Indian Festivals

India is a land of diverse cultures and religions and festivals are times when people celebrate their traditional ceremonies and rituals. In addition to the various religious and seasonal festivals, there are some important national days that all Indians celebrate with pride. The Roman calendar or the solar calendar divides a year into months and 365 or 366 days. In India, in addition to these, two more calendars are prevalent. They are the Hindu calendar and the Hijri or the Muslim calendar.

Hindu Festivals

The Hindu calendar month starts at the beginning of the full moon and continues through the next full moon. The lunar months are Chaitra, Baisakh, Jyeshta, Aashadh, Shravan, Bhadrapad, Ashwin, Kartik, Margshirsha, Paush, Magha and Phalgun. Each month is further divided into Pakshas - the period following the new moon or waxing moon is Shukla Paksha and the period following the waning or the full moon is the Krishna Paksha. The festival days are determined according to their occurrence. Diwali, Dussera, Krishna Janmashtami, Holi, Pongal are some of the popular Hindu festivals.

Muslim Festivals

The Islamic calendar is also a lunar calendar for it is based on the movement of the moon, but a new month in Hijri starts only when three responsible people sight the new moon and then it is endorsed by the head of the main mosque. The festivals of Islam, thus occur on different dates each year. The popular Muslim festivals celebrated in India are Ramzan, Id-ul-Zuha, Teej and Id-ul-Fitr.

Other Festivals

Republic day, Independence day and Gandhi Jayanthi are national festivals and Indians celebrate it on fixed days of the year. The other major religious festivals are Buddha Purnima, Guru Nanak Day, Easter, Christmas, etc.