Across the 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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

, 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 ...

. 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 physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

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 ...

dates are usually prescribed according to a

. In Vedic timekeeping, a ''māsa'' is a lunar month, a ''pakṣa'' is a lunar fortnight 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 around Earth ( Earth rise to Earth set) plus about 2.2 mo ...

. 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 * List of festivals observed at Jagannatha Temple, Puri * List of Sindhi festivals

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 longi ...

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 ...

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