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Festivals & events
Celebrate India
India's calendar bursts with religious, regional, musical, cultural and culinary celebrations. Filter by month, type or state to plan around the right moment.
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Indian festivals mostly follow lunar calendars, so the exact days shift each year. We name the month they fall in and leave the day to the panchang closer to the time.
Festival calendarFestival directory
217 festivals
Use the calendar when timing is the main decision, or browse the directory for context, location and meaning.
Braj Mahotsav
MarchCulturalBharatpur, Deeg, and Kaman regions in the Braj cultural belt of Rajasthan.
A celebration of Krishna lore and local folk heritage, with Raslila dance at its heart.
Chapchar Kut
MarchCulturalAcross Mizoram, with the main celebrations held in Aizawl.
The biggest, most joyful bamboo-clearing spring festival of the Mizo people, featuring the spectacular Cheraw dance.
Eid ul-Fitr
MarchReligiousCelebrated by Muslims across India; major historic centers include Delhi (Jama Masjid), Hyderabad (Charminar), Lucknow, Srinagar (Hazratbal), and Mumbai (Mohammad Ali Road).
The 'Festival of Breaking the Fast' ending the holy month of Ramadan, celebrated with communal prayers, feasting, charity (zakat) and family gatherings.
Gangaji Fair, Dabhel
MarchFairSomnath Mahadev Temple at Dabhel village, Daman district — inland, away from the beach circuit.
Daman's largest Hindu congregational event, and the counterweight to the territory's Portuguese-Catholic reputation.
Gangaur
MarchRegionalHeavily celebrated across Rajasthan (most famously in Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer), and by Rajasthani communities in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal.
A Rajasthani festival honouring Goddess Gauri (Parvati), celebrated by women with colourful processions of idols, folk songs, and prayers for marital happiness.
Hola Mohalla
MarchCulturalAnandpur Sahib, Rupnagar District, Punjab
A Sikh martial arts festival begun by Guru Gobind Singh Ji, with Nihang warriors showing their swordsmanship and horsemanship.
Holi
MarchReligiousNorth India, primarily the Braj region (Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana), Bihar, and widely across the global diaspora.
The festival of colours marking the arrival of spring and the victory of good over evil. Celebrated by smearing coloured powders, water play, music and sweets.
International Yoga Festival
MarchCulturalRishikesh, Uttarakhand, predominantly hosted at the Parmarth Niketan Ashram on the banks of the Ganges River.
A week-long global gathering of yoga teachers and practitioners on the banks of the Ganga in Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world.
Kottankulangara Chamayavilakku
MarchReligiousSree Kottankulangara Devi Temple, Chavara, Kollam district, Kerala.
A unique ritual where thousands of men cross-dress in traditional silk sarees to hold oil lamps for the Goddess.
Madhavpur Mela
MarchCulturalMadhavpur Ghed, coastal village near Porbandar, Gujarat.
A historic cultural fair celebrating the marriage of Krishna and Rukmini, building cultural bridges with Northeast India.
Mahavir Jayanti
MarchReligiousCelebrated across India, with major historical celebrations in Pawapuri and Kundalpur (Bihar), the Dilwara Temples near Mount Abu (Rajasthan), and Palitana (Gujarat).
The most important Jain festival, celebrating the birth of Lord Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara. Marked by temple processions, prayers and acts of charity.
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Matho Nagrang
MarchReligiousMatho Monastery, located approximately 26 km southeast of Leh, Ladakh.
Famous for the two blindfolded oracles who go into public trance and foretell what is to come.
Mewar Festival
MarchCulturalUdaipur, Mewar vistar, Rajasthan.
Welcomes the arrival of spring with traditional Rajasthani folk dances, singing, lake boat pageants, and fireworks.
Myoko Festival
MarchCulturalThe Ziro Valley, Lower Subansiri district, Arunachal Pradesh, rotating across ancestral Apatani villages like Hari, Hong, and Haja.
A carefully ordered friendship festival that passes in turn between the Apatani clans, with shamanic fire prayers.
Phool Dei
MarchRegionalVillages and towns throughout Kumaon and Garhwal. It is a doorstep festival, performed house to house rather than at a shrine.
One of very few Indian festivals performed almost entirely by children, and the clearest surviving marker of the Himalayan solar new year.
Ram Navami
MarchReligiousCelebrated throughout India, with deep spiritual centers in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), Bhadrachalam (Telangana), and Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu).
Celebrates the birth of Lord Rama. Marked by temple processions, recitations of the Ramayana, and grand celebrations in Ayodhya.
Sarhul
MarchRegionalTribal regions of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
The tribal New Year, worshipping nature and the sacred Sal tree, marked by heavy drumming and the sharing of local flowers.
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Shigmo
MarchCulturalAcross Goa, with grand state-sponsored street float parades in Panaji, Margao, Ponda, and Mapusa.
The spring harvest festival of Goan Hindus, celebrated with street float parades, folk drumming, and traditional dances.
Srinagar Tulip Festival
MarchCulturalThe Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden on the lower slopes of Zabarwan, overlooking Dal Lake, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir.
A modern state tourism event rather than a tradition — the garden was laid out in the 2000s and is the largest of its kind in Asia by the administration's own account. It matters because it reliably marks the start of the Kashmir season.
Ugadi / Gudi Padwa
MarchRegionalProminently celebrated in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka (as Ugadi), and Maharashtra and Goa (as Gudi Padwa).
The New Year for Telugu, Kannada and Marathi communities, celebrated with neem-jaggery dishes (Ugadi Pachadi), new clothes, and the raising of the Gudi flag.
Yaoshang
MarchCulturalAcross Manipur, especially the Imphal Valley.
The premier Meitei festival combining colour play with indigenous sports and the midnight Thabal Chongba circle dance.
Aoling Festival
AprilCulturalMon district, Nagaland, across all Konyak Naga tribal settlements and ancestral villages.
The vibrant spring festival of the Konyak Naga tribe, marked by traditional gun firing, ancestral war dress, and songs.
Asol Aap
AprilRegionalBig Lapathy Beach, Car Nicobar. The 2023 course ran on open sea from Chukchucha to Kinmai village.
A living indigenous practice formalised into an administered championship — the boats and the skill are traditional, the bracket and the trophies are not.
Baisakhi (Vaisakhi)
AprilRegionalPunjab, Haryana, and major Sikh diaspora hubs globally.
The Punjabi harvest festival and Sikh New Year, marking the founding of the Khalsa in 1699. Celebrated with Bhangra and Gidda dances, fairs, and gurudwara prayers.
Baisakhi in Chandigarh
AprilReligiousGurdwaras across the city rather than one venue, including Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Sector 46-D.
Observed across north India, but its Chandigarh form is specifically Sikh and organised gurdwara by gurdwara rather than by the city.
Bangalore Karaga
AprilReligiousDharmaraya Swamy Temple, Pete vistar, Bengaluru, Karnataka.
A