Festival of India

India is known for its rich culture and heritage. The several traditions and culture of India are still being followed and passed on to generations, no wonder due to the heritage. It is a land of cultural and traditional festivals,and one can observe that there is one or another festival every single month. Given the secular nature of country and diversity with religions, languages, culture groups and castes, India is always filled with several festivals in line for celebrations. Every religion has one or another festival to celebrate every month.

Significance

Every festival celebrated by people all across different religions and cultures has uniqueness and beliefs behind the festival. There arevital importance and history for every festival and celebration followed. Hence the Indians celebrate each of the festivals with passion and hope. Given the unity in diversity nature of Indian subcontinent, religions like Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikh, Jains, Buddhists and so on celebrate the festival at the regional level. Here are few of the festivals into these categories of religion.

Hindu Festivals

Given the majority of Hindus living in India, there are several festivals and celebrations from all over people in this religion. It is considered as oldest religion and is also seen as third largest religion in the world. Every celebration hence has rituals to be followed,and there is worshipping deities, fasting, feasting, Aarti and so on within these. These festivals are generally celebrated by uniting with family and relatives together for following tradition and pujas.

The dates of festivals are generally as per the Hindu calendar, lunar calendar,and sun, moon movements in the year. It is celebrated as per historical mythology and keeping seasons in mind. There are beliefs of these festivals as per various ancient sculptures such as Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata and the sacred texts like Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda,andAtharva Veda. Below is a list of the Hindu festivals.

                Lohri                                                                                   Jan 13

Makar Sankranthi                                                           Jan 14 (generally same date)

Pongal                                                                                Jan 15

Vasant Panchami                                                             February

Thaipusam                                                                        End of January

Maha Shivaratri                                                               March beginning

HolikaDahan                                                                    March mid to end

Holi                                                                                     March mid to end

Chaitra Navratri                                                               April beginning to mid

Ugadi/tamil new year/Vishu                                         April beginning to mid

Gangaur                                                                             March late to april beginning

Mewar festival                                                                  April beginnings

Ram Navami                                                                     April mid

Mahavir Jayanti                                                                April mid

Hanuman Jayanti                                                            April mid

RathYatra                                                                         July beginning

Guru Purnima                                                                July mid

Onam                                                                               September

RakshaBandhan                                                             August mid to end

Janmastami                                                                     August end

Ramlila                                                                              September

Ganesh Chaturdhi                                                          September mid to end

PitrPaksh                                                                          September mid

Rambarat                                                                         September end

Sharad Navratra                                                             September end

Dussehra                                                                          October beginning to mid

Valmiki Jayanti                                                              October mid

Kava Chauth                                                                   October mid

Dhanteras                                                                       October end

Diwali                                                                             October end to anytime before Nov mid

Bhai Dhuj                                                                      October end

Chhath Puja                                                                  November

Muslim Festivals

Muslim and Islamic festivals are celebrated enthusiastically all over the country. There are several festivals,and they celebrate it with dedication and passion. The important festivals include Ramzan, Id, Bakrid and so on. They offer prayers especially in mosque and feast with their friends and family. Their homes are well decorated and celebrated till night. Islam founded by Muhammad inthe 7th century is the second largest religion in the world. The important pillars of Islam includeShahadan (Faith), Salah (Prayer), Zakah (Donate), Sawm (Fasting) and Hajj (pilgrimage). Their festivals include,

                Barawafat                                           November

                Giaravahin Sharif                              December end

                Hazarat Ali Birthday                         March-end

                Shah F Miraj                                       April

                Shab e Barat                                       April end to May

                JamatUl Vida                                      June

                Id ulFitr                                                June

                Bakrid                                                   August

                Muharram                                            September

Sikh Festivals

India given the number of religions and cultures it has, there are several from Sikh religion with unique rituals and festivals. They commemorate the lives of Sikh Gurus and their teachings, celebrate with enthusiasm and enjoyment. The Sikhs worship as per the holy book, ‘the Guru Granth Sahib’ which was compiled by the Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak and edited later by Guru Arjan. The festivals also involve deity among people placing and taking out in a palanquin in public processions. It includes music, songs,and readings from the holy book. They also sing Gurbani songs. There are also some of the Hindu festivals celebrated by Sikhs due to different other reasons. The festivals of Sikhs include the following.

                Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti                                           January mid

                Lohri                                                                                    January 13-14

                Holla Mohalla                                                                    March end

                SodalMela                                                                           September

                Guru Ramdass Ji Birthday                                             October 9th

                Guru Nanak Jayanti                                                         November

Jains festivals

Those from the Jain religion also has several rituals and ceremonies to celebrate every year. They generally do idol worships in different ways and celebrate as per life events of Tirthankara which involves and mentions on purification of the soul. Generally, Jain rituals are divided into two types, Karya and Kriya. There are six essential duties to be performed by them called as Six Avashyakas, namely, ‘Chaturvishnatistava,’ ‘Kayotsarga,’ ‘Pratikramana,’ ‘Pratyakhyana,’ ‘Samyika’ and ‘Vandan.’ These are seen as life lessons teaching about respecting elders, practicing serenity and mediation, expiation of past sins, mediation, renunciation and so on. They have six duties as per Jain Digambara, namely, Dana, Devapuja, Guru upashti, Sanyam, Swadhyaya,and Tapa. They are key ritual activities which include respecting teachers, controlling self, studying spiritual texts and austerities.

The festivals by Jains include

                                Deep Diwali                                                        November mid

                                Mahamastak Abhishek                                     February mid

                                Mahavir Jayanti                                                  March end

                                Paryushan                                                             August end

Christian Festivals

Given that the country is a destination for several varied cultures, people of Christianity are into the third largest religion in the country. They celebrate their festivals like Christmas, Easter,and Good Friday with enthusiasm and family gatherings. It is common that they include people from other religions too in their celebrations thus proving the unity in diversity of the country. Their churches are well decorated for prayers and processions during the festivals. The list of Christian festivals including

                                Good Friday                                                       March end

                                Easter                                                                   April

                                Christmas                                                            December 25th every year

Buddhist Festivals

The religious celebrations of those from Buddhism are well connected to their Lord Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Lord Budha has started the religion and advised his followers to be connected as a family in order to keep their bond intact. Their beliefs and rituals are through worshipping historical objects. Their festivals include

                                Losar                                     February beginning

                                Buddha Purnima                22 May

                                HemisGompa                    June mid

                                Ullambaa                            August mid

Given above are the list of Festivals of India. Given the different religions and cultures, no wonder India is seen as a land of diverse customs and traditions. These festivals are well celebrated with passion, enthusiasm, beliefs,and rituals. The family and close friends gather together and celebrate them with faith and love.