All traditions
2,336 traditions so far, best known first. 12,214 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
🇲🇽 Oaxaca, MexicoNight of the RadishesNoche de Rábanos
An annual festival of intricate sculptures carved from oversized radishes in OaxacaCraft
🇮🇳 Madurai, IndiaMeenakshi TirukalyanamChithirai Thiruvizha
A two-week festival in Madurai celebrating the divine wedding of Meenakshi and Shiva.Festival
🇰🇷 South Korea and 2 moreHanbok한복
Korea's customary dress: a short jacket, a skirt or trousers, and a bow-tied ribbonDress
🇲🇽 Mazatlán, MexicoCarnival of MazatlánCarnaval de Mazatlán
An annual five-day festival of parades, fireworks, poetry and dance in coastal MexicoFestival
🇲🇽 Mexico City, MexicoPassion Play of Iztapalapa
A community passion play staged across Iztapalapa during Holy WeekSpiritual
🇮🇳 Ujjain, India and 1 moreVikram Samvatविक्रमसंवत्
A lunisolar Hindu calendar of Nepal and India, its years counted 57 ahead of the GregorianSeasonal
🇳🇵 NepalMha Pujaम्हपुजा
A Newar New Year ritual of self-worship, mandalas and renewal in NepalSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇹🇭 Chiang Mai, Thailand and 1 moreYi Pengยี่เป็ง
A northern Thai Buddhist festival of sky lanterns, clay lamps and temple sermonsSpiritual
🇪🇸 Spain and 1 moreTió de Nadal
A Catalan Christmas tradition where a decorated log is fed and beaten to produce small gifts for children.Festival
🇪🇸 Alicante, SpainBonfires of Saint John in AlicanteFogueres de Sant Joan
A midsummer festival of towering satirical monuments, music and fire in AlicanteFestival
🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia and 5 moreNovy GodНовый Год
A secular winter celebration of decorated trees, family feasts and midnight giftsFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia and 5 morePalm Sunday
A Christian Sunday feast marking Jesus's entry into Jerusalem with blessed branches.Spiritual
🇵🇱 Poland and 5 moreZaduszkiZaduszki, Dzień Zaduszny
A Polish day of prayer for the dead on 2 November, kept with candles at the gravesSpiritual
🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreBread and saltхлеб-соль
Bread and salt offered to a guest: a welcome kept from Russia to AlbaniaEtiquette
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 4 moreBabindenБабинден
A Bulgarian feast honoring midwives and new mothers with rituals of bathing, feasting, and blessing.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreMaypole
A tall wooden pole, garlanded and danced around, raised at May Day, Whitsun or MidsummerFestival
🇬🇧 Brockworth, United KingdomCooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake
A round of cheese, a steep hill, and runners chasing it down for the prizeGame
🇮🇷 IranTaarofتعارف
An Iranian code of ritual politeness, where offers and refusals are traded with graceEtiquette
🇺🇦 Kyiv, Ukraine and 1 moreUkrainian embroideryвишивка (vyshyvka)
A stitched folk art of Ukraine, worked into shirts, cloths and church furnishingsCraft
🇵🇭 Philippines and 3 moreManoPagmamano
A Filipino greeting where a younger person bows and asks an elder for a blessingEtiquette
🇹🇷 Turkey and 3 moreKalpak
A tall cap of Turkic peoples, thick for winter and wide and light for summerDress
🇸🇳 Touba, Senegal and 1 moreGrand Magal of Touba
An annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Touba in Senegal, kept by followers of the Mouride Sufi order.Spiritual
🇮🇩 Yogyakarta, Indonesia and 4 moreKebayaꦏꦼꦧꦪ
A front-opening blouse and wrapped cloth, worn by women across Southeast AsiaDress
🇮🇩 Palembang, Indonesia and 3 moreSongketᬲᭀᬂᬓᬾᬢ᭄
A hand-woven cloth threaded with gold or silver, worn at weddings and royal courtsDress
🇮🇳 Srinagar, India and 3 morePashmina
Ultra-fine wool of Himalayan goats, hand-woven in Kashmir into shawls of rankDress
🇮🇳 IndiaGamosaগামুছা
A white Assamese cloth with a red border, worn, gifted and laid under sacred textsDress
🇲🇬 MadagascarLamba
A rectangular cloth wrapped around the body, worn across Madagascar and at burialsDress
🇧🇹 BhutanKiraདཀྱི་ར་
Bhutan's national dress for women, an ankle-length woven cloth wrapped and pinnedDress
🇲🇦 Morocco and 1 moreDjellabaجلابة
A long, loose hooded robe worn by men and women across North AfricaDress
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreJumping the broom
A wedding ritual where newlyweds leap over a broom to mark their unionRite of passage
🇮🇩 Uluwatu, IndonesiaKecakᬓᬾᬘᬓ᭄ (Balinese), Tari Kecak (Indonesian)
A circle of men chanting chak as they dance the Ramayana epic in BaliPerformance
🇮🇳 Ayodhya, IndiaTilakaतिलक
A forehead mark worn by Hindus and Jains, at home, at temple and on special daysDress
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreKabaddi
A fast South Asian contact sport where solo raiders tag defenders on a single breathGame
🇮🇳 Madurai, IndiaJallikattuஜல்லிக்கட்டு
A traditional bull-embracing event held during harvest celebrations in Tamil NaduGame
🇳🇴 NorwayJul
An eight-week Norwegian midwinter season of feasts, family gatherings, and gift-givingSeasonal · Lunch
