Portal:Hindu festivals

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Introduction

There are a great number of Hindu religious festivals held throughout the world. The festivals typically celebrate events from Hindu mythology, often coinciding with seasonal changes. There are many festivals which are primarily celebrated by specific sects or in certain regions of the Indian subcontinent.

The festive season in India is the most widely celebrated and rejoiced by the people. Festivals not only have a historic significance to them, they are rooted in various cultural and linguistic norms associated with them. The festivities have their own spark, they bring together, or in other words, unite people of different religions and sects into a unified whole. With so many festivals always round the corner, there is a wave of liveliness and celebration in the society. Bringing people together is just one aspect of it, festivals hold with them the sacred cultural roots and traditions that is unique to every festival. The onset of the famous Diwali marks the beginning of lighting 'diyas', beautifying homes, offering gifts and visiting our near and dear ones. Similarly, the Holi festival is said to be the 'Festival of Colors", with its magnificent rain dance and the 'gulaal', it surely colors the lives of people.

Selected general articles

  • Ugadi Pachadi with New Year prayer puja tray

    Ugadi (Ugādi, Samvatsarādi, Yugadi) is the New Year's Day for the people of Andhra Pradesh,Telangana and Karnataka states in India. It is festively observed in these regions on the first day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra. This typically falls in March or April of the Gregorian calendar.

    The day is observed by drawing colorful patterns on floor called kolamulus (Telugu: Muggulu, Kannada: Rangoli), mango leaf decorations on doors called toranalu (Kannada: Torana), buying and giving gifts such as new clothes, giving charity to the poor, special bath followed by oil treatment, preparing and sharing a special food called pachadi, and visiting Hindu temples. The pachadi is a notable festive food that combines all flavors – sweet, sour, salty, bitter. In the Telugu and Kannada Hindu traditions, it is a symbolic reminder that one must expect all flavors of experiences in the coming new year and make the most of them. Read more...
  • G.D Block, Saltlake Durga Pujo 2018 (জী. ডি. ব্লক সল্টলেক দূর্গা পুজো ২০১৮)

    Durga Puja, also called Durgotsava, is an annual Hindu festival in the Indian subcontinent that reveres the goddess Durga. It is particularly popular in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bangladesh and the diaspora from this region, and in Nepal where it is called Dashain. The festival is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin, typically September or October of the Gregorian calendar, and is a multi-day festival that features elaborate temple and stage decorations (pandals), scripture recitation, performance arts, revelry, and processions. It is a major festival in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism across India and Shakta Hindu diaspora.

    Durga Puja festival marks the battle of goddess Durga with the shape-shifting, deceptive and powerful buffalo demon Mahishasura, and her emerging victorious. Thus, the festival epitomises the victory of good over evil, but it also is in part a harvest festival that marks the goddess as the motherly power behind all of life and creation. The Durga Puja festival dates coincide with Vijayadashami (Dussehra) observed by other traditions of Hinduism, where the Ram Lila is enacted — the victory of Rama is marked and effigies of demon Ravana are burnt instead. Read more...
  • Rangoli decorations, made using coloured powder or sand, are popular during Diwali.

    Diwali, Deepavali or Dipavali is the Hindu festival of lights, which is celebrated every autumn in the northern hemisphere (spring in southern hemisphere). One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, Diwali symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance." Light is a metaphor for knowledge and consciousness. During the celebration, temples, homes, shops and office buildings are brightly illuminated. The preparations, and rituals, for the festival typically last five days, with the climax occurring on the third day coinciding with the darkest night of the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, the festival generally falls between mid-October and mid-November.

    In the lead-up to Diwali, celebrants will prepare by cleaning, renovating, and decorating their homes and workplaces. During the climax, revellers adorn themselves in their finest clothes, illuminate the interior and exterior of their homes with diyas (oil lamps or candles), offer puja (worship) to Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and wealth, light fireworks, and partake in family feasts, where mithai (sweets) and gifts are shared. Diwali is also a major cultural event for the Hindu and Jain diaspora from the Indian subcontinent. Read more...
  • Lord Mahavira with his disciples.

