FESTIVALS OF INDIA

It is well known that no other country holds so many festivals of antiquity as does India. Each festival brings an episode of some remote past back to the memory. Owing to its religious and regional variations, India has a number of festivals.

There are said to be more number of festivals in India, than there are days in a year. The religious and national ones are celebrated with great gaiety. The cultural ones attract many great artists from all over India. Hardly a day passes without a festival taking place somewhere in India. They range from small one-day village or temple functions to weeklong art functions.

In India, during the pre-historic Indus valley civilization (3000BC to 1500BC) people had been celebrating various occasions of joy. This is evident from the archaeological excavations at Mohenjadaro and Harappa. Those practices continued during the Epic and Vedic times (800-300BC). During the Mauryan times functions like birthday, marriages, return from a victory were indeed a grand show of wealth and pomp. Festive assemblies like Utsavs were held by the Kings to entertain people where delicious food and drinks were supplied. Such social festivals continued to be popular during the imperial Gupta age too. Festivals accompanied the worship of Gods and Goddesses.

Only a few of the festivals take place on a particular date. Most of them follow the lunar calendar and hence the exact date of the festivals varies from year to year. Muslim holidays and Muslim festivals follow the Islamic calendar. Most of the cultural festivals take place during the winter season. Most of the days of the festivals are not determined by the pre-set dates of a linear calendar, but according to the waxing and the waning of the moon. Fairs and festivals are moments of remembrance and commemoration of the birthdays and the deeds of great gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, gurus, prophets and saints. Seasonal or secular festivals underline the unity that draws together seemingly diverse groups.

For the men, festivals mean display of valour and virility through various races like the boat races of Kerala, or wrestling matches and animal fights. For the women it means cleaning the house and decorating it according to their artistic inclinations and proving their culinary skills to satisfy their wards and their hubbies. For the children, it is a time to be away from the tedious schools, with savories to munch all the time, new costumes and plenty of free time to roam around with their friends. Festivals also reinforce the presence of God in the life of the individual, the family and the community as a whole.

LIST OF FESTIVALS -2011
New Year's Day	1st, January	Tamil New Year	14th, April
Lohri	13th, January	Easter	24th, April
Makara Sankranti	14th, January	Id- Ul - Milad *	15th, February
Republic Day	26th, January	Raksha Bandan	13th, August
Vasanth Panchami	8th, February	Gokula Astami	22th, August
Maha Shivratri	3th , March	Independence Day	15th, August
Id - Ul - Zuha *	6th, November	Gandhi Jayanthi	2nd, October
Holi	20th, March	Dussera	6th, October
Ram Navami	12th, April	Diwali	26th, October
Mahavir Jayanthi	16th, April	Govardan Puja	27th, October
Muharram	26th, November	Guru Nanak Jayanthi	10th, November
Baisakhi	14th, April	Id-Ul-Fitr *	30th, August
Good Friday	22nd, April	Christmas	25th, December

                                                                                 

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS OF INDIA (2011)

Hindu Festivals                                                       National Festivals
Makara Sankranthi/Pongal	January,14th	Republic Day	Janaury, 26th
Maha Shivratri	March, 3th	Independence Day	August, 15th
Holi	March, 20th	Gandhi Jayanthi	October, 2nd
Telugu New Year	April, 4th	Christian Festivals
Tamil New Year	April,14th	Palm Sunday	April, 17th
Ram Navami	April, 12th	Good Friday	April, 22nd
Mahavir Jayanthi	April ,16th	Easter Day	April, 24th
Onam festival	September, 9th	Christmas Day	December , 25th
Gokula Ashtami	August, 22th	Buddhist festivals
Ganesh Chathurthi	September, 1st	Paranirvana Day	February, 8th
Dussehra	October, 6th	Wesak(Buddha Day)	May, 17th
Diwali	October, 26th	Dharma Day	July, 15th
Jewish Festivals                                                             Sikh Festivals
Purim	March, 20th	Birthday of Guru Gobind	January,5th
Passover 1st day	April, 19th	Baisakhi	April, 14th
Jewish New Year	September, 28th	Martyrdom of ArjanDev	June,16th
Day of Atonement	October, 8th	Gurunanak Jayanthi	November, 10th
Tabernacles	September, 23rd	TeghBahadur Martyr Day	November, 24th
Islamic Festivals                                                           Other Festivals
Id-Ul-Zuha *	November,6th	Valentines' Day	February,14th
Al- Hijira( Muslim Newyear)	November, 26th	Doctor's Day	March, 30th
Muharram	November, 26th	May Day	May,1st
Milad-Un-Nabi*	Feburary, 20th	Mother's Day	May,8th
Id-e-Milad	March, 1st	Father's Day	June,19th
Lailat-Al-IsrawaAl-Miraj	June,29th	Friendship Day	August,7nd
Ramadan 1st	August, 11th	Teacher's Day	September,5th
Id-ul-fitr	August, 30th	Grand Parent's Day	September,11th
Ramzan Id	August, 30th	Children's Day	November,14th

* Subject to appearance of Moon