Hinduism: Details about 'Holidays In India'

Index / Hinduism / Mahatma Gandhi / Holidays In India /

Navigation

Home
 One level up
 Back
 Index of contents
 Links
 Hinduism-Shop

Useful Links

Hinduism Portal
History Hindu deities Denominations Mythology Reincarnation Karma
Nirvana Dharma Ayurveda Scriptures Festivals By country

India, being a multicultural and multireligious society, celebrates holidays and festivals of various faiths and special interest groups. There are three national holidays: Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi Jayanti. In addition, many states and regions have local festivals depending on prevalent religious and linguistic demographics.

The following is a List of Festivals in India:

Contents

Hinduism

Islamic

  • Bakri Id, (Id-Ul-Zuha)
  • Moharrum
  • Ramzan Id, (Id-Ul-Fitar)

Christian

  • Easter
  • Christmas

Sikhism

  • Diwali
  • Guru Nanak's Birthday Jayanti
  • Guru Govind Singh's Birthday Jayanti
  • Guru Teg Bahadur's Martyrdom Day
  • Vaisakhi

Zoroastrian

The Parsis account for less than 0.007% of the Indian population, but as Mahatma Gandhi said, they are "in number beneath contempt, but in contribution, beyond compare." The same could be said of their festivals. Unfortunately, like the Parsis themselves, these are private and celebrated primarily within the community. The Parsis use the Shahenshahi ("Imperial") version of the Zoroastrian calendar, which differs significantly from the Qadimi ("Ancient") version that their Iranian co-religionists use. For example, New Year is celebrated in the spring by Iranians but



falls in late summer for Parsis. In addition to seasonal festivals, called Gahambars, the most eminent celebratory occasions are listed below.
  • Maidyozarem Gahambar - Mid-Spring Festival. Early October.
  • Maidyoshahem Gahambar - Mid-Summer Festival. Early December
  • Paitishahem Gahambar - Festival of bringing in the harvest. Mid February.
  • Ayathrem Gahambar - Festival if bringing home the herds. Mid March.
  • Maidyarem Gahambar - Mid-Winter Festival. Lit. 'Mid-Year'. Early June.
  • Hamaspathmaidyem or Muktad - All Souls Festival. Cf. Día de los Meurtos
  • Pateti - New Year's Day Eve. August-September.
  • Jamshed-e Navroz - New Year's Day, (Norouz). August-September.
  • Jashan-e Sadeh - Festival of Fire. Lit. the 100th day (before Navroz).
  • Jashan-e Mehragan - Festival of Mihr. A day of thanksgiving dedicated to the highest Angel, Mithra (c.f. Metatron).
  • Jashan-e Tirigan - Festival of Tir. A day dedicated to Tishtrya, Angel of the star Sirius and rain.
  • Farvardigan - Festival of the Farohars ('guardian angels').
  • Khordad Sal - Birthday of the Prophet Zarathushtra.
  • Zartosht No-Diso - Anniversary commemorating the death of the Prophet Zarathushtra.

See also: Zoroastrian calendar

Others

Unofficial

  • New Year's Day
  • Valentine's Day, in Cities only
  • April Fool's Day
  • Halloween, in Cities only
  • Children's Day, 14th November



Hinduism | Hindu festivals | Hindu calendar
Pongal | Holi | Ugadi | Rama Navami | Krishna Janmaashtami | Onam | Ganesh Chaturthi | Vaisakhi | Navratri
Vijayadashami | Dasara | Diwali | Thaipusam | Maha Shivaratri | Ekadasi | Vaikunta Ekadasi | Mahalakshmi vrata | Raksha Bandhan | Bhai-Dooj/Bhau-Beej
Fêtes en Inde

Visitors who viewed this also viewed:

Hinduism: Caste In Sri Lanka
Hinduism: Vrtra
Hinduism: Iva
New Age: American Spiritual Writers
Buddhism: Bhikkhu Bodhi
Christianity: Easter

 


Click here for our Hinduism-Shop





This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Holidays_in_India". A list of the wikipedia authors can be found here.