All traditions
2,350 traditions so far, best known first. 12,186 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
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreAnand Karajਅਨੰਦ ਕਾਰਜ
The Sikh wedding ceremony, with hymns sung as the couple circles the Guru Granth SahibRite of passage
🇮🇳 IndiaIndian wedding invitationनिमन्त्रण पत्र/पत्रिका
Decorative ceremonial cards sent to announce marriages and invite guests across IndiaRite of passage
🇨🇳 Luoyang, ChinaRuqun襦裙
A short jacket over a long skirt: the oldest shape of Han Chinese dressDress
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreRed Thread of Fate姻緣紅線
An East Asian belief in an invisible cord binding two people destined for marriageFolklore
🇬🇧 United KingdomLincolnshire Day
An annual county day on 1 October honouring the history and culture of LincolnshireCeremony
🇯🇵 Kagoshima, JapanSatsuma kiriko薩摩切子
Cut glass from Kagoshima: coloured glass laid over clear, then cut deepCraft
🇬🇧 Sheffield, United KingdomOld Tup
A midwinter folk drama with a ram disguise from the English East MidlandsFolklore
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreSelkieselkie fowk
The seal shapeshifters of Scottish and northern island folkloreFolklore
🇬🇧 United KingdomBaobhan sithBaobh-shìth
A beautiful fairy of Highland tales who dances with hunters and kills themFolklore
🇨🇲 Bafoussam, CameroonNyang Nyang FestivalNyan-Nyang
A four-month Bamileke harvest festival and initiation rite in western CameroonFestival
🇬🇧 East Kilbride, United KingdomKate Dalrymple
A traditional Scottish reel and comic Scots song about a muirland spinsterPerformance
🇬🇧 United KingdomWooing Play
A folk performance of farm labourers in the East Midlands, featuring a sieve horse.Performance
🇯🇲 Kingston, JamaicaJamaica Independence Festival
An August festival of music, pageantry and parades marking Jamaican freedomCeremony
🇲🇹 MaltaFestival Kanzunetta IndipendenzaKonkors Kanzunetta Indipendenza
An annual music contest in Malta celebrating native songwriting around Independence DayPerformance
🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi, United Arab EmiratesSheikh Zayed Festivalمهرجان الشيخ زايد
An annual cultural and heritage festival held in Al Wathba, Abu DhabiFestival
🇷🇺 Mstyora, RussiaMstyora miniatureМстёрская миниатюра
Tempera miniature painting on lacquered papier-mâché, made in Mstyora, RussiaCraft
🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreSack Man
A widespread folklore figure who carries a sack to take away disobedient childrenFolklore
🇮🇷 Iran and 1 moreEidiyahعيدية
The holiday custom of presenting cash and gifts to children and relativesFestival
🇷🇺 RussiaConfession
Saying one's wrongs aloud, to God, to a religious figure or before a congregationSpiritual
🇨🇳 Beijing, ChinaZangfu臟腑 (simplified 脏腑; zàngfǔ)
A Chinese medicine view of organs as networks of qi, blood and five phasesFolklore
🇨🇳 Ziyang, China and 1 moreThree Corpses三尸
A Daoist belief in three inner parasites that cause illness and cut life shortFolklore
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreMianfu冕服
The most formal dress of China's emperors, worn at coronations and court ritesDress
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreChinese patchwork
A needlework craft joining fabric scraps into protective clothing, quilts and folk artCraft
🇨🇳 ChinaXifu戏服
The stage dress of Chinese opera, its colour and pattern telling rank, sex and characterDress
🇬🇧 Glasgow, United KingdomHebridean mythology and folklore
A collection of legends from the Scottish islands about water spirits, fairies, and sea monsters.Folklore
🇦🇲 ArmeniaAgra HadigԱգրա Հադիգ
An Armenian ceremony for a baby's first tooth, featuring symbolic items and wheat.Rite of passage
🇧🇪 BelgiumMarches of Entre-Sambre-et-MeuseMarches de l'Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse
Folk processions with armed escorts in Belgian villages, kept from May to OctoberSpiritual · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreKynodesmeκυνοδέσμη
A cord ancient Greek athletes tied around the foreskin to stay modest in public.Dress
🇨🇭 Zurich, SwitzerlandNeujahrsmarathon Zürich
A marathon that starts at the first second of the new year, near ZurichGame
🇮🇳 IndiaMeitei marriageLuhongba (ꯂꯨꯍꯣꯡꯕ)
A sacred union of hearts and souls, marked by clan agreements, ritual steps, and a feast.Rite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇱🇹 Vilnius, Lithuania and 1 moreParish festivalatlaidai (Lithuanian); odpust parafialny (Polish)
One Catholic parish's yearly feast for its patron saint, kept in Lithuania and PolandSpiritual
🇺🇦 Kolomyia, Ukraine and 4 moreKolomyikaКоломийка
A quick Hutsul dance-song of comic rhymed verses, danced at weddings and holidaysPerformance
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreSaber arch
A wedding custom where sabers form an arch for the couple to walk through.Rite of passage
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreWedding dress
