All traditions
2,291 traditions so far, best known first. 12,310 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
🇪🇸 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
🇨🇳 ChinaChinese paper cutting剪紙 / 剪纸 (jiǎnzhǐ)
Chinese cut paper pictures, pasted on windows and doors for luck at New YearCraft
🇬🇧 United KingdomCalennig
Welsh children carry a decorated apple door to door and sing for New Year giftsFestival
🇱🇰 Sri LankaKiribathකිරිබත්
Rice cooked in coconut milk, the dish of Sinhalese New Year and family beginningsTable custom · Breakfast
🇮🇹 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
🇲🇲 Myanmar and 1 moreLongyiလုံချည်
A tube of cloth worn from waist to feet in Myanmar, folded shut with no knotDress
🇹🇷 Turkey and 2 moreSufi whirling
A Sufi meditation in which dervishes spin in circles to turn toward GodSpiritual
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreKiltfèileadh
A pleated knee-length skirt in tartan wool, worn as Scottish Highland dressDress
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreLederhosen
Leather breeches that began as work wear and now belong to Alpine festivalsDress
🇨🇦 Canada and 2 moreInuksuk
Stone markers raised by Inuit across the Arctic to guide, hunt and rememberCraft
🇪🇸 Spain and 2 moreLas arras
Thirteen gold coins, blessed at a wedding and given by the groom to the brideRite of passage
🇧🇷 Recife, BrazilFrevo
A fast, brass-driven dance and music of Recife's Carnival, danced with a small umbrellaPerformance
🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreKoloКоло
A South Slavic circle dance of linked hands, kept at weddings and gatheringsPerformance
🇰🇭 Cambodia and 2 moreSampotសំពត់
A length of cloth wrapped at the waist, the everyday and ceremonial dress of CambodiaDress
🇲🇾 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
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreXiangqi象棋
A two-player game of armies and cannons, played on the points of a nine-by-ten boardGame
🇬🇧 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
🇹🇷 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
🇵🇪 Trujillo, PeruMarinera
A courtship dance from Peru's coast, with handkerchiefs and bare feetPerformance
🇮🇹 Foligno, ItalyGiostra della Quintana
A June and September joust in Foligno, where ten knights spear ringsFestival
🇪🇸 SpainCorrefoc
Devil-costumed fire runs through the streets of Catalan and Valencian festival townsFestival
🇰🇷 Seoul, South KoreaJongmyo jerye종묘 제례
Ancestral rite for Korea's Joseon kings, with court music and a line dance, held in SeoulSpiritual
🇦🇹 Austria and 5 moreKrampus
Saint Nicholas's horned companion, who comes for misbehaving children on 5 DecemberFolklore
🇷🇺 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
🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 1 moreVyshyvankaвишиванка (Ukrainian), вышыванка (Belarusian)
An embroidered shirt of Ukraine and Belarus, its patterns marking region and familyDress
🇨🇳 Chengdu, China and 1 moreSichuan opera川劇
A Chinese opera from Sichuan, known for split-second mask changes and a central clownPerformance
🇬🇪 Tbilisi, GeorgiaSupraსუფრა
A Georgian feast led by a toastmaster, where toasts, wine and food carry the mealTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇦🇲 Armenia and 1 moreKochariՔոչարի
A circle dance from the Armenian Highlands, danced at weddings and gatheringsPerformance
🇺🇾 Uruguay and 3 moreTango
A social partner dance of the Río de la Plata, improvised step by stepPerformance
🇼🇸 Samoa and 1 moreʻAva ceremony
A solemn ritual of shared drink and oratory in Samoa and Tonga to mark chiefly titles and important gatherings.Festival
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan and 1 moreShyrdakшырдак (Kyrgyz); сырмақ (Kazakh)
A hand-stitched felt rug of contrasting colour, made by Kyrgyz and Kazakh familiesCraft
🇦🇱 Gjirokastër, Albania and 2 moreAlbanian iso-polyphonyIso-polifonia
Multi-part Albanian singing with a held drone, kept across the southPerformance
🇮🇷 Urmia, IranKurdish danceGovend (گۆڤەند)
Circle dances of the Kurds, led by handkerchief twirlers, for weddings and NewrozPerformance
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreYum cha飲茶
A Cantonese breakfast of dim sum and tea, eaten slowly in large groupsTable custom · Breakfast
🇬🇭 Bonwire, Ghana and 1 moreKente clothNwentoma
Hand-woven Ghanaian cloth of silk and cotton strips, worn for ceremonies and graduationsDress
🇨🇳 China and 6 moreRed envelope紅包 / 红包 (hóngbāo)
Money in a red packet, given at Lunar New Year, weddings and other big daysEtiquette
🇺🇬 UgandaGomesi
A floor-length, brightly coloured dress tied with a sash, worn by women in UgandaDress
🇺🇸 United StatesLūʻau
A Hawaiian feast of kālua pig and poi, eaten by hand outdoors with music and hulaTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreTopping out
A builders' rite for the day the last beam goes up, marked with a tree, a flag and a toastCraft
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreKeeningCaoineadh
A sung mourning cry at Gaelic funerals, once led by hired women singersRite of passage
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreTailgate party
Grilling, sharing and drinking beside a car before the game, mostly in North AmericaTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇦🇷 Argentina and 4 moreAsado
A slow fire, a grill and a shared table: how people gather to cook and eat meatTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 Lewes, United KingdomLewes Bonfire
A Sussex town marks 5 November with torchlit processions, burning crosses and bonfiresFestival
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan and 2 moreAla kiyizала кийиз
Patterned felt carpets pressed by hand for the tents of Central Asian herdersCraft
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
- Twelve Grapes: Ralf Roletschek, GFDL 1.2, source
- Chinese paper cutting: Lanneixi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kiribath: AntanO, CC BY-SA 4.0, 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
- Kilt: Georg Cöler, Public domain, source
- Longyi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Lederhosen: Original photographer and uploader was Florian Schott at bar.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, source
- Inuksuk: Christina Chan, CC BY 2.0, source
- Frevo: Prefeitura de Olinda, CC BY 2.0, source
- Las arras: penny, CC BY 2.0, source
- Kolo: Sasa.mazinjanin, Public domain, source
- Sampot: George Groslier (1887–1945), Public domain, source
- Xiangqi: Francesc Fort, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Afternoon tea: joyosity, CC BY 2.0, 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
- Marinera: Tomas Sobek, CC BY 2.0, source
- Giostra della Quintana: Alb.Maur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jongmyo jerye: David McNally, USAG-Yongsan, Public domain, source
- Krampus: Naturpuur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Correfoc: Calvesklein, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Russian wedding traditions: GeorgeLouis, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sky burial: FishOil at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Vyshyvanka: Vasily Andreevich Tropinin, Public domain, source
- Supra: Public domain Public domain false false This work is in the public dom, Public domain, source
- Sichuan opera: No machine-readable author provided. Dice~commonswiki assumed (based o, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tango: carlos luque, CC BY 2.5, source
- Kochari: Hayordi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- ʻAva ceremony: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Shyrdak: Firespeaker, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kurdish dance: Kaiwan Moradi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yum cha: Infomofo, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Kente cloth: ZSM, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Red envelope: Oldie~commonswiki, Public domain, source
- Lūʻau: Ralawami, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gomesi: sarahemcc, CC BY 2.0, source
- Topping out: PKS at Danish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Keening: W.H. Brooke, Public domain, source
- Asado: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Tailgate party: Ben Vardi, Public domain, source
- Lewes Bonfire: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ala kiyiz: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pbarry/, CC BY-SA 2.0, source