| | Festival | Month | Places of Festival | Description |
|
1
| Pongal (Sankranthi) | January | Andhra Pradesh,Tamilnadu, Karnataka. | Certain Hindu festivals are associated with the annual cycle of seasons. Pongal in the South and Sankranti in the North. |
|
2
| Vasanta Panchami | January-February | All over India | Vasanta means the spring season, which is very congenial for doing vigorous Yoga Sadhana.Men, women and girls wear yellow cloth. The yellow colour is a sign of auspiciousness and spirituality. It represents the ripening of the spring crops |
|
3
| Shivarathri | February | All over India | Lord Shiva, also known as Mahadeva, is one of the three Gods of Hindu Trinity. His abode is believed to be at Mt Kailash in the Himalayas. Shiva Ratri is said to be the night when Lord Shiva first appeared by His own Divine Grace. |
|
4
| Bakrid | February | All over India | The significance of the festival is the commemoration of the ordeals of Prophet Ibrahim. On this day prayers are held and goats are sacrificed. |
|
5
| Holi | March-April | Mainly in Northern India | This is pre-eminently the spring festival of Bharat. The trees are smiling with their sprout of tender leaves and blooming flowers. |
|
6
| Muharram | March-April | All over India | Muharram is observed by the Shia community of Muslims in commemoration of the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussain, who was killed in the Battle of Karbala in AD 680. |
|
7
| Baisakhi | April | Punjab | Baisakhi has a special meaning for the Sikhs. On this day in 1699, their tenth Guru Gobind Singh organized the order of the Khalsa. On this day also, Guru Arjan Das was martyred by the Muslim rulers |
|
8
| Sri Rama Navami | April | All over India | Wherever four Hindus live, Rama and Sita will be there" so said Swami Vivekananda. |
|
9
| Sri Krishnaashtami | August/September | All over India | No other God in the Hindu pantheon, or for that matter in any other religion, is associated with so many romantic tales. |
|
10
| Naag Panchami | July-August | Mainly in Northern India | Naag Panchami or festival of snakes is a unique festival dedicated to honour the Serpent God or Naag Devta. Falling on the fifth day of Shravan in July/August, reverence for the cobra (snakes) are paid. |
|
11
| Raksha Bandhan | August | Mainly in Northern India | The Raksha Bandhan stirs up one of the deepest and noblest emotions in the human breast - the abiding and chaste bond of love. |
|
12
| Ganesh Chaturthi | August | All over India | Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati is widely worshipped as the munificent god of wisdom. |
|
13
| Onam | September | Kerala | According to the legend, Lord Vishnu decided to test King Mahabali's charitable nature and presented Himself as a poor child Brahmin known as 'Vaman' to the King and requested for three feet of land to live. |
|
14
| Dussehra(Vijaya Dashami) | Sep-Oct | All over India | This is among the most auspicious days in the Hindu calendar and comes as the finale of the nine-day festival, Navaraatri. |
|
15
| Diwali (Deeapavali) | October-November | All over India | If there is one occasion which is all joy and all jubilation for one and all - the young and the old, men and women - for the entire Hindu world. |
|
16
| Ramzan | Ninth month in the Islamic Calendar Year | All over India | Id-ul-fitr or Ramzan Id falls on the new moon day marking the end of 'Ramadan' (according to the Muslim calendar). Muslims through out the world and in India observe fast throughout this month and eat and drink only in the night. |
|
17
| Christmas | December | All over India | Christmas is perhaps the most famous and widely celebrated festival in the world. In India too, the birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated with great rejoicing on December 25th every year. |