Holidays in India Cancel Title is required

I thought it would be nice for all of us to have a list of the holidays in India. I will post some different calendars for Hindu and Muslim holidays. For both of the holidays, the dates change every year, because they are not based on Western calendar dates. Most Hindu holidays are based on the lunar calendar, and I am not sure about the Muslim holidays.

There are a lot of Hindu holidays-- please keep in mind that Holi and Diwali are two of the biggest.

Makar Sankrant http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/makar.shtml

Makar Sankrant is one of the most important festivals of the Hindu calendar and celebrates the sun's journey into the northern hemisphere.

Vasant Panchami

Dedicated to Saraswati, the goddess of learning and Brahma's wife. The festival marks the beginning of Spring.

Mahashivratri

Mahashivratri is a Hindu festival dedicated to Shiva, one of the deities of the Hindu Trinity.

Holi

The Hindu spring festival.

Swaminarayan Jayanti http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/swaminarayanjayanti.shtml

This day marks the birth of Lord Swaminarayan for followers of the Swaminarayan tradition.

Rama Navami http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/rama.shtml

Birthday of Lord Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu and the hero of the Ramayana

Hanuman Jayanti http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/hanuman.shtml

This festival marks the birth of Hanuman, the Monkey God.

Raksha Bandhan http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/raksha.shtml

Raksha Bandhan is the Hindu festival that celebrates brotherhood and love. "Raksha Bandhan" means a thread for protection.

Janmashtami - Krishna Jayanti http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/janamashtami.shtml

The Janamashtami festival marks the birth of Krishna, the most highly venerated God in the Hindu pantheon.

Navaratri (start) http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/navaratri.shtml

Navaratri (nine nights) symbolises the triumph of good over evil and marks the start of autumn.

Dussera

Celebrates Lord Rama's victory over the evil demon Ravana.

Diwali

Diwali, the festival of lights, is the most popular of all the festivals from South Asia. It is an occasion for celebrations by Hindus as well as Jains and Sikhs.

List of Popular India Public Holidays 2011 Dates
Below is the list of India 2011 holidays

New Year’s Day
Saturday, 1 January 2011

Pongal
Harvest Festival of South India
Friday, 14 January 2011

India Republic Day^
Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Milad-Un-Nabi
Mawlid an-Nabi – Birth of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Mahashivratri / Maha Sivaratri
Great Night of Shiva – offerings of Bael (Bilva) leaves to the Lord Shiva, a Hindu festival
Thursday, 3 March 2011

Holi
Hindu festival of colours
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Sunday, 20 March 2011

Good Friday
Death of Jesus – Christian holiday
Friday, 22 April 2011

Easter Monday
Resurrection of Jesus – Christian holiday
Read more in Easter Sunday 2011http://sgholiday.com/2010/11/easter-2011/
Monday, 25 April 2011

Mahavir Jayanthi
Birth of Mahavira, the last Tirthankara – the most important religious holiday in Jainism
Saturday, 16 April 2011

Buddha Purnima
Vesak Day – Celebrates birth, enlightenment, and death of Buddha
India Budha Purnima 2011http://sgholiday.com/2010/08/vesak-day-celebration-in-2011/
Tuesday, 17 May 2011

Raksha Bandhan
Hindu Festival celebrated mainly in northern India
Saturday, 13 August 2011

Independence Day^
Celebrates India Independence
Monday, 15 August 2011

Krishna Janmashtami / Srikrishna Jayanti
Birth of Krishna – a Hindu festival celebrating birth of Lord Krishna, an avatar of god Vishnu
Monday, 22 August 2011

Id ul Fitr
Eid ul-Fitr – End of Ramadan, according to Islamic Calendar
Eid 2011 http://sgholiday.com/2010/08/hari-raya-2011/
Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Ganesh Chaturthi
Hindu Festival to celebrate the birthday of Lord Ganesh (Ganesha). Anant Chaturdashi will be celebrated on the last day of Ganesh Chaturthi, Monday, 12 September 2011.
Thursday, 1 September 2011 – Monday, 12 September 2011

Dussehra
Vijaya Dashami – Hindu festival
Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Gandhi Jayanti^
Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday
Sunday, 2 October 2011

Deepavali / Diwali
Festival of Lights – a very important Hindu festival
Diwali 2011 http://sgholiday.com/2010/11/diwali-deepavali-2011/
Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Idu’l Zuha/Bakrid
Eid al-Adha – Feast of the Sacrifice, according to Islamic Calendar
Qurban 2011 http://sgholiday.com/2010/11/haji-kurban-qurban-2011/
Sunday, 6 November 2011

Guru Nanak Jayanti
Guru Nanak’s Birthday – Sikh Festival
Thursday, 10 November 2011

Muharram
Islamic New Year
Saturday, 26 November 2011

Christmas Day
Birth of Jesus – one of Christian most important holidays.
Sunday, 25 December 2011

Boxing Day
The day after Christmas – Christian Holiday
Monday, 26 December 2011

^Denotes India National Holidays
Happy India Holidays 2011 !

source: http://sgholiday.com/2010/05/india-public-holidays-2011-calendar/

Thanks for these! It willbe really helpful when writing letters - I can reference things in their lives and ask questions! Also, there ARE dates on your first posts. I just think they're pretty close to white in color. If you highlight the text you can see them.

