The Hindu Festival Year
A month-by-month guide to the main Hindu festivals, with their Hindu months and when they usually fall in the Western calendar, and why the dates change each year.
Hindus celebrate a great many festivals, linked to the gods and goddesses, the seasons, the harvest and the stories of the epics. This page lists the main festivals in the order of the year, with the Hindu month in which they fall and when they usually occur in the Western (Gregorian) calendar.
Why do the dates change?
Most Hindu festivals are set by the lunar calendar. Each lunar month is divided into a bright half (shukla paksha), as the moon waxes towards full, and a dark half (krishna paksha), as it wanes towards new moon. A festival is fixed to a particular lunar day (tithi) in a particular month, so its Western date moves by up to several weeks from year to year. A few festivals, such as Makar Sankranti, follow the solar calendar and fall on almost the same date every year.
Dates can also differ by a day between regions and communities, depending on local calendars and the time zone. For exact dates each year, Hindus consult a panchang (almanac) or their local mandir. See The Hindu calendar.
Festivals through the year
| Usually falls in | Festival | Hindu month and day | What it celebrates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-January | Makar Sankranti / Pongal / Lohri | Solar: the sun enters Capricorn | Harvest; the sun's northward journey |
| January–February | Vasant Panchami | Magha, bright 5th | Spring; the goddess Saraswati |
| January–February | Thaipusam | Tamil month of Thai | Murugan |
| February–March | Maha Shivaratri | Phalguna, dark 14th | The great night of Shiva |
| March | Holi | Phalguna, full moon | Colours, spring, Prahlada's rescue |
| March–April | Chaitra Navaratri and Hindu New Year (Ugadi, Gudi Padwa) | Chaitra, bright 1st–9th | The Goddess; the new year in many regions |
| March–April | Rama Navami | Chaitra, bright 9th | Birth of Rama |
| March–April | Hanuman Jayanti | Chaitra, full moon (in north India) | Birth of Hanuman |
| Mid-April | Vaisakhi / Tamil New Year / Vishu / Bengali New Year | Solar new year | Harvest and new year |
| June–July | Ratha Yatra | Ashadha, bright 2nd | Jagannath's chariot festival, Puri |
| July–August | Guru Purnima | Ashadha, full moon | Honouring spiritual teachers |
| August | Raksha Bandhan | Shravana, full moon | Brothers and sisters |
| August–September | Janmashtami | Bhadrapada, dark 8th (Shravana in some calendars) | Birth of Krishna |
| August–September | Onam | Malayalam month of Chingam | King Mahabali's return; Kerala harvest |
| August–September | Ganesh Chaturthi | Bhadrapada, bright 4th | Birth of Ganesha |
| September–October | Pitru Paksha | Dark fortnight of Bhadrapada/Ashvin | Remembering ancestors |
| September–October | Navaratri / Durga Puja | Ashvin, bright 1st–9th | The Goddess, Durga |
| September–October | Dussehra (Vijayadashami) | Ashvin, bright 10th | Victory of good over evil |
| October–November | Karva Chauth | Kartika, dark 4th (north India) | Married women's fast for their husbands |
| October–November | Diwali | Kartika (or Ashvin), new moon | Festival of lights; Lakshmi |
| October–November | Chhath Puja | Kartika, bright 6th | The sun god, Surya |
| November–December | Kartika Purnima / Dev Deepavali | Kartika, full moon | Lamps on the ghats of Varanasi |
| November–December | Gita Jayanti | Margashirsha, bright 11th | The Bhagavad Gita |
Regular observances
- Ekadashi: the eleventh day of each lunar fortnight, a common day of fasting, especially for devotees of Vishnu.
- Purnima and Amavasya: full-moon and new-moon days, often marked by special worship.
- Days of the week: many Hindus fast or visit temples on the day sacred to their chosen deity, such as Monday for Shiva, Tuesday for Hanuman, Friday for the Goddess and Saturday for Shani.
Great gatherings
Some festivals follow longer cycles. The Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering in the world, is held at each of four sacred sites roughly every twelve years.
Sources and further reading
- Christopher Fuller, The Camphor Flame, revised edn (Princeton University Press, 2004), chapter 6.
- Kim Knott, Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd edn (Oxford University Press, 2016).