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EveryTradition

Live, Monday, 5 October 2026

Today around the world

What is being celebrated right now: the days under way, the holidays on this date in history, who is sitting down to breakfast, lunch or dinner, and one tradition to get to know.

Right nowMonday 5 October

Around the world

  • Breakfast in 🇦🇹 Vienna, 🇹🇲 Ashgabat, 🇿🇼 Harare: Koulourakia
  • Lunch in 🇹🇱 Dili, 🇹🇼 Taipei, 🇭🇰 Hong Kong: Siesta
  • Tea-time and snacking customs in 🇦🇺 Canberra, 🇰🇮 South Tarawa, 🇹🇻 Funafuti: Bánh mì
  • Supper in 🇳🇮 Managua, 🇭🇳 Tegucigalpa, 🇧🇿 Belmopan: Pho

On the calendar today

The year ahead
about 20 Sept to 19 Oct 2026, Secular and civic

Rtveli

Rtveli is the grape harvest of Georgia, centred on the eastern region of Kakheti and lasting from the second half of September into October. Families and villages come together, often with relatives from the city who return to help, to pick the grapes by hand. The grapes are crushed in a wooden trough, the satsnakheli, and the juice, skins, stalks and pips are poured into a qvevri, a large clay jar buried in the ground, in which the wine ferments and ages. Georgian winemaking in qvevri, which is about 8,000 years old, was inscribed by UNESCO. Harvest days end with a supra, at which the winemakers' songs, chacha spirit and fresh churchkhela are served and toasts are drunk to the vines. The dates shown are approximate.

Also part of it, and being written: Qvevri (The buried clay wine jar.), Kakheti (The wine region.), Georgian wine (The ancient wine tradition.).

1 to 7 Oct 2026, Secular and civic

National Day of China

On 1 October 1949, the founding of the People's Republic of China was proclaimed in Tiananmen Square, and the day is marked by a flag-raising ceremony there at dawn that draws crowds. Large parades are held on major anniversaries. The day starts the seven-day Golden Week holiday, in which hundreds of millions of people travel to visit family and sights, and railways, airports and attractions are crowded. Cities decorate their streets with flags and flower arrangements, and parks put up themed displays. In Hong Kong and Macao the day includes fireworks, and in Taiwan the corresponding holiday is the Double Ten on 10 October. Because it falls near the Mid-Autumn Festival in some years, the celebrations overlap.

Golden WeekThe holiday week.
about 1 to 7 Oct 2026, Indigenous and traditional

Odwira

The Odwira festival is held each autumn by the Akan people, especially in Akropong-Akuapem, where it is a ten-day celebration of the harvest, of cleansing and of unity. The name comes from the word for purification. At the heart of the festival, the stools of the ancestors, the symbol of a chief's authority, are cleaned and blessed by priests. The people enjoy the first fruits, particularly new yam, and a ritual feeding of the ancestors. A durbar is held, in which chiefs in kente cloth and gold ornaments arrive in procession, with the sound of the horns, drums and the firing of muskets, and are carried in palanquins under large umbrellas. People wear mourning cloth at the start and bright cloth for the end. The dates differ by town.

Also part of it, and being written: Akan people (The people of the festival.), Stool (The sacred seat of authority.), Akropong (The town of the main festival.).

Holidays on this date

From Wikimedia's list of holidays and observances, which each link opens.

It is Monday

The first working day, and for many a day of Shiva, of fasting, of laundry and of leftovers.

Monday traditions

Tradition of the day

Earlier days
Monday, 5 October 2026PolonaiseThe polonaise is a walking dance from Poland, performed in three-quarter time. It remains a living tradition where couples open formal gatherings, student balls, and national celebrations. In 2023, the community secured UNESCO recognition for its role in fostering cooperation and equality.Read about Polonaise

