Fairs and festivals are part of the everyday life of Indians just as anywhere else in the world. They mark harvesting and sowing and the time when peasants buy and sell and use the opportunity of congregating to have a good time, sing, dance, pray or even arrange marriages. The variety of India and its people makes for a riot of colour and spectacle, not untinged with boisterousness.
India's religious and ethnic diversity ensures that the major festivals of almost all the major religious groups in the world are celebrated in some part or even the whole country. Holi, Diwali, Id-ul-fitr, Christmas, Easter, Buddha Purnima, Guru Nanak Jayanti and many more occasions are celebrated with joy and religious fervour but with a distinct Indianness provided by the mingling of the various streams that make up the ocean of India.
Indian festivals are unique pageants of colours, revelry and devotion. Given below is the list of some prominent festivals & events of India.
Makar Sankranti/Pongal : South India's harvest
festival.
Vasant Panchami/Sri Panchami : Spring festival
in honour of Saraswati, the Godess of learning.
Republic Day - January 26 : Marks India's adoption
of the Constitution.
Maha Shivaratri : Festival devoted to the worship
of Shiva, one of the most powerful deities of the Hindu pantheon.
Holi : Exuberant festival of colours is celebration
of the advent of spring.
Ramanavami : Marks the birth of Lord Rama,
an incarnation of Vishnu.
Mahavir Jayanti : Marks the birth of the 24th
and last tirthankar.
Good Friday : Marks the crucifixation of Christ.
Baisakhi : Celebrated in northern India, this
festival marks the beginning of the Hindu solar new year.
Gangaur : Rajasthani spring festival in honour
of Parvati, the consort of Shiva.
Buddha Purnima : Celebrates the birth of Buddha.
Id-ul-Fitr : Celebrated at the end of Ramzan,
a month of fasting for Muslims.
Rath Yatra (Car Festival) : Spectacular temple-festival
in Puri, Orissa. Huge Chariots are taken out in honour of Lord
Jagannath.
Id-ul-Zuha : Muslim festival to commemorate
Prophet Ibrahim's sacrifice of his son in obedience to a command
of God.
Independence Day - August 15 : Celebrates India's
independence.
Teej : Rajasthani festival to welcome the advent
of monsoon.
Naga Panchami : Festival in which the cobra
is worshipped in the form of Sesha, the thousand-hooked serpent.
Muharram : Muslims commemorate the matyrdom
of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.
Onam : Kerala's harvest festival.
Raksha Bandhan : Celebrated mainly in northern
and western India. Sisters tie silken, colourful rakhis (amulets)
around their brothers' wrists and pledge their love for each other.
Janmashtami : Birth anniversary of Lord Krishna.
Ganesh/Vinayak Chaturthi : Clay models of Ganesh,
the auspicious elephant faced God, are worshipped and taken out
in grand processions to be immersed in the sea or a lake.
Gandhi Jayanti : Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary.
Dussehra : Celebrated with great pomp and pagentary,
the festival signifies the triumph of good over evil.
Diwali : Festival of lamps. Lakshmi, the Godess
of prosperity, is worshipped.
Pushkar Fair : Huge cattle market and camel
fair at Pushkar, Rajasthan.
Guru Nanak Jayanti : Birth anniversary of Guru
Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.
Christmas : Birth anniversary of Jesus Christ.
