Festivals of India

Indian Festivals

India is well known all over the world as a country of cultural and traditional festivals as it has many cultures and religions. One can enjoy the festival celebration in India every month. As it is a secular country full of diversity in the religions, languages, cultures and castes, it is always crowded with the people involved in the fairs and festivals celebration. People from each religion have their own cultural and traditional festivals.

Some of the festivals are celebrated by the people of all religions in the entire nation. Each and every festival is celebrated uniquely in different ways according to the rituals, beliefs and its significant history behind. Each festival has its own history, legend and significance of celebration. Indian origin people in the abroad also celebrate their cultural festival with the immense passion.

India is a country with example of unity in diversity as it contains people of various religions like Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Christian and etc. Some of the festivals are celebrated at national level whereas some of are at regional level. According to the religions and rituals, festivals have been categorized into following categories:

Hindu Festivals

There are lots of cultural and traditional festivals celebrated by the people of Hindu religion all over the world. Hinduism is considered as the oldest organized religion of the world as well as counted as the third largest religion of the world. Each Hindu festival celebration has a special ritual to be celebrated in that way by the act of worship, offerings to deities, offering Ganga Jal, fasting, bathing in Ganga jal in early morning, feasting, Dan, Dakshina, Puja, Katha, Hoom, aarti and so many. All the people of Hindu religion celebrate their festivals by uniting together in community without any distinction of age, caste and gender.

The dates of the Hindu festivals are fixed according to the dates of the Hindu calendar, lunar calendar which depends on the sun and moon movements throughout the year. Some of the festivals of Hindu are celebrated as the historical mythology, some for seasonal changes and some for cleaning and keeping the environment safe. Some of the festivals celebrations are limited to the specific sects or Indian subcontinent regions.

There are many believes in the Hinduism because of various historical sculptures (Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata and Ramayana), ancient and sacred religious text (Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda), Hindus deities and etc. The birth and death anniversaries of the god and goddess are also celebrated in the Hinduism with lots of fun and frolic activities such as music, dance and etc. Below is the list of all the Hindu festivals:

Festivals in 2019

 

Hindu Festivals Date – 2019
Lohri 13 January, Sunday
Makar Sankranti 14 January, Monday
Pongal 15 January (Tuesday) – 18 January (Friday)
Vasant Panchami 10 February, Sunday
Thaipusam 21 January, Monday
Maha Shivaratri 4th March, Monday
Holika Dahan 20 March, Wednesday
Holi 21 March, Thursday
Chaitra Navratri 6 April, Saturday to 14 April, Sunday
Ugadi/Telugu New Year 6 April, Saturday
Gangaur Festival 21 March, Thursday to 8 April, Monday
Mewar Festival 6 April, Saturday – 8 April Monday
Ram Navami 14 April, Sunday
Vishu Festival 15 April, Monday
Mahavir Jayanti 17 April, Wednesday
Hanuman Jayanti 19 April, Friday
Rath Yatra 4th July, Thursday
Guru Purnima 16 July, Tuesday
Onam 1 September Sunday to 13 September Friday
Raksha Bandhan 15 August, Thursday
Kumbh Mela 15 January, Tuesday to 4 March, Monday
Janmashtami 24 August, Saturday
Ramlila 29 September, Sunday to 8 October, Tuesday
Ganesh Chaturthi 2 September, Monday
Brahmotsavam 30 September,  Monday to 8 October, Tuesday
Pitr Paksh 13 September, Friday to 28 September, Saturday
Rambarat 17 September, Tuesday to 19 September, Thursday
Sharad Navratra 29 September, Sunday to 7 October, Monday
Dussehra 8 October, Tuesday
Maharishi Valmiki jayanti 13 October, Sunday
Karva Chauth 17 October, Thursday
Dev Uthani Ekadashi 8 November, Friday
Dhanteras 25 October, Friday
Diwali 27 October, Sunday
Govardhan Puja 28 October, Monday
Bhai Dooj 29 October, Tuesday
Chhath Puja 2 November, Saturday

Muslim Festivals

All the people of Muslim religion enthusiastically celebrate their all the Islamic festivals all over the world. There are many religious festivals which they celebrate with great passion and dedication by following the date of their Islamic calendar. Some of the very important Islam festivals are Ramzan (Ramadan), Id-e-Milad, Muharram, Bakr-Id and etc which they celebrate in special ways by offering prayers in the mosques, feasting, fasting and wishing to each other.

