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
🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreEid al-Ghadirعید الغدیر
A Shia Muslim festival of prayer, gifts and shared meals, kept on 18 Dhu al-HijjahSpiritual
🇱🇰 Sri LankaSanni Yakuma
A Sinhalese rite where masked dancers summon eighteen illness demons and banish themSpiritual
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreAncestor veneration
Honouring dead relatives with offerings, meals and prayers, kept in cultures worldwideSpiritual
🇯🇵 JapanMiyamairi宮参り
A first visit to a Shinto shrine, about a month after a baby is bornRite of passage
🇬🇧 United KingdomPlough Monday
England's old start of the farming year, kept with ploughs, straw bears and sword dancesSeasonal
🇲🇽 Mexico and 2 moreWedding cord
A loop of white cord laid over a kneeling bride and groom in Catholic weddingsRite of passage
🇰🇪 Kenya and 1 moreAdumuEnkipaata
A Maasai warrior dance of high jumps from a circle, done at weddings and ritesPerformance
🇵🇷 Puerto Rico and 1 moreParranda
A Puerto Rican Christmas custom of night-time visits with songs, food and drinkPerformance · Supper
🇨🇳 Hong Kong, China and 5 moreLunar New Year
New year festivals dated by the moon, kept from East Asia to the Middle EastFestival
🇯🇵 Hiroshima, JapanKagura神楽
A sacred Shinto dance tradition in Japan that invites deities to descend and perform through human dancers.Performance
🇮🇩 Jakarta, Indonesia and 3 moreRijsttafel
Many small dishes around rice: a colonial-era banquet still served in the NetherlandsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 Cleveland, United StatesClambake
Shellfish steamed over seaweed in a pit, eaten outdoors along the New England coastTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇩 Yogyakarta, IndonesiaWayangꦮꦪꦁ
A night-long puppet theatre from Java, where a dalang tells epics behind a lit screenPerformance
🇨🇳 Ningbo, China and 2 moreMahjong麻將
A tile game from China, played by two to four people at a tableGame
🇻🇳 Huế, VietnamNhã nhạcNhã nhạc (雅樂)
Vietnam's royal court music, played for palace rites from the Trần dynasty onwardPerformance
🇻🇳 VietnamCa trùCa trù (歌籌)
A Vietnamese art of sung poetry, led by a woman singer with lute and praise drumPerformance
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreSariसाड़ी
An unstitched length of cloth that women drape around the body, worn across South AsiaDress
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreTracht
Traditional dress of the German-speaking regions, from lederhosen to the dirndlDress
🇭🇷 Zagreb, Croatia and 1 moreLicitarlicitarska srca
A hand-painted honey biscuit given as a gift at weddings and on Valentine's DayCraft · Sweets given and shared
🇦🇺 AustraliaBush dance
An Australian social dance style, usually with a live bush bandPerformance
🇦🇿 Baku, AzerbaijanAzerbaijani carpetAzərbaycan xalçası
Handwoven floor and wall coverings from Azerbaijan, made by women in regional designsCraft
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreAncestor worship
Honouring dead relatives with offerings and prayers, kept in many cultures worldwideSpiritual
🇧🇴 La Paz, Bolivia and 1 moreEkekoIqiqu
A small figurine of abundance kept in Andean homes and carried at the Alasitas fair to invite prosperity.Spiritual
🇬🇧 Yorkshire, United Kingdom and 3 moreMischief NightNoson Ddrygioni (Welsh); Oidhche nan Cleas (Scottish Gaelic)
An evening of pranks and tricks, kept before Halloween or Guy Fawkes NightFestival
🇯🇵 JapanJapanese funeral葬儀 (sōgi)
A Buddhist farewell in Japan: a wake, cremation, bone-gathering and a family graveRite of passage
🇯🇵 Takasaki, JapanDaruma doll達磨 (daruma)
A round Japanese wishing doll: fill one eye to set a goal, the other to mark it done.Folklore
🇪🇬 Cairo, Egypt and 1 moreNayrouzالنيروز (Arabic); ⲡⲓⲭⲗⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ ϯⲣⲟⲙⲡⲓ (Coptic)
A Coptic feast marking the new year and honoring martyrs, kept in Egypt and Ethiopia.Festival
🇲🇽 Papantla, Mexico and 1 moreDanza de los Voladores
A Mesoamerican rite of dance and rope, flown from a tall pole to ask for rainSpiritual
🇰🇷 South KoreaJwibullori쥐불놀이
A Korean New Year game of whirling fire-cans to clear fields and wish good luckGame
🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia and 5 moreImmortal RegimentБессмертный полк (Bessmertnyy polk)
A civic procession where people carry portraits of relatives who served in the Second World War.Festival
🇬🇾 Georgetown, GuyanaMashramani
Guyana's national republic celebration filled with street pageantry, music and dance.Festival
🇧🇭 Bahrain and 1 moreFijiriالفجيري
Songs of the Gulf pearl divers: one lead voice, a chorus, a hand drum and a clay potPerformance
🇳🇬 Abuja, NigeriaNew Yam FestivalIri ji
A yearly harvest thanksgiving across Nigeria, when the first new yams may be eatenFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇲🇾 Malacca, Malaysia and 5 moreBaju Melayuباجو ملايو
The long-sleeved Malay man's shirt and trousers, formal national dress in Malaysia and BruneiDress
🇷🇺 Palekh, RussiaPalekh miniatureПалехская миниатюра
Tiny tempera paintings on lacquered papier-mâché, made in the Russian town of PalekhCraft
🇬🇹 Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala and 3 moreMaximón