The dress a bride wears at her wedding, white in the West and often red in the EastDress
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreBridesmaid
The companions and attendants who support a bride during a weddingRite of passage
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreIslamic marital practices
Islamic wedding customs, from matchmaking and mahr to the nikah contract and walima feast.Rite of passage
🇪🇸 SpainGragerגראַגער (grager)
A noisemaker used by Jewish communities to drown out the name of Haman during Purim readings.Festival
🇺🇸 United StatesPre-Cana
Meetings and courses Catholic couples take before a wedding, often called Pre-CanaRite of passage
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreArab weddingزفاف or عرس
A series of ceremonies marking marriage in Arab culture, blending religious rites with regional customs.Rite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 5 moreThawbثَوْب (thawb)
A long robe for men in the Arab world, with a different name in each regionDress
🇻🇺 Pentecost Island, VanuatuGrade-taking
A social system in northern Vanuatu where men and women gain status through ceremonial pig sacrifices.Ceremony
🇲🇬 Antananarivo, MadagascarSavika
Traditional Betsileo zebu wrestling and courtship rite in MadagascarGame
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreRespite SanctuarySanctuaire à répit
A historical Catholic custom of seeking brief revival to baptise stillborn infantsSpiritual
🇮🇱 Meron, Israel and 1 moreUpsherinאָפּשערן
A boy's first haircut at three, the day his Jewish learning beginsRite of passage · Sweets given and shared
🇮🇱 IsraelEve of Passover on Shabbatערב פסח
Special Jewish calendar customs when the eve of Passover coincides with the SabbathSeasonal · Dinner
🇺🇸 San Antonio, United States and 2 moreYardnaࡉࡀࡓࡃࡍࡀ (iardna)
The flowing fresh water Mandaeans use for baptism, wherever a river runsSpiritual
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreCorpse road
Historical paths used to carry the dead to parish burial grounds across Britain and Ireland.Rite of passage
🇯🇵 JapanKamifūsen紙風船
Japanese paper balloons enjoyed as self-inflating toys, gifts and festival lanternsGame
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Kamifūsen: アルトクール, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Neujahrsmarathon Zürich: SPORTliCH, Public domain, source
- Parish festival: Danuta Cholewa / Regionalny Instytut Kultury w Katowicach, CC BY 4.0, source
- Kynodesme: Popinozzi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Confession: Pontificake at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, source
- Zajal: 13th century artist, Public domain, source
- Zangfu: Foristslow, CC BY 4.0, source
- Anand Karaj: Ashish 100, CC BY 2.0, source
- Indian wedding invitation: Onef9day, CC BY 3.0, source
- Satsuma kiriko: Dime Gontar, CC BY 2.0, source
- Old Tup: Doyle of London, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Selkie: Carolyn Emerick, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mstyora miniature: Bin im Garten, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sack Man: Ponscor, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Three Corpses: Michał Boym, Public domain, source
- Mianfu: Unknown photographer, Public domain, source
- Chinese patchwork: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Xifu: Walter Lim, CC BY 2.0, source
- Marches of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse: Hoebele, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kolomyika: Teodor Axentowicz, Public domain, source
- Wedding dress: Statens historiska museer, CC BY 2.5, source
- Saber arch: Rabe100, Public domain, source
- Islamic marital practices: Saddam19, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bridesmaid: Photographer not credited; relative or work for hire of relative., CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pre-Cana: Jebulon, CC0, source
- Savika: Obiniaina RANDRIANADRASANA, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Respite Sanctuary: Atelier Roussel à Beauvais 1878, Public domain, source
- Upsherin: Vered Peer, CC BY 4.0, source
- Corpse road: Mick Garratt, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Nyang Nyang Festival: Zacharie Ngnogue, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Eidiyah: Rahbar Emamdadi, CC BY 4.0, source
- Agra Hadig: Աբգարյան Անի, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Grager: https://www.flickr.com/people/69061470@N05, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Eve of Passover on Shabbat: בעלת הזכויות - טלי אמתי, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ruqun: Anonymous Han Dynasty artist, Public domain, source
- Hebridean mythology and folklore: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Meitei marriage: Dabu Leichombam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Thawb: Mary Paulose, CC BY 2.0, source
- Yardna: Bill Rice, CC BY 2.0, source