    Guru Purnima (Poornima) is an eastern spiritual tradition dedicated to spiritual and academic teachers, who are evolved or enlightened humans, ready to share their wisdom, with very little or no monetary expectation, based on Karma Yoga. It is celebrated as a festival in Nepal by the Nepalese Hindus and Buddhists. This festival is traditionally observed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains to revere their chosen spiritual teachers / leaders and express their gratitude. The festival is celebrated on the full moon day (Purnima) in the Hindu month of Ashadha (June–July) as it is known in the Hindu calendar of India and Nepal. This day marks the first peak of the lunar cycle after the peak of the solar cycle. Read more...
  • Navratri celebrates goddess Durga's victory over an evil demon

    Navaratri (Sanskrit: नवरात्रि, literally "nine nights"), also spelled Navratri or Navarathri, is a nine nights (and ten days) Hindu festival, celebrated in the Tamil month of Purattasi (17th September to 17th October) every year. It is celebrated differently in various parts of the Indian subcontinent. There are two seasonal Navaratri in a year. This festival in this month is called Sharada Navaratri that is the most celebrated for Goddess Durga.

    In India, Goddess Durga battles and emerges victorious over the buffalo demon Mahishasuran to help restore Dharma. Read more...
  • Woman looking through a sieve after completing the fast, first looking at the rising moon and then at her spouse.

    Karva Chauth is a one-day festival celebrated by Hindu women four days after purnima (a full moon) in the month of Kartika. Dates differ according to the Gregorian calendar which is tabular and not based according to constellations. Karva Chauth, like many Hindu festivals, is based on the lunisolar calendar which accounts for all astronomical positions, especially positions of the moon which is used as a marker to calculate important dates.

    On Karva Chauth women, especially in Northern India, who are married fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands. The Karva Chauth fast is traditionally celebrated in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and as Atla Tadde in Andhra Pradesh. The festival falls on the fourth day after the full moon, in the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Kartik. . Historically, Karva Chauth was celebrated as a prayer for the long life of soldiers in the war, and by extension today refers to the long life of a married husband. Read more...
  • Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Akti or Akha Teej, is annual spring time festival of the Hindus and Jains. It falls on the third Tithi (lunar day) of Bright Half (Shukla Paksha) of Vaisakha month. It is observed regionally by Hindus and Jains in India and Nepal, as signifying the "third day of unending prosperity". The festival date varies and is set according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, and falls in April or May of every year in the Gregorian calendar. Read more...
  • Jhulelal, the Ishta Devta of the Sindhi Hindus

    Cheti Chand (चेटी चन्ड) is a festival which marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year for the Sindhi Hindus. The festival date is based on the lunar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar, it being the first day of the year and the Sindhi month of Chet (Chaitra). It typically falls in late March or early April in the Gregorian calendar on or about the same day as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Ugadi in other parts of the Deccan region of India.

    The festival marks the arrival of spring and harvest, but in Sindhi community it also marks the mythical birth of Uderolal in year 1007, after they prayed to Hindu god Varuna to save them from the persecution by tyrannical Muslim ruler named Mirkhshah. Uderolal morphed into a warrior and old man who preached and reprimanded Mirkhshah that Muslims and Hindus deserve the same religious freedoms. He, as Jhulelal, became the champion of the people in Sindh, from both religions. Among his Sufi Muslim followers, Jhulelal is known as "Khwaja Khizir" or "Sheikh Tahit". The Hindu Sindhi, according to this legend, celebrate the new year as Uderolal's birthday. Read more...
  • Gowri Habba is a Hindu festival celebrated a day before Ganesh Chaturthi.

    This festival celebrates the goddess Gowri or Gauri, (also known as Parvati) who is venerated as the mother of Ganesha. It is usually observed by married women and is a significant festival in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is known as Hartalika in the North Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Gowri, the mother of Ganesha and wife of Shiva, is worshipped throughout India for her ability to bestow upon her devotees courage and power. Hindu belief has it that Gowri is the incarnation of Aadhi Shakthi Mahamaya. She is the Shakthi of Shiva. It is believed that on Thadige, or the third day of the month of Bhaadra, Gowri comes home like any married woman comes to her parents' house. The next day Ganesha, her son, comes as if to take her back to Kailasa. Read more...
  • Shravana Putrada Ekadashi, also known as Pavitropana Ekadashi and Pavitra Ekadashi, is a Hindu holy day, which falls on the 11th lunar day (ekadashi) of the fortnight of the waxing moon in the Hindu month of Shravana which in the Gregorian calendar falls in July or August.

    This day is known as Shravana Putrada Ekadashi, to differentiate it from the other Putrada Ekadashi in Pausha (December–January), which is also called Pausha Putrada Ekadashi. Read more...
  • Meditating Shiva on Maha-Shivratri

    Maha Shivaratri a Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god Shiva. There is a Shivaratri in every luni-solar month of the Hindu calendar, on the month's 13th night/14th day, but once a year in late winter (February/March, or Magha) and before the arrival of Summer, marks Maha Shivaratri which means "the Great Night of Shiva".

