All traditions
2,224 traditions so far, best known first. 12,440 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
🇱🇧 Lebanon and 5 moreZajalزجل
Half-sung Arabic poetry in colloquial speech, traded as a duel between improvising poetsPerformance
🇳🇿 Auckland, New ZealandWhakapapa
Māori genealogy, recited to place a person among ancestors, land and tribeHome
🇮🇳 Paithan, IndiaPaithani
A handwoven silk sari from Maharashtra, with a squared border and a peacock palluDress
🇳🇿 New Zealand and 2 moreMarae
A cleared, sacred gathering place at the heart of Māori and Polynesian community lifeSpiritual
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreWater lantern
Small lamps floated on water to honour the dead and ask for good fortuneFestival
🇵🇭 Palo, Philippines and 1 moreTinikling
A Philippine folk dance where dancers step between clapping bamboo polesPerformance
🇫🇷 France and 4 morePicnic
A meal taken outdoors in a park or scenic spot, often shared with friends and family.Festival · Lunch
🇰🇬 Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan and 2 moreWorld Nomad GamesДүйнөлүк көчмөндөр оюндары
A two-yearly contest of Central Asian nomadic sports, first staged in Kyrgyzstan in 2014Game
🇲🇽 Veracruz, Mexico and 3 moreMesoamerican ballgameōllamalīztli
An ancient Mesoamerican ball game, struck with the hips on stone courtsGame
🇮🇩 Bali, Indonesia and 3 morePencak silat
Indonesia's many schools of full-body fighting, with strikes, locks, throws and bladesGame
🇬🇭 Ghana and 2 moreEwe drumming
The drum ensembles of the Ewe people, with iron bells, rattles and talking drumsPerformance
🇺🇸 Washington, United StatesState of the Union address
The US president's yearly report to Congress and the nation, given in the House chamberCeremony
🇬🇭 Ghana and 2 moreAgbadza
An Ewe music and dance, born of war songs and kept for funerals, weddings and festivalsPerformance
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreGhazalغَزَل
A short rhyming poem of love and parting, recited and sung from Arabia to South AsiaPerformance
🇲🇳 Ölgii, Mongolia and 3 moreHunting with eagles
The Central Asian tradition of hunting foxes and hares from horseback with golden eagles.Game
🇹🇭 ThailandThai solar calendarปฏิทินสุริยคติไทย
The official solar calendar of Thailand, numbered in the Buddhist EraSeasonal
🇳🇬 Ibadan, Nigeria and 1 moreYoruba naming ceremonyÌkòlọ́pọ̀ Orúkọ Yorùbá
A rite of passage where a newborn receives a destiny name through divination and family celebration.Rite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Kolkata, IndiaJana Gana Mana
India's national anthem, from a Bengali hymn of 1911, sung at civic occasionsCeremony
🇮🇳 Thrissur, IndiaPulikaliപുലിക്കളി
Painted tigers and leopards dance through Thrissur on the fourth day of OnamPerformance
🇦🇺 AustraliaBark painting
Ochre pictures on flattened tree bark, an Aboriginal art form of northern AustraliaCraft
🇯🇵 Ōmuta, JapanKarutaかるた
Japanese playing cards from the 16th century, still raced over poems each New YearGame
🇨🇮 Abidjan, Ivory Coast and 3 moreZouglou
A dance-led music style from Ivory Coast, sung in street slang and local languagesPerformance
🇺🇸 United StatesTalking stick
A carved staff that shows who may speak at a Northwest Coast gatheringCeremony
🇱🇹 LithuaniaVėlinės
A Lithuanian remembrance day honouring deceased souls with cemetery prayers and candlesSpiritual
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreDragon dance舞龍 / 舞龙
A long dragon puppet on poles, danced by a team at Chinese New Year and other festivalsPerformance
🇺🇸 New Orleans, United StatesSecond line
A New Orleans parade where clubs march and a crowd dances along behind the bandFestival
🇧🇹 Thimphu, BhutanArchery in Bhutanམདའ (da)
Bhutan's national sport, played with bamboo bows at targets 145 metres awayGame
🇮🇷 Shiraz, Iran and 1 moreKhatamخاتم
A Persian inlay craft that builds geometric patterns from thousands of tiny cut piecesCraft
🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanIkebana生け花
The Japanese art of arranging cut branches and flowers in a vesselPerformance
🇪🇸 Pamplona, Spain and 3 moreRunning of the bullsencierro
Runners sprint ahead of loose bulls through barricaded town streets in summerFestival
🇿🇦 South Africa and 1 moreIndlamu
A Zulu war dance of two warriors in pelts, matched move for move and stamped on the beatPerformance
🇹🇷 Samsun, TurkeyHoronχορόν
Line dances of Turkey's eastern Black Sea coast, danced with shaking shouldersPerformance
🇵🇬 Trobriand Islands, Papua New GuineaTrobriand cricket
Cricket as played in the Trobriand Islands, with chants, dances and a feastGame
🇹🇷 Konya, Turkey and 4 moreMevlevi OrderMevlevilik
A Sufi tradition from Konya known for its whirling ceremony and devotion to Rumi's teachings.Spiritual
🇵🇬 Maprik, Papua New GuineaHaus Tambaran
A sacred house of the Sepik peoples, used for ancestor worship and male initiationSpiritual
🇳🇴 Norway and 3 moreGákti