They decorate their homes with colored lights and other things in the evening and celebrate throughout the night by getting together. Some of the Islamic festivals have been declared as the public holiday in the educational institutions, government offices and other working place. Islam was founded by the spiritualist Muhammad around the 7th century which has become the 2nd largest religion worldwide. The Islam has five most significant Pillars such as “Shahadah (Faith), Salah (Prayer), Zakah (Donate), Sawm (Fasting) and Hajj (Pilgrimage)”. Below is the list of all Muslim festivals:

Muslim Festivals Date – 2019
Barawafat 10th November, Sunday and 15th November, Friday
Giaravahin Sharif 22 January, Tuesday
Hazarat Ali’s Birthday 21 March, Thursday
Shab E Miraj 12 April Friday to 13 April Saturday
Shab-e-Barat 20 April Saturday to 21 April Sunday
Jamat-Ul-Vida 30 May Thursday to 31 May Friday
Id-ul-Fitr (Ramzan Eid) 4 June Tuesday to 5 June Wednesday
Id-ul-Zuha (Bakrid or Eid Ul-Adha) 12 August, Monday
Muharram 10 September Tuesday

Sikh Festivals

As India is considered as the country of numerous religions, cultures and traditions that’s why it is known as having unity in diversity. People of Sikh religion have lots of unique and ritual festivals which they celebrate with full courage and enjoyment. They commemorate the lives of their 10 Sikh gurus including their teachings. Some Hindu festivals are also celebrated by the people of Sikh religion having different reasons of celebration.

All the worship at the festival in Sikhism is directed towards the holy book called “the Guru Granth Sahib” which was first compiled by the Sikh guru, Guru Nanak and later edited by the Sikh Guru, Arjan. The Guru Granth of the Sikh religion has the place of deity among people and taken out on a palanquin in the public processions while celebrating any Sikh festival. They involve lots of music and religious songs, readings from the holy book, holy songs, singing of gurbani while celebrating their festivals in order to attach with God. Below is the list of all Sikh festivals:

 

Sikh Festivals Date – 2019
Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti 13 January, Sunday
Lohri 13 January Sunday
Holla Mohalla 22 March Friday to 24 March Sunday
Sodal mela 12 September, Thursday
Guru Ramdass Ji Birthday 9 October, Wednesday
Guru Nanak Jayanti 12 November, Tuesday

Jain Festivals

People from Jain religion have lots of rituals and religious ceremonies to be celebrated as the festival. Their rituals belong to the idol worships in various ways and festivals belong to the life events of Tirthankara which involves the purification of the soul. Their rituals are divided in two parts named Karya and Kriya. According to the Jain Svetambara there are six obligatory duties called Six Avashyakas which are “Chaturvishnati-stava: praising Tirthankaras, Kayotsarga: meditation, Pratikramana: expiation of past sins, Pratyakhyana: renunciation of anything, Samyika: practising serenity and meditation and Vandan: respecting teachers and ascetics”.

According to the Jain Digambara there are six duties which are “Dana: charity, Devapuja: worship of Tirthankaras, Guru-upashti: respecting teachers and ascetics, Sanyam: controlling self by following different rules, Swadhyaya: studying spiritual texts and Tapa: austerities” which has been involved as a fundamental ritual activities of the Jains. Below is the list of all Jain festivals:

Jain Festivals  Date – 2019
Deep Diwali 12 November, Tuesday
Mahamastak Abhishek 17 February, Saturday to 25 February, Sunday
Mahavir Jayanti 17 April, Wednesday
Paryushan 27 August, Tuesday to 3 September, Tuesday

Christian Festivals

As India is a land of variety of cultures and ethnicity because of celebrating lots of colorful festivals by the people of different religions. People of the Christian religion celebrate their festivals like Christmas, Easter, Good Friday and etc with big enthusiasm and fun filled activities. People from other religions also become involve in the Christmas celebrations which proves the unity in diversity of India.

There are various famous places in India where the Christian festivals are celebrated such as Goa as most of the oldest and beautiful churches are there. They do feast, prayers and processions while celebrating their festivals. Below is the list of all Christian festivals:

Christian Festivals Date – 2019
Good Friday 19 April Friday
Easter 21 April Sunday
Christmas 25 December, Wednesday

Buddhist Festivals

People from Buddhist religion celebrate their festivals well connected to their Lord Buddha and the Bodhisattvas. It is considered that the Buddhist festivals were first started by the lord Buddha and He advised his followers to be in touch with each other to strengthen their bond. Buddhist has their own beliefs and rituals of celebrating historical festivals. They do worship of the historical objects while celebrating their festivals.

Their festivals become more religious, spiritual and intellectual which are not restricted to any service of the community. Below is the list of all the Buddhist festivals:

Buddhist Festivals Date – 2019
Losar 5 February, Tuesday to 7 February, Thursday
Buddha Purnima 18 May Saturday
Hemis Gompa 11 June Tuesday to 12 June Wednesday
Ullambana 15 August Thursday
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