Clothing plays a significant traditional role for the Maidu people. For important ceremonies, a headdress made of flicker (a type of woodpecker) feathers is worn. These highly decorated headdresses are important cultural artifacts of the Maidu and are worn by men during traditional dances and religious ceremonies. To accompany the dances and festivals, the Maidu use whistles, flutes, and ceremonial rattles called wasóso.

Women wear adornments made out of items such as porcupine quills and leather tassels, as well as a headband of beads. The Maidu also practice tattooing. This usually consists of lines tattooed on the arms and chests of men and on the chins of women.

Storytelling is central to many Maidu traditions. Myths and creation stories are passed down orally from one generation to the next and told at important events and festivals as a way of keeping intact the oral tradition of the Maidu people. These stories usually come from the animist tradition and worldview of the Maidu, in which spirits live all over the place with particular homes that may be in rocks, trees, streams, or other natural objects.

Here are three traditions from traditional Maidu culture:

1. Girls' adolescence ceremony.  This consisted of various rituals being performed on the girl who was being honored.  In addition it included five nights of singing, sometimes including dancing.
2. The "Mourning Anniversary."  Something like a Memorial Day-type observance in which the dead were honored.  This took place every year in the early Fall.
3. First salmon celebration.  This marked the beginning of the fishing season but consisted only of the first salmon caught being cooked by a shaman and its flesh distributed among the people.