A folk saint of the Guatemalan highlands, asked for health, crops and protectionFolklore
🇵🇬 Goroka, Papua New GuineaGoroka Show
An annual cultural gathering and sing-sing in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New GuineaFestival
🇮🇳 Tiruvannamalai, IndiaGirivalam
A barefoot walk of about 14 km around Arunachala hill, most of all on full moon nightsSpiritual
🇸🇾 Aleppo, SyriaQudud Halabiyaقدود حلبية
Syrian songs of love and longing, shaped in Aleppo and set to old melodiesPerformance
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 morePyebaek폐백
A Korean wedding rite where newlyweds bow to elders and share dates, chestnuts and wineRite of passage
🇩🇰 Denmark and 3 moreNissenisse (Danish, Norwegian); tomte (Swedish); tonttu (Finnish)
A small farm spirit of Nordic folklore, given porridge at midwinterFolklore
🇹🇷 Istanbul, TurkeyTurkish tea culture
Two stacked pots, tulip glasses, and a choice of strong or weak tea in TurkeyTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇪🇨 Quito, EcuadorFanesca
Ecuador's Holy Week soup of grains, beans and salt cod, made for Good FridayTable custom · Lunch
🇨🇦 Montréal, CanadaCeinture fléchée
A fingerwoven woollen sash tied at the waist, worn by Québécois and Métis peoplesDress
🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanNoh能 (Nō)
Japanese masked dance-drama, staged since the 14th century in family schoolsPerformance
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 2 moreManeki-neko招き猫
A lucky cat figurine, paw raised, kept by shop doors and in homes across JapanFolklore
🇲🇳 MongoliaMorin khuurморин хуур (Mongolian Cyrillic); ᠮᠣᠷᠢᠨ ᠬᠣᠭᠣᠷ (traditional Mongol script)
Mongolia's two-string horsehead fiddle, played with a horsehair bowPerformance
🇬🇧 United KingdomTartanbreacan
The checked woollen cloth of Scotland, woven from crossing stripes into named patternsDress
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Eid al-Ghadir: khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0, source
- Ancestor veneration: Thang Nguyen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Sanni Yakuma: Michael Gunther, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Plough Monday: Rawpixel, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Wedding cord: Phil! Gold, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Miyamairi: I (Sakura-saku-kuni) took this photograph., Public domain, source
- Adumu: K15photos, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lunar New Year: Flying Pharmacist, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Parranda: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Rijsttafel: Takeaway, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kagura: Elstner Hilton, Public domain, source
- Clambake: inuyaki.com, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Nhã nhạc: Lưu Ly ( thảo luận ), Public domain, source
- Wayang: Kevin Gessner, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mahjong: yui*, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ca trù: Michael Coghlan, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Sari: Suyash.dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tracht: David Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Licitar: Seanpu1, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Azerbaijani carpet: Dmitri Yermakov, Public domain, source
- Ancestor worship: Lyn Gateley, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ekeko: Ciudades, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mischief Night: Roseohioresident, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Japanese funeral: 夢の散歩, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Daruma doll: Crisco 1492, Public domain, source
- Nayrouz: Rafael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Danza de los Voladores: A01333649, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jwibullori: KOREA.NET, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Immortal Regiment: Presidential Press and Information Office, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mashramani: King sheik at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- New Yam Festival: Adimora chidinma, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fijiri: Kuwaitsoccer, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Baju Melayu: CuLeX-, CC BY 2.0, source
- Palekh miniature: Ivan Ivanovich Golikov, Public domain, source
- Maximón: Sapfan (Jan Pesula), Public domain, source
- Qudud Halabiya: Thorsten Krienke, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Girivalam: Sakthiprasanna, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pyebaek: halfGoku, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Nisse: AlphaZeta, CC0, source
- Fanesca: Agencia de Noticias ANDES, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ceinture fléchée: Ceinture fléchée, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Turkish tea culture: henribergius, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Noh: Yoshiyuki Ito, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Morin khuur: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, source
- Maneki-neko: Su--May, CC BY 2.0, source
- Tartan: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source