A traditional coat worn by the Sámi people across northern Scandinavia and Russia, signaling origin and status through cDress
🇲🇳 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and 1 moreShagaiшагай
Traditional ankle bone games and fortune-telling played across Central Asia.Game
🇲🇱 Bamako, Mali and 5 moreGriotjeli, ߖߋ߬ߟߌ in N'Ko script
West Africa's hereditary keepers of spoken history, praise and musicPerformance
🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilRio CarnivalCarnaval do Rio de Janeiro
Five days of samba parades, costumes and street parties in Rio, ending at LentFestival
🇵🇱 Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland and 1 moreMarch of the LivingMarsz Żywych (Polish) · מצעד החיים (Hebrew)
An annual two-week journey to Poland ending in a silent walk from Auschwitz to BirkenauCeremony
🇬🇷 Olympia, Greece and 1 moreOlympic torch relay
The ceremonial journey of the flame from Olympia to each host city of the Olympic GamesCeremony
🇮🇪 Galway, Ireland and 1 moreBrigid's crossCros Bhríde
A cross of woven rushes or straw, made for Saint Brigid's Day on the first of FebruaryCraft
🇲🇳 Mongolia and 3 moreOvooовоо (Cyrillic Mongolian); ᠣᠪᠤᠭᠠ (Traditional Mongol)
A stone cairn on a peak or pass, circled by travellers and honoured in sky worshipSpiritual
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreDreamcatcherᐊᓴᐱᑫᔒᓐᐦ (asabikeshiinh)
A hand-woven hoop from Anishinaabe tradition, hung above a cradle to protect a childCraft
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 1 moreBonsai盆栽
A Japanese craft of keeping small trees in shallow pots, shaped for contemplationCraft
🇮🇪 Ros Muc, Ireland and 2 moreSean-nós dancedamhsa ar an sean nós
An improvised solo Irish dance: low footwork, free arms and a loud battering beatPerformance
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreKailash Mansarovar Yatraकैलाश मानसरोवर यात्रा (Hindi); ཀཱའི་ལ་ཤ་མན་ས་རོ་ཝར་ཡ་ཏྲ། (Tibetan)
A high-altitude pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in TibetSpiritual
🇧🇭 Bahrain and 3 moreFann at-Tanburaفن الطنبورة
A Gulf song and dance of drums and tanbura, born in healing, now stagedPerformance
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Zajal: 13th century artist, Public domain, source
- Whakapapa: Jimmy Pitt, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Paithani: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Marae: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Water lantern: 松岡明芳, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tinikling: U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Nestor Cruz, Public domain, source
- Picnic: Thomas Cole, Public domain, source
- World Nomad Games: Save the Dream, CC BY 2.0, source
- Imbolc: Culnacreann, CC BY 3.0, source
- Mesoamerican ballgame: Daniel Lobo (Daquella manera), CC BY 2.0, source
- Pencak silat: Agus Triyanto, CC0, source
- Ewe drumming: Freddythehat at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- State of the Union address: Harris & Ewing, photographer, Public domain, source
- Agbadza: JY midey, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ghazal: Poem by Sa'di of Shiraz (13th century). 19th century manuscript, Public domain, source
- Hunting with eagles: Franz Roubaud, Public domain, source
- Jana Gana Mana: Rabindranath Tagore, Public domain, source
- Pulikali: Felix Francis, CC BY 2.0, source
- Bark painting: Unknown artist, Public domain, source
- Karuta: Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)., Public domain, source
- Talking stick: Sandra Hunt, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dragon dance: Caseman, Public domain, source
- Second line: Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Archery in Bhutan: muddum27, CC BY 2.0, source
- Khatam: Fabienkhan, Public domain, source
- Ikebana: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Running of the bulls: The original uploader was Bernard bill5 at Dutch Wikipedia . Later ver, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Indlamu: Ernmuhl at lb.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Horon: Macukali, Public domain, source
- Mevlevi Order: Georges Jansoone ( JoJan ), CC BY 3.0, source
- Haus Tambaran: Sylt-Tinto, CC0, source
- Gákti: Thorguds, Public domain, source
- Shagai: User:Yaan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Griot: Pierre-Georges Jeanniot (gravure) [ 1 ] M. Barbier (photograph, Public domain, source
- Rio Carnival: Sergio Luiz, CC BY 2.0, source
- March of the Living: No machine-readable author provided. Efka de~commonswiki assumed (base, CC BY 2.5, source
- Olympic torch relay: DieselCat, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ovoo: Bouette ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dreamcatcher: Jorge Barrios, Public domain, source
- Bonsai: Ragesoss, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kailash Mansarovar Yatra: micknik, CC BY-SA 4.0, source