    It is a major festival in Hinduism, this festival
    is solemn and marks a remembrance of "overcoming darkness and ignorance" in life and the world. It is observed by remembering Shiva and chanting prayers, fasting, doing Yoga, and meditating on ethics and virtues such as self-restraint, honesty, noninjury to others, forgiveness, and the discovery of Shiva. The ardent devotees keep awake all night. Others visit one of the Shiva temples or go on pilgrimage to Jyotirlingams. This is an ancient Hindu festival whose origin date is unknown. Read more...
  • Raja Ravi Varma, Goddess Lakshmi, 1896.jpg

    Lakshmi Puja (Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी पूजा, IAST: Lakṣmī Pūjā), is a Hindu religious festival that falls on Amavasya (new moon day) of Krishna Paksha (Dark fortnight) in the Vikram Samvat Hindu calendar month of Ashwin, on the third day of Tihar and is considered as the main festive day of Deepawali.

    According to legend, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and lord Vishnu's wife, visits her devotees and bestows gifts and blessings upon each of them. To welcome the Goddess, devotees clean their houses, decorate them with finery and lights, and prepare sweet treats and delicacies as offerings. Devotees believe the happier Lakshmi is with the visit, the more she blesses the family with health and wealth. Read more...
  • Image of the goddess Durga

    Ayudha Puja is an integral part of the Navratri festival (festival of triumph), a Hindu festival which is traditionally celebrated in India. It is also called "Astra Puja", the synonym for Ayudha Puja. In simple terms, it means “Worship of Instruments”. It is celebrated in Tamil Nadu as Ayudha Pujai (Tamil: ஆயுத பூஜை), in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as Aayudha Pooja (Telugu: ఆయుధ పూజ), in Kerala as Ayudha Puja (Malayalam: ആയുധ പൂജ), "Astra Puja" (Odia: ଅସ୍ତ୍ର ପୂଜା) or "Ayudha Puja" in Odisha, "Shastra Puja" (Marathi: आयुध पूजा/ खंडे नवमी) or "Ayudha Puja/ Khande Navami" in Maharashtra, and in Karnataka (in erstwhile Mysore State) as “Ayudha Puje” (Kannada: ಆಯುಧ ಪೂಜೆ). The festival falls on the ninth day or Navami of the bright half of Moon's cycle of 15 days (as per Almanac) in the month of September/October, and is popularly a part of the Dasara or Navaratri or Durga Puja or Golu festival. On the ninth day of the Dasara festival, weapons and tools are worshipped. In Karnataka, the celebration is for killing of the demon king Mahishasura by goddess Chamundeshwari. After slaying of the demon king, the weapons were kept out for worship. While Navaratri festival is observed all over the country but in South Indian states, where it is widely celebrated as Ayudha Puja, there are slight variations of worship procedure.

    The principal Shakti goddesses worshiped during the Ayudha puja are Saraswati (the Goddess of wisdom, arts and literature), Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) and Parvati (the divine mother), apart from various types of equipment; it is on this occasion when weapons are worshipped by soldiers and tools are revered by artisans. The Puja is considered a meaningful custom, which focuses specific attention to one’s profession and its related tools and connotes that a divine force is working behind it to perform well and for getting the proper reward. Read more...
  • Vamana is worshipped on Varuthini Ekadashi

    Varuthini Ekadashi, also known Baruthani Ekadashi, is a Hindu holy day, which falls on the 11th lunar day (ekadashi) of the fortnight of the waning moon in the Hindu month of Chaitra (per the South Indian Amavasyant calendar, every month ends with a new moon) or Vaishakha (per the North Indian Purnimant calendar, every month ends with a full moon). By both schemes, Varuthini Ekadashi falls on the same day in April or May. Like all ekadashis, the God Vishnu, especially his fifth avatar Vamana, is worshipped. Read more...
  • Tilak of 7 colors is applied on the forehead

    Bhai Dooj (भाई दूज) / Bhau-Beej / Bhai Tika / Bhai Phonta (ভাইফোঁটা) is a festival celebrated by Hindus of the Indian subcontinent, notably India and Nepal, on the second lunar day of Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) in the Vikram Samvat Hindu calendar or of Shalivahan Shaka calendar month of Kartika. It is celebrated during the Diwali or Tihar festival.

    The celebrations of this day are similar to the festival of Raksha Bandhan. On this day, brothers give gifts to their sisters. Read more...
  • A Statue of Naga being worshiped on Naga Panchami