The spice calendar
128 harvests, festivals, feasts and fasts of the year, with the spices each one calls for. Dates are worked out afresh every day; those marked "about" follow the moon or local calendars and can shift by a day.
Sponsored ClearTrust ClearTrust measures traffic quality for the advertising industry and publishes free guides like this one.
October 2026
about 15 Oct to 11 Feb 2027Zanzibar clove harvestFrom July to December, Pemba and Unguja pick the flower buds of the clove tree, climbing tall trees by hand.
about 20 Oct to 8 Nov 2026Saffron harvest in KashmirIn late October, the purple crocus fields of Pampore are picked at dawn and the red stigmas are plucked by hand.
about 30 Oct to 1 Nov 2026Taliouine saffron festivalIn the Anti-Atlas, the crocus harvest and its three-day festival, with crocus picked at dawn and saffron tea.
about 31 Oct to 1 Nov 2026Fiesta de la Rosa del AzafranIn La Mancha, the saffron rose festival of Consuegra, with contests of peeling the flower and windmills as the backdrop.
about 31 Oct to 1 Nov 2026Espelette pepper festivalThe Basque village's late October fete, with strings of red peppers on house walls and the AOP chilli on every plate.
January 2027
13 Jan 2027LohriThe Punjabi winter bonfire night, with sesame, peanuts and gajak, and sarson da saag seasoned with ginger and garlic.
14 to 17 Jan 2027PongalThe Tamil harvest festival, with rice boiled over in a new pot and flavoured with cardamom, pepper and cashews.
about 14 to 15 Jan 2027Makar Sankranti and sesame sweetsThe winter-sun festival, shared with til ladoo, with the saying to speak sweetly as sesame and jaggery are sweet.
14 to 15 Jan 2027Bhogali BihuThe Assamese feast of the winter harvest, held in field huts around fires with sesame sweets and spiced meat.April 2027
May 2027
about 1 May to 29 Jul 2027Madagascar vanilla harvestIn the SAVA region, orchids are pollinated by hand and the pods picked after nine months, then cured for weeks.
about 15 May to 12 Aug 2027Sri Lanka cinnamon harvestIn the rains, cinnamon peelers scrape and roll the inner bark of cut stems into the quills of Ceylon cinnamon.
about 15 May to 13 Jul 2027Sarawak pepper harvestIn Sarawak, pepper is picked in the dry months and dried or soaked to white pepper for the world's kitchens.September 2027
about 4 to 5 Sept 2027Hatch Chile FestivalThe Labor Day weekend harvest festival of New Mexico, with chilli roasting in drums and green chile on everything.
about 24 to 26 Sept 2027Hungarian paprika harvest daysIn Kalocsa and Szeged, September brings the paprika harvest, with strings of red pods and goulash cooked in kettles.Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Clove: Bayu Nugroho, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cinnamon: Luc Viatour, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vanilla: Malcolm Manners, CC BY 2.0, source
- Espelette pepper: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Black pepper: David Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Saffron: Hubertl, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pongal Harvest: Saral Shots, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Makar Sankranti Til: Saloni Desai, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Lohri: Karen Sandhu, CC BY 2.0, source
- Baisakhi Vaisakhi: Michael Clark, CC BY 2.0, source
- Bohag Bihu: Diganta Talukdar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bhogali Bihu: Diganta Talukdar, CC BY 2.0, source
- Taliouine Saffron Festival: Hydroxy, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Hatch Chile Festival: AllenS, Public domain, source