Hindu Festivals

The named days of the Hindu year — when they fall, what they mean, and the lunar logic that moves their dates. Each page is a quiet introduction for the curious.

• DiwaliDiwali, the Festival of Lights, is a five-day arc around the Kartik new moon — the darkest night of the year, met deliberately with lamps.
• HoliHoli, the Festival of Colours, lands at the full moon of Phalguna — a bonfire one night, thrown colour the next morning.
• NavratriNavratri — "nine nights" — is the autumn festival of the Goddess, nine nights climbing toward Durga’s victory and Dussehra the day after.
• DussehraDussehra, the tenth day after Navratri, marks good’s victory over evil — Rama over Ravana, Durga over Mahishasura.
• Krishna JanmashtamiJanmashtami marks the midnight birth of Krishna — fasting, devotion, and a cradle rocked at twelve o’clock.
• Ganesh ChaturthiGanesh Chaturthi welcomes the elephant-headed remover of obstacles home for ten days, ending in the immersion of Anant Chaturdashi.
• Raksha BandhanRaksha Bandhan, on the Shravana full moon, ties the thread between sisters and brothers — protection promised both ways.
• Maha ShivaratriMaha Shivaratri, "the great night of Shiva," is a night of fasting and wakefulness on the dark fourteenth before the new moon.
• Ram NavamiRam Navami celebrates the noon birth of Rama, closing the spring Navratri on the ninth bright day of Chaitra.
• Makar SankrantiMakar Sankranti marks the sun’s turn north into Capricorn — the one major festival fixed to the sun, not the moon, so its date barely moves.
• Karva ChauthKarva Chauth is a dawn-to-moonrise fast kept for a spouse’s long life, broken only when the moon is sighted through a sieve.
• Akshaya TritiyaAkshaya Tritiya is the "never-diminishing third" — a day held to be wholly auspicious, when what is begun is said to endure.
• Hanuman JayantiHanuman Jayanti, on the Chaitra full moon, celebrates the birth of the monkey-god — strength placed wholly in service of devotion.
• Guru PurnimaGuru Purnima, the Ashadha full moon, is the day of gratitude to one’s teacher — the one who turns darkness to light.

Looking for a specific date? The Vedic calendar shows the full month, and the glossary explains the terms.