Festivals: practices that mark them
Samhain, Nowruz fire, Day of the Dead, Walpurgis night and the other days of the magic calendar.
Festivals are the days when a community performs its magic in public. Samhain and Halloween, Walpurgis night, Midsummer, Beltane, Day of the Dead, Nowruz fire-jumping, Diwali, Chinese Ghost Festival, Obon in Japan, Songkran, Carnival and the Burning Man gathering all combine religion, play and custom. This page asks what they do for communities and how they have changed. Many of them are tied to the moon or the sun, and they set the shared calendar of a village or a nation.
Fire, the dead and the season
Festivals cluster around turning points of the year. Fire is common: bonfires on Midsummer in Europe, Chaharshanbe Suri in Iran, Holika in India. The dead return in many: Samhain in Ireland, Obon in Japan, the Day of the Dead in Mexico, the Hungry Ghost Festival in China. In each, offerings of food, light and welcome are set out. Many involve masks, drums, processions and a shared meal, so that rites for protection and fertility become collective events open to the whole village.
Order and inversion
Many festivals allow a licensed breach of the rules. Carnival turns social order upside down, and masquerades in West Africa, such as Egungun among the Yoruba, bring ancestors to the village in cloth. Anthropologists see this as a way to renew order. Some, such as Holi, blur class lines for a day, though real divisions often persist. Within each festival there is usually a night when the dead or the spirits are thought to be close, and a day of celebration after it.
Church and state
Authorities have banned, absorbed and taxed festivals. The Church placed All Saints on the first of November and recast older rites. Puritan England banned Christmas for a time. Communist states discouraged ancestor and spirit festivals, while modern governments often list them as cultural heritage and promote them for tourism. Mexico's Day of the Dead was inscribed by UNESCO in 2008. Many are marked by a day of rest, a shared meal and the lighting of lamps or fires, and children often take a lively role.
Spectacle and respect
Large festivals bring crowds, risk and commerce. Halloween is now a global market, and parts of the Day of the Dead have been staged for visitors and film. Communities often ask guests to behave as guests, especially at rites for the dead or at sacred sites. Safety around fire, crowds and costume deserves care. Anthropologists observe that festivals teach each new generation what the community values, and that changes in a festival often show changes in the community.
Festivals on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreBonfire
A large outdoor fire used in seasonal festivals and religious feasts across many culturesRite · Cleansing and purification · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreLouisiana Voodoo
An African diasporic religion practiced in Louisiana from the 18th to early 20th centuriesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical
🇮🇸 Iceland and 1 moreHidden-folkhuldufólk
Supernatural beings in Nordic folklore who live in a parallel world within the landscape.Being · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇸🇪 Sweden and 5 moreMidsummerJāņi; Joninės; Jaanipäev; Enyovden; Litha; Juhannus
A summer solstice festival marked by bonfires, maypole dancing, and feasting across Europe.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 3 moreYemọjaYemoja
A mother spirit of rivers and oceans worshipped across Yoruba and diaspora traditionsBeing · Protection · Healing Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreVotive offering
Objects left in sacred places to honor a deity or fulfill a vow, never to be recovered.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreMay Day
A European spring festival marking the start of summer with flowers, poles and fire.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreYule log
A large wooden log burned in the hearth during winter festivals across Europe and North America.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇬🇪 Georgia and 2 moreGeorgian mythologyქართული მითოლოგია
The pre-Christian beliefs of the Kartvelian peoples in the South CaucasusTradition · Protection · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 1 moreUkrainian folklore
The folk traditions of Ukraine and its ethnic communitiesTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreSoul cake
A spiced cake given to soulers during Allhallowtide to remember the dead.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreTrick-or-treating
A Halloween custom where costumed visitors ask for treats from homesTradition · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreBrigid's crossCros Bhríde
A woven straw charm hung for protection, named after Ireland's patron saintCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreWinter solstice
The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked by rites of solar returnTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Living
🇵🇪 Peru and 1 moreQuyllurit'iQoyllur Rit'i
A syncretic Andean pilgrimage celebrating the Pleiades and the Lord of Star SnowTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇫🇷 France and 4 moreRéveillon
A long Christmas or New Year's Eve dinner held to stay awake until morningTradition · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇦🇷 Argentina and 2 moreSan La Muerte
A skeletal folk saint venerated in South America for protection and favorsTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇬🇹 Guatemala and 3 moreMaya religion
The living spiritual practices of the Maya peoples, shaped by centuries of contact with Catholicism.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 7 moreSaint Andrew's Day
A Christian feast day marked by national holidays in Scotland and Romania, and folk divination across Europe.Rite · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇲🇽 MexicoCalavera
A sugar or clay skull used in Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations.Charm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇪 IrelandEarly Irish astrology
The study of celestial cycles in early Ireland, blending native observation with Christian and continental learning.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreEaster Bunny
A German folkloric hare that judges children and delivers colored eggs for EasterBeing · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇭🇹 HaitiHaitian CarnivalKanaval
A major Caribbean festival of music, dance, and satire leading to Mardi Gras in HaitiTradition · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Yule log: Pehr Arvid Säve (1811—1887), Public domain, source
- Maya mythology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Louisiana Voodoo: I cropped, original authors are Ridpath, John Clark, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hidden-folk: Schorle, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Midsummer: Kora27, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yemọja: Samuel Tobbytex007, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Georgian mythology: Mostafameraji, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Folk saint: Sergio Serrano, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ukrainian folklore: U.S. Army Europe Images, CC BY 2.0, source
- Soul cake: Samantha, CC BY 2.0, source
- Trick-or-treating: Toyah Anette B, Public domain, source
- Imbolc: Culnacreann, CC BY 3.0, source
- Winter solstice: Image by Przemyslaw " Blueshade " Idzkiewicz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Quyllurit'i: AgainErick, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Easter Bunny: Dr. Bernd Gross, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Haitian Carnival: User:Doron, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Saint Andrew's Day: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
- Calavera: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Votive offering: Walter J. Pilsak, Waldsassen ( W.J.Pilsak at de.wikipedia ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- May Day: Bryan Ledgard, CC BY 2.0, source
- Bonfire: S Marshall, CC BY 3.0, source