNgillatun
A communal Mapuche rite of prayer, sacrifice and dance to maintain cosmic balanceSpiritual
🇧🇿 Dangriga, Belize and 4 morePunta rock
A fast-paced Garifuna dance music mixing traditional percussion with electric guitarsPerformance
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 5 moreMoko Jumbie
A stilt-walking tradition from the Caribbean that blends African heritage with local carnival celebrations.Performance
🇩🇲 Dominica and 4 moreBéléBèlè
A Caribbean drum, call-and-response song, and courtship dance traditionPerformance
🇨🇱 ChileCurantokurantu
A traditional earth oven feast of seafood, meat, and potatoes from Chiloé, ChileTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇧🇧 BarbadosTuk band
A Barbadian musical ensemble with costumed figures that blends African drumming and British military traditions.Performance
🇧🇴 Potosí, BoliviaTinku
A ritual combat and dance from northern Potosí, Bolivia, honoring Pachamama through ceremonial fighting and performance.Festival
🇦🇷 Santiago del Estero, Argentina and 1 moreChacarera
A partner dance and folk music genre from Argentina's north-west, known for its distinctive rhythm and courtship steps.Performance
🇧🇴 Oruro, Bolivia and 3 moreMorenada
A Bolivian folk dance featuring heavy masks and rattling instruments, performed in festivals across the Andes.Performance
🇧🇷 Belém, BrazilCarimbó
A dance and music genre from the Amazon region of Brazil, centered around a wooden drum.Performance
🇧🇷 BrazilBaião
A syncopated folk rhythm and partnered dance from northeastern BrazilPerformance
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 3 moreSteelpan
A tuned percussion tradition forged from industrial steel containers in TrinidadPerformance
🇵🇷 Ponce, Puerto RicoVejigante
A masked folkloric character in Puerto Rican festivals, wearing ornate masks and performing a role of mischief or resistFestival
🇧🇸 Nassau, BahamasRake-and-scrape
A traditional Bahamian music style featuring saws, guitars and drums.Performance
🇵🇦 Panama City, PanamaMola
Layered cloth panels hand-sewn by Guna women using reverse appliquéCraft
🇭🇳 Honduras and 4 morePunta
A lively dance and music style of the Garifuna people, celebrated in Central America and the Caribbean.Performance
🇻🇪 Venezuela and 1 moreColeo
A Venezuelan and Colombian sport where riders chase cattle to snatch tails and pull them down.Game
🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilJongo
A nightlong dance and music gathering kept by Afro-Brazilian communities in the southeast of Brazil.Performance
🇹🇹 Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago and 1 moreDivali Nagar
An annual cultural exposition in Trinidad and Tobago celebrating Hindu traditions during the Diwali season.Festival
🇧🇷 São Paulo, BrazilMaculelê
An Afro-Brazilian stick dance from Bahia that blends rhythm, mock combat, and song.Performance
🇧🇷 Recife, Brazil and 1 moreMaracatu
A set of Afro-Brazilian performance traditions from Pernambuco and Ceará featuring drumming, dance, and royal pageantry.Performance
🇵🇪 Cusco, Peru and 4 moreIntiinti (Quechua)
The Inca sun deity, honoured with temples, offerings and the June festival Inti RaymiSpiritual
🇭🇹 Haiti and 1 moreRara
A Haitian street music of bamboo trumpets and drums, played in the Easter seasonPerformance
🇱🇨 Saint Lucia and 1 moreJounen Kwéyòl
A day of Creole food, music and dress in Saint Lucia and Dominica, kept each OctoberFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilRio CarnivalCarnaval do Rio de Janeiro
Five days of samba parades, costumes and street parties in Rio, ending at LentFestival
🇨🇺 CubaAbakuá
An Afro-Cuban initiatory brotherhood rooted in West African sacred traditionsSpiritual
🇺🇾 Montevideo, UruguayNostalgia NightNoche de la Nostalgia
Uruguay's nationwide retro music and dance celebration held every 24 AugustFestival
🇵🇾 Asunción, ParaguayÑandutí
Paraguayan needle lace named for a spider's web, worked in thread and cut freeCraft
🇵🇾 ParaguayParaguayan harp
Paraguay's national harp, strung with 32 to 46 strings and plucked with long fingernailsPerformance
🇧🇷 BrazilForró
Music, dance and party from Brazil's Northeast, with accordion, triangle and zabumba drumPerformance
🇨🇱 Rancagua, Chile and 1 moreChilean rodeo
A Chilean equestrian sport and weekend festival contested in a crescent-shaped arenaGame
🇵🇪 Peru and 2 moreAyniAyni (Quechua and Aymara)
Giving and receiving as a duty, kept by Andean communitiesEtiquette
🇨🇱 Santiago, Chile and 3 moreCueca
A courtship dance of Chile and the Andes where partners trace circles with handkerchiefs to mimic a rooster and hen.Performance
