Sunday traditions
The day of rest and the long family table, from church and the Sunday roast to the evening paseo.
Sunday around the world
For much of the world Sunday is the day when ordinary work stops and the family meets. For Christians it is the Lord's Day, the weekly remembrance of the resurrection, and the day for church, hymns and wearing one's best clothes. Around that centre have grown many food and social customs. In Britain and Ireland the main meal is the Sunday roast, and in Argentina and Uruguay it is the family asado. In Italian-American homes a pot of tomato sauce simmers from the morning, and in Spain and Latin America, townsfolk dress up for the evening paseo around the plaza. Sunday schools teach children, shops in many countries close, and in Hindu practice Sunday is dedicated to Surya, the sun, with some devotees fasting and offering water at sunrise.
Customs of Sunday
- Sunday roast 🇬🇧🇮🇪🇦🇺🇳🇿: A roast joint with potatoes, vegetables, gravy and Yorkshire pudding at the family table.
- Lord's Day 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇧🇷🇳🇬🇵🇭: The Christian weekly day of worship, rest and remembrance of the resurrection.
- Asado 🇦🇷🇺🇾🇨🇱🇵🇾: The long Sunday barbecue, with the parrilla tended by one person while family gathers.
- Paseo 🇪🇸🇲🇽🇨🇴🇵🇪🇮🇹: The dressed-up evening stroll around the plaza, a social ritual of town life.
- Sunday gravy 🇺🇸: The slow-cooked tomato sauce with meat of Italian-American Sunday lunches.
- Sunday school 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇰🇪🇳🇬: The weekly children's lessons in a church, begun in eighteenth-century England.
- Surya 🇮🇳🇳🇵: The sun god, honoured on Sundays with water offerings at dawn and, for some, a fast.
On EveryParampara
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Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Vasaloppet: Vasaloppet/Nisse Schmidt, CC BY 3.0, source
- Tinikling: U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Nestor Cruz, Public domain, source
- Mother's Day: Dave Parker, CC BY 2.0, source
- Advent wreath: Burkhard Mücke, CC BY 4.0, source
- Second line: Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sinjska Alka: L. Carević, CC0, source
- Fastelavn: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Sinulog Festival: Herbert Kikoy, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Chienbäse: Christof Berger, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Melon Day: AltynAsyr, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ati-Atihan: Bernardo "Berniemack" Arellano III, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Akwasidae Festival: Nkansahrexford, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Buergbrennen: luxpim, CC BY 2.0, source
- Palm Sunday: Pietro Lorenzetti, Public domain, source
- Easter parade: Meister der Palastkapelle in Palermo, Public domain, source
- Dinagyang Festival: Bernardo 'Berniemack' Arellano III, CC BY 3.0, source
- MassKara Festival: Ceslou, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ducasse de Mons: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Super Bowl: John Tornow, CC BY 2.0, source
- Advent: Jonathunder, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Asado: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Lord's Day: Globetrotter19, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sabantuy: Якупов Рамиль, CC BY 3.0, source