Coming up in the next six weeks

In 3 days, 8 Oct 2026MehreganThe ancient autumn festival of Mithra: harvest, friendship and love, kept by Zoroastrians and in Persian culture. In 4 days, 9 Oct 2026Hangul DayThe proclamation of the Korean alphabet by King Sejong in 1446, with calligraphy shows and ceremonies in Seoul. In 5 days, 10 to 18 Oct 2026BathukammaTelangana's flower festival: women stack seasonal flowers into a cone and sing around it for nine evenings. In 5 days, about 10 Oct 2026Pchum BenCambodia's fifteen days for the ancestors, ending with offerings of rice balls and food at the temple at dawn. In 5 days, 10 Oct 2026Double Ten DayThe national day of Taiwan: a flag ceremony and speech in front of the Presidential Office, fireworks and cultural shows. In 5 days, 10 to 11 Oct 2026TbilisobaTbilisi's autumn festival of wine, bread, churchkhela and song, held every October in the old town. In 5 days, 10 Oct 2026Fiji DayIndependence from Britain in 1970, with a flag-raising, yaqona welcome ceremony and village celebrations. In 6 days, 11 to 19 Oct 2026NavratriNine nights for the goddess: fasting by day, and Garba and Dandiya dancing by night in Gujarat. In 6 days, 11 to 25 Oct 2026DashainNepal's longest and biggest festival: jamara barley shoots, a family tika from elders, kites and swings. In 6 days, 11 Oct 2026White SundayLotu a Tamaiti: children in white lead the church service, recite verses and are given the first of the feast. In 7 days, 12 Oct 2026Thanksgiving in CanadaThe second Monday of October: a harvest dinner at the peak of autumn colour. In 10 days, about 15 Oct to 28 Nov 2026Olive Harvest in the LevantFamilies gather under ancient trees in October and November to pick, press and share the year's oil. In 12 days, 17 to 20 Oct 2026Durga PujaBengal's great autumn festival: pandals, clay goddesses, drums, and the community on the streets for four days. In 13 days, 18 Oct 2026Double Ninth FestivalClimbing a hill, drinking chrysanthemum tea and honouring the elderly on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. In 15 days, 20 Oct 2026DussehraThe tenth day after Navratri, when the triumph of good over evil is marked with effigies, processions and new beginnings. In 17 days, 22 to 23 Oct 2026Abu Simbel Sun FestivalTwice a year the dawn sun slips down the temple corridor and lights the statues of Ramesses II in the sanctuary. In 20 days, about 25 to 31 Oct 2026Festival KreolA week of Creole music, food, dress and language in Seychelles at the end of October. In 21 days, about 26 Oct 2026Ok PhansaThe end of the Buddhist rains retreat: monks leave their three-month stay, and people offer new robes and light lanterns. In 23 days, 28 Oct 2026Oxi DayGreece's "No" day: school and military parades, blue and white flags, and the memory of 1940. In 24 days, 29 Oct 2026Karva ChauthA day of fasting kept by married women for their husbands, ended at moonrise through a sieve. In 24 days, 29 Oct 2026Republic Day of TurkeyThe proclamation of the republic in 1923, with flags on every building and wreaths at Atatürk's mausoleum. In 26 days, 31 Oct to 1 Nov 2026Samhain and HalloweenThe night of 31 October: turnip lanterns, costumes, bonfires and barmbrack with a ring baked in. In 26 days, 31 Oct 2026Halloween in North AmericaCostumes, carved pumpkins, trick-or-treating and haunted houses on 31 October. In 27 days, 1 to 2 Nov 2026All Saints and All SoulsCemeteries glow with candles and chrysanthemums as families remember the dead on 1 and 2 November. In 27 days, 1 to 2 Nov 2026Day of the DeadDia de Muertos: altars with marigolds, sugar skulls and pan de muerto welcome the dead home for a night. In 29 days, 3 Nov 2026Melbourne Cup DayThe race that stops a nation: hats and fascinators, sweepstakes at work and a public holiday in Melbourne. In 31 days, 5 Nov 2026Bonfire NightGuy Fawkes Night: bonfires, fireworks, sparklers, and toffee apples on 5 November. In 32 days, 6 Nov 2026DhanterasThe first day of Diwali: buying a new utensil or a little gold for good fortune, and lighting a lamp for Yama. In 32 days, 6 to 10 Nov 2026TiharNepal's festival of lights, in which crows, dogs, cows and oxen are each honoured in turn before the Bhai Tika. In 33 days, 7 Nov 2026HogbetsotsoThe Ewe festival of the exodus from Notsie, with a durbar of chiefs, drums, and the symbolic casting-out of bad. In 34 days, 8 to 12 Nov 2026DiwaliThe festival of lights: lamps in every window, new clothes, sweets, and a prayer to Lakshmi for the year ahead. In 34 days, 8 Nov 2026Tihar and Bandi Chhor DivasThe Sikh day of liberation: lamps at the Golden Temple, to remember Guru Hargobind and the release of the 52 princes. In 35 days, 9 Nov 2026SigdThe Ethiopian Jewish festival of the covenant: fasting, prayer on a hilltop and the reading of the Torah. In 37 days, 11 Nov 2026Bhai DoojThe last day of Diwali, when sisters bless their brothers with a tilak and a meal, and receive a gift. In 37 days, 11 Nov 2026Remembrance DayThe poppy, a two-minute silence at 11 a.m. and the Last Post, remembering the dead of war. In 37 days, 11 Nov 2026St Martin's DayLantern processions of children, goose dinners and the first taste of the year's new wine. In 39 days, 13 to 16 Nov 2026Chhath PujaA four-day offering to the sun god, with devotees standing in rivers at dusk and dawn, kept in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. In 41 days, about 15 to 24 Nov 2026Pushkar Camel FairA Rajasthan desert fair of camels, horses, folk music and a holy dip in the lake on the full moon of Kartik. In 41 days, 15 Nov 2026Shichi-Go-SanChildren of three, five and seven are dressed in kimono or hakama and taken to the shrine for blessings, with long candy. In 45 days, 19 Nov 2026Beaujolais Nouveau DayThe third Thursday of November: the year's first Gamay is released at midnight and drunk young, in France and across the world.

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The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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Every week: one tradition from somewhere new, what is being celebrated around the world this week, and one idea explained.