Across the

globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe ...

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

celebrate a diverse number of

festivals A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...

and celebrations, typically marking events from

ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

and often coinciding with seasonal changes. These celebrations take place either on a fixed annual date on the

solar calendar A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar. T ...

, or on a specific day of the

lunisolar calendar A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, combining lunar calendars and solar calendars. The date of Lunisolar calendars therefore indicates both the Moon phase and the time of the solar year, that is the position of the Sun in the Ea ...

. There is some regional variation with the observance of the festivals, and numerous festivals that are primarily celebrated by specific sects or in certain regions of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

Terminology

Utsava

''Utsava'' is the Sanskrit word for festivals. The Sanskrit word ''Utsava'' comes from the word "''ut''" meaning "removal" and "''sava''" which means "worldly sorrows" or "grief".

Observance periods (''tithi'')

Hindu calendar The Hindu calendar, Panchanga () or Panjika is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes. They adopt a s ...

dates are usually prescribed according to a

. In

Vedic timekeeping Hindu units of time are described in Hindu texts ranging from microseconds to trillions of years, including cycles of cosmic time that repeat general events in Hindu cosmology. Time (Kaal, ) is described as eternal. Various fragments of time are ...

, a ''māsa'' is a lunar month, a ''pakṣa'' is a lunar

fortnight A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days," since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is h ...

and a ''tithi'' is a

lunar day A lunar day is the period of time for Earth's Moon to complete one rotation on its axis with respect to the Sun. Due to tidal locking, it is the time the Moon takes to complete one orbit of the Moon, orbit around Earth Earth is the thi ...

. Two definitions of the lunar month prevail: amānta and pūrṇimānta (lunar month ending with new moon and full moon respectively). As a result, the same day may refer to belonging to different but adjoining months. If a festival occurs during ''śukla paksha'', the two traditions assign it to the same month; if a festival occurs during ''kṛṣṇa paksha'' the two traditions assign it to different but adjoining months.

Sublists

List of Hindu festivals in Punjab This list of Punjabi Hindu festivals summarizes festivals observed in Punjab. These are based on the Bikrami calendar. The festivals of Maghi and Vaisakhi are determined by the solar aspect and others on its lunar months. Observance and overview ...

List of festivals observed at Jagannatha Temple, Puri There are elaborate daily worship services. There are many festivals each year attended by millions of people. A large number of traditional festivals are observed by the devotees of Jagannath. Out of those numerous festivals, twelve are importa ...

List of Sindhi festivals One of the first civilizations of human history, the Sindhis have a rich and clearly distinct cultural heritage and are very festive. The most important festival for Hindu Sindhis is the birthday of Lord Jhoolelal and Cheti Chand. Sindhi Hindu ...

List and descriptions of major Hindu festivals

The ''

tithi In Vedic timekeeping, a ''tithi'' is a uration of two faces of moon that is observed from earth known as ''milа̄lyа̄'' (𑐩𑐶𑐮𑐵𑐮𑑂𑐫𑐵𑑅, मिलाल्याः) in Nepal Bhasa, or the time it takes for the longit ...

shown in the'' following list is as per the amānta tradition.

References

External links

Festivals
Ministry of Culture {{DEFAULTSORT:Hindu festivals

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Festivals A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...

Lists of observances Lists of religious festivals Lists of festivals in Pakistan
2021 All Festivals , Date, Timing, History