By the way, West Bengal has its own calendar, similar to but distinct from the rest of India and even Bangladesh. (Per wikipedia.) For one thing, it's primarily a solar calendar, based on the cycle of the sun, with slightly different lengths for different months to keep them synced with the sun, rather than a lunar calendar, in which months are always 28 days. In 594, the reigning emperor had a new calendar developed to replace the Muslim calendar then in use. Taxes were collected during a particular month; since the Muslim calendar is strictly lunar, the tax collection month was often out of the sync from the harvest time, when farmers had crops or cash to pay the tax. By pegging the new calendar more to the sun, tax collection and harvests stayed together.

Years

• The Bengali calendar is dated from 593 AD [CE]. So the current year is 1417 (2010-593).
• The Indian, or Hindu, calendar is dated from 78 AD [CE], so the current year is 1932.
• The Muslim calendar (also a factor in West Bengal) is dated from 622 AD [CE], so their current year is 1388.
• The Jewish calendar is dated from 3761 BC [BCE], when the world is reckoned to have been created based on calculations from the book of Genesis. So their current year is 5771.

New Years Day

The year begins in the western month of April, on the 14th in Bangladesh and the 15th in West Bengal. The first month is called Boishakh. So you will get letters from your kids wishing you a happy New Year in May or June. Unless they also mention Christmas, they didn't take 4 months to translate.

Seasons

Officially, India has 4 seasons:

• Winter: Mid-Dec. to Mid-Apr.
• Summer/Pre-Monsoon: Mid-Apr. to Mid-June or July
• Monsoon: End of summer to sometime in September
• Post-Monsoon: End of Monsoon to beginning of winter

But the Bengali and Hindu calendars have 6 seasons, 2 months each, which better reflect the weather in south Asia. Beginning at the Bengali New Year, they are:

• Summer: Mid-Apr to Mid-June.
• Rainy/Monsoon: Mid-June to Mid-Aug
• Autumn (sometimes "Pre-Autumn"): Mid-Aug to Mid-Oct
• Dry (sometimes "Autumn"--one of these Autumn seasons is sometimes called "Planting" season, I think): Mid-Oct to Mid-Dec
• Winter: Mid-Dec to Mid-Feb
• Spring: Mid-Feb to Mid-Apr

These are roughly the seasons the kids mention, although it seems like they sometimes combine the Autumns (or maybe the translators do, lacking an English equivalent that doesn't require explanation). So if they mention summer, they're usually talking about our spring. The summer months are the ones they describe as "very, very" hot (105+ F). Spring and fall aren't particularly balmy either, with temps in the 90s. And West Bengal, esp. the Kolkata area, is one of the most humid places in the world, if not the most.

However, in everyday use, the Bengali calendar has largely been replaced with the western calendar. They celebrate Jan. 1 as New Years day in addition to Bengali New Year, and school calendars and such use western months. State/district government documents are dated with both western and Bengali dates, and newspapers often use all 3 dates: western, Bengali and Muslim.

Thanks jenkinsg, for the additional information.. I actually don't know that much about all the different calendars and dates and such... and it is true that W. Bengal has some separate holidays that are important that are not celebrated everywhere, like Durga Pooja.

I don't know as much about W. Bengal since I have spent msot of my time in Delhi and Jaipur. Each region has it's own important holidays..

As far as I know the Hindu holidays of Diwali, Holi and Raksha bandan are celebrated through many places in N. India.

Diwali is the festival of lights. Small oil lamps called Diyas are lit and placed around the home. At this time, people often give gifts to family members, such as new clothes and share Indian sweets, called mithai.

If you want to send yoru child or child's family something on Diwali, you may be able to find (or make) a Diwali greeting card. Also you can send them some beautiful Diye like the ones below (probably can find them on an Indian shopping website) or send them (or send a SNG) for new clothes in the Diwali season.

Holi is the spring festival of colors. On Holi people have a lot of fun "playing colors". People dress in white, or something old, and the children and adults get powdered or liquid colors and people have a giant color/water fight. This is really fun, except some of the colors don't come off for days, so you end up with weird stained skin and hair... :)

On the night when Holi starts, some people (I experienced this in Bihar) make a giant bonfire to mark the beginning of Holi. There then people sand and danced and went around shouting "Holi Hai!" (It's Holi!!) Also when I was in Bihar, we visited neighbors homes and (nicely, not like the kids!) sprinkled some powdered color on each other and people offered mithai (sweets).

Here are Vivek and I after playing colors on his University campus (like my green moustache?):