🇵🇷 San Juan, Puerto Rico and 1 moreBomba
A Puerto Rican music and dance tradition where the drummer follows the dancer in a rhythmic dialogue.Performance
🇦🇷 Córdoba, ArgentinaCuarteto
An upbeat partner dance and music tradition born in Córdoba, ArgentinaPerformance
🇵🇷 Ponce, Puerto Rico and 1 morePlena
Puerto Rican folk songs and dance sharing community news with rhythmic frame drumsPerformance
🇦🇷 Salta, Argentina and 3 moreZamba
A graceful Argentine couple dance of circling steps and fluttering white handkerchiefsPerformance
🇵🇪 Cusco, Peru and 2 moreInti Raymi
A major Andean festival honoring the sun god Inti and marking the winter solstice in Cusco.Festival
🇨🇴 Barranquilla, ColombiaBarranquilla CarnivalCarnaval de Barranquilla
A four-day street festival of music, masquerade and dance in coastal ColombiaFestival
🇸🇷 Paramaribo, Suriname and 1 moreKetikotiKeti Koti
An annual Emancipation Day marking the end of slavery in Suriname and the NetherlandsFestival
🇨🇴 Pasto, ColombiaBlacks and Whites' CarnivalCarnaval de Negros y Blancos
A week of street games, parades and music held every January in Pasto, ColombiaFestival
🇧🇴 Oruro, BoliviaCarnival of OruroEl carnaval de Oruro
A Bolivian festival of masked pilgrimage dances honoring the Virgin of the MineshaftFestival
🇵🇪 Lima, PeruLord of MiraclesSeñor de los Milagros
An October Catholic festival in Lima honouring a miraculous mural of ChristSpiritual · Sweets given and shared
🇵🇪 Cusco, PeruQoyllur Rit'iQuyllurit'i
An Andean mountain pilgrimage uniting indigenous star lore and Catholic devotionSpiritual
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 3 moreHosay
An Indo-Caribbean Muharram commemoration with ornate floats, drumming and processionsSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇪🇨 Latacunga, EcuadorMama Negra
A twice-yearly festival in Latacunga blending Andean, Spanish and African heritageFestival
🇨🇴 Valledupar, ColombiaVallenato Legend FestivalFestival de la Leyenda Vallenata
An annual gathering in Valledupar celebrating Colombian vallenato music and verseFestival
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Barranquilla Carnival: el heraldo, Public domain, source
- Inti: Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, Public domain, source
- Inti Raymi: Cyntia Motta, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Carnival of Oruro: Pame82s, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Qoyllur Rit'i: AgainErick, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mama Negra: Agencia de Noticias ANDES, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Hosay: Julius Eduard Muller, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Forró: As fotos da Virada!, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ayni: Sr raleigh, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Paraguayan harp: Romina Santarelli, CC BY 2.0, source
- Rara: Lombinodr Alfonso Lomba, CC BY 3.0, source
- Vallenato Legend Festival: Jdvillalobos, CC BY 3.0, source
- Ñandutí: Trey Jones, Public domain, source
- Cueca: Manuel Antonio Caro, Public domain, source
- Bomba: TechyLibrarian, CC BY 4.0, source
- Plena: Raylaur15, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Capoeira: Augustus Earle, Public domain, source
- Ngillatun: Francisco Cavallo, Public domain, source
- Curanto: Lin linao, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Steelpan: Shanel, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Abakuá: M. Puente, Public domain, source
- Chilean rodeo: Marco Antonio Correa Flores, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Carimbó: Palácio do Planalto, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mola: Johantheghost, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Punta: Pitxiquin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Coleo: Alorenz, Public domain, source
- Tinku: CassandraW1, CC BY 2.0, source
- Tuk band: Ronaldwalcott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jongo: Vanessa Freitas, Public domain, source
- Vejigante: Oscar Rohena, CC BY 2.0, source
- Maculelê: Joel Zimmer, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Maracatu: Prefeitura de Olinda, CC BY 2.0, source
- Morenada: Alfredobi, CC BY 3.0, source
- Chacarera: Pflatau, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Moko Jumbie: COD Newsroom, CC BY 2.0, source
- Rio Carnival: Sergio Luiz, CC BY 2.0, source
- Lord of Miracles: Miguel Chong, Public domain, source
- Ketikoti: StarNieuws, CC BY 3.0, source
- Blacks and Whites' Carnival: camiloAndres, CC BY 2.0, source