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
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreYule log
A log kept burning on the hearth through the twelve days of Christmas, for luckSeasonal
🇬🇧 Cardiff, United Kingdom and 1 moreSaint David's DayDydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant
The national feast day of Wales, marked with parades, poetry contests and daffodilsFestival
🇷🇴 Romania and 3 moreMărțișor
A spring custom of wearing intertwined red and white strings to welcome the new season.Festival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreTwelfth Night
The closing evening of the Christmas season, kept with cake, carols and wassailSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreBurns supperBurns Nicht
A Scottish celebratory meal of haggis, poetry and toasts in honour of Robert BurnsFestival · Dinner
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreEgg rolling
A spring game of rolling decorated hard-boiled eggs down hills or along lawnsGame
🇭🇷 Sinj, CroatiaSinjska Alka
An annual jousting tournament in Sinj where galloping riders strike a hanging ringGame
🇧🇾 Belarus and 4 moreDziadyДзяды (Belarusian); Діди (Ukrainian); Dziady (Polish)
A Slavic tradition of feeding and welcoming the spirits of ancestors to ensure family fertility and peace.Spiritual
🇵🇱 Kraków, PolandKraków szopkaszopka krakowska
Elaborate Christmas cribs modelled on historic Polish architecture in KrakówCraft
🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreMidnight MassMissa in nocte
The first service of Christmas, kept late on Christmas Eve in many Western churchesSpiritual
🇭🇷 Dubrovnik, Croatia and 1 moreFestivity of Saint BlaiseFesta Svetog Vlaha
An annual patron saint festival in Dubrovnik with processions, relics and dovesFestival
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 5 moreChristmas cracker
A decorative paper tube pulled apart with a bang during Christmas dinnerFestival · Dinner
🇬🇷 GreeceAnthesteriaἈνθεστήρια
An ancient Greek three-day spring festival of Dionysus, new wine, and the deadFestival
🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark and 4 moreRisalamande
A chilled Danish Christmas rice dessert with cream, chopped almonds and cherry sauceTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark and 5 moreFastelavn
A pre-Lenten carnival in Northern Europe where children dress up, sing for treats, and break candy-filled barrels.Festival · Sweets given and shared
🇩🇪 Cologne, Germany and 3 moreRosenmontag
The peak of German carnival, celebrated with satirical street parades and sweetsFestival
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 12 moreKoliadaКоляда
A traditional winter caroling and solstice festival kept across Slavic EuropeFestival
🇨🇿 Vlčnov, CzechiaRide of the KingsJízda králů
A Moravian spring procession where horsemen escort a silent boy king holding a roseFestival
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 1 moreDidukhдідух
A wheat sheaf kept at Christmas to honour ancestors and pray for a bountiful harvestHome
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreClean MondayΚαθαρά Δευτέρα
The Monday that opens Great Lent, kept with fasting, forgiveness and kite-flyingSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇫🇮 Finland and 5 moreMolybdomancy
Pouring molten lead or tin into water, then reading the shape as an omenFolklore
🇷🇺 RussiaScarlet SailsАлые паруса
A summer graduation celebration on the Neva River in Saint PetersburgFestival
🇪🇸 Valencia, SpainWater Tribunal of the plain of ValenciaTribunal de les Aigües de la Vega de València
A weekly outdoor gathering of Valencian farmers settling irrigation disputes by word of mouthCeremony
🇨🇿 Czechia and 2 moreEaster whippingpomlázka
An Easter Monday custom of tapping women with braided willow switches for vitalitySeasonal
🇬🇧 Edinburgh, United Kingdom and 2 moreRoyal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
An annual military music and performance show held on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in August.Performance
🇳🇴 Oslo, NorwayRussefeiring
A spring graduation rite of passage for Norwegian secondary school studentsRite of passage
🇷🇴 RomaniaDragobete
A Romanian festival of young love and spring, celebrated with early flowers and courtshipFestival
🇱🇻 Riga, Latvia and 4 moreJāņi
An annual Latvian summer solstice celebration of bonfires, singing and woven wreathsFestival
🇦🇹 Austria and 4 moreAlmabtrieb
An Alpine autumn custom of leading decorated cattle from high pastures to valley barnsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇸🇮 Slovenia and 1 morePrešeren DayPrešernov dan
A national celebration of arts and literature observed across Slovenia on 8 FebruaryCeremony
🇪🇸 Barcelona, SpainLa Mercè
Barcelona’s main annual city festival, honoring the Virgin of Mercy each September.Festival
🇩🇪 Cologne, GermanyCologne CarnivalKölner Karneval
A street festival in Cologne with parades, masquerades and a ruling trioFestival
🇨🇭 Zurich, SwitzerlandSechseläutenSächsilüüte
Zurich's spring festival marked by guild parades and the burning of a snowman effigySeasonal
🇪🇸 Seville, SpainHoly Week in SpainSemana Santa
Annual Catholic penitential processions across Spain featuring floats, robes and music to mark the Passion of Christ.Spiritual
🇬🇷 Athens, Greece and 1 moreCelebration of the Greek RevolutionΕορτασμός της Ελληνικής Επανάστασης του 1821
An annual civic holiday of parades and church services marking Greek independenceCeremony
🇪🇸 Pamplona, Spain and 5 moreProcessional giants
Towering costumed figures carried through town streets during communal festivalsFestival
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreMummers' play
A comic folk drama of staged combat, death, and revival by an eccentric doctorPerformance
🇨🇭 Vevey, SwitzerlandFête des Vignerons
A once-in-a-generation wine festival and arena spectacle in Vevey, SwitzerlandFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇲🇰 Galičnik, North MacedoniaGaličnik Wedding FestivalГаличка свадба
An annual village wedding festival celebrated every July in North MacedoniaFestival
🇪🇸 Barcelona, Spain and 2 moreDiada de Sant Jordi
A Catalan feast day of literature and love, marked by giving books and red rosesFestival
🇦🇱 Elbasan, Albania and 3 moreDita e Verës
An Albanian spring festival of bonfires, sweets and nature renewal on March 14Seasonal
🇸🇪 SwedenJul
A midwinter holiday of feast tables, doorstep gift givers, and candlelit morningsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreHandfastingceangal na lámh (Irish); pòsadh-bliadhna (Scottish Gaelic)
A couple's promise made with joined or bound hands, kept from betrothal to weddingRite of passage
🇬🇧 United KingdomSwan Upping
An annual five-day royal census and health check of swans along the River ThamesCeremony
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreRéveillon
A luxurious late-night feast that stretches until dawn across the winter holidaysTable custom · Dinner
🇪🇸 Valencia, SpainCremà
The ceremonial burning of large artistic street monuments across the Valencian communityFestival
🇷🇴 RomaniaSorcova
Children tap people with a flowered twig on New Year's morning, wishing health and luckSeasonal
🇦🇱 Albania and 1 moreKanunKanû
Albanian customary law kept by word of mouth, centred on honour and the given wordEtiquette
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Egg rolling: White House/Lawrence Jackson, Public domain, source
- Kraków szopka: user:cancre, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Rosenmontag: Aymx, Public domain, source
- Dziady: Stanisław Bagieński, Public domain, source
- Fastelavn: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Jul: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Easter whipping: Chmee2, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Water Tribunal of the plain of Valencia: José Jordan, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo, source
- Saint David's Day: National Assembly for Wales, CC BY 2.0, source
- Risalamande: Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Scarlet Sails: Kora27, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Russefeiring: Unknown author, CC BY 2.0, source
- Burns supper: Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Prešeren Day: Franz von Kurz zum Thurn und Goldenstein, Public domain, source
- Celebration of the Greek Revolution: Stefanos Kofopoulos, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Christmas cracker: en:User:Cgros841, Public domain, source
- Sechseläuten: anonymous, Public domain, source
- Diada de Sant Jordi: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dita e Verës: Bibiomn, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cremà: Paula Ramírez Morant, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kanun: Lekë Dukagjini & Shtjefën Gjeçovi, Public domain, source
- Yule log: Pehr Arvid Säve (1811—1887), Public domain, source
- Twelfth Night: Hablot Knight Browne: scanned by Steven J Plunkett, Public domain, source
- Molybdomancy: Micha L. Rieser, Attribution, source
- Handfasting: Sander van der Wel, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ride of the Kings: Filipzverina, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sinjska Alka: L. Carević, CC0, source
- Processional giants: Jesús Serna, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Sorcova: The original uploader was Alex:D at Romanian Wikipedia ., Public domain, source
- Swan Upping: Philip Allfrey, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Holy Week in Spain: Rodelar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Fête des Vignerons: "Groupement des photographes officiels" / Fête des vignerons Vevey / S, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Festivity of Saint Blaise: August Dominus, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cologne Carnival: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Almabtrieb: Feel free to use my photos, but please mention me as the author and if, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jāņi: Heinrihsons, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Galičnik Wedding Festival: IvanaKrstik, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Koliada: Konstantin Trutovsky, Public domain, source
- Anthesteria: Unknown artist, Public domain, source
- La Mercè: larry&flo, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Clean Monday: Перов, Public domain, source
- Mummers' play: Aladjov, CC BY 3.0, source
- Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo: xlibber, CC BY 2.0, source
- Didukh: Bo&Ko, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Midnight Mass: Atleett, CC0, source