Indian Festivals

Preface

Christian

Hindu

Jain

Muslim

Regional

Sikh

India celebrates… all the year round, in a joyous and colorful calendar of festivals and fairs. Sacred, secular or seasonal, each of these occasions has a special spirit and vigor. These celebrations of fairs and festivals form a wondrous and joyful series of events, marking the rites of passage between birth, death and renewal. These moments are determined not by the pre-set dates of the linear calendar but by the changing luminosity of the sun as it enters the new seasons, and in the cycles spun out by the waxing and waning of the moon.

The ancient tradition of festivals goes back as long as the Vedic times and to the Aryans. The festivals where celebrated then in honor of gods, rivers, trees, mountains, the coming of monsoon, the end of winter or the first flush of spring. The celebrations not only included prayers offerings but also events of social and cultural significance.

In a land of vast geographical distances and a variety of languages and customs, the spirit and color of the religious, seasonal or secular festivals underline the rich legacy of traditions that has been handed over from ages.

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