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreSamhain
A Gaelic festival marking the start of winter with bonfires and ancestor feastsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇪 Killorglin, Ireland and 1 moreLughnasadhLúnasa
A Gaelic festival marking the start of harvest with feasts, fairs and mountain walksSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇪🇸 Barcelona, Spain and 1 moreSardana
A Catalan circle dance, danced hand in hand to an eleven-player cobla bandPerformance
🇷🇺 Dymkovo, RussiaDymkovo toysДымковская игрушка
Painted clay people, animals and whistles, shaped by women in Dymkovo near KirovCraft
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreKhorovodхоровод
A Slavic circle dance with singing, danced with linked hands or little fingersPerformance
🇹🇷 Erzurum, TurkeyJereedCirit
Riders on horseback throw blunt wooden javelins at rivals in this Turkish team sportGame
🇺🇸 New York City, United StatesTimes Square Ball
A ball of light slides down a pole in Times Square to mark the start of the new yearFestival
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreKallikantzarosκαλικάντζαρος
A malevolent goblin of Greek and Balkan folklore, active in the Christmas season.Folklore
🇹🇷 Bursa, Turkey and 5 moreKaragöz and Hacivat
A Turkish shadow play of two quarrelling friends, acted on a lit screen behind a curtainPerformance
🇵🇹 Barcelos, Portugal and 1 moreRooster of BarcelosGalo de Barcelos
A Portuguese tale of a roast rooster that crowed to clear an innocent manFolklore
🇩🇪 Aachen, Germany and 4 moreStraw bearStrohbär
A carnival figure wrapped in straw, paraded through German towns to mark the end of winter.Festival
🇺🇾 Montevideo, Uruguay and 4 morePayada
Improvised ten-line verses traded by guitar-playing payadores in the Río de la PlataPerformance
🇸🇪 Sweden and 3 moreCrayfish partykräftskiva
Boiled crayfish, snaps and paper lanterns at a late-summer party in Sweden and FinlandTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Toego: Cfynn, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Korovai: Olli Niemitalo, CC0, source
- Rushnyk: Pavlo Boyko, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Night of the Radishes: AlejandroLinaresGarcia, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Meenakshi Tirukalyanam: எஸ். பி. கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hanbok: DongyiKoguryo, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Carnival of Mazatlán: The New Foxy, CC0, source
- Passion Play of Iztapalapa: Eneas De Troya, CC BY 2.0, source
- Vikram Samvat: Westindischer Maler um 1400, Public domain, source
- Yi Peng: Takeaway, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mha Puja: Karrattul, Public domain, source
- Tió de Nadal: Slastic, Public domain, source
- Bonfires of Saint John in Alicante: Fernando Pastor, CC BY 2.0, source
- Novy God: Евгений Самарин, CC BY 4.0, source
- Zaduszki: Ivan Mrkvička, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Palm Sunday: Pietro Lorenzetti, Public domain, source
- Babinden: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Maypole: Uploaded by Mikael Häggström, CC0, source
- Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake: Dave Farrance, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Taarof: Oxlaey, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mano: TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO, Public domain, source
- Kalpak: Prosopee, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Songket: Rijksmuseum, CC0, source
- Kebaya: Simon_sees, CC BY 2.0, source
- Pashmina: Aaditya Kitroo, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Gamosa: Priyankoo at en.wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Lamba: Lemurbaby at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, source
- Djellaba: Daderot, Public domain, source
- Jumping the broom: credited only as "Hipstamatic shots, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Kecak: Rollan Budi, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Tilaka: Robert Vane Russell (1873-1915), Public domain, source
- Kabaddi: Amir Hosseini, CC BY 4.0, source
- Jallikattu: Mahendrabalan, CC BY 3.0, source
- Samhain: Daniel Maclise, Public domain, source
- Lughnasadh: Mountainash333, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sardana: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dymkovo toys: Georg Pik, Public domain, source
- Khorovod: Aleksey Stepanov, Public domain, source
- Jereed: anonymous Greek artist, ca. 1809, Public domain, source
- Times Square Ball: Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0, source
- Karagöz and Hacivat: Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kallikantzaros: Katolophyromai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Straw bear: Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, source
- Rooster of Barcelos: Adriculas, Public domain, source
- Crayfish party: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Payada: Unknown author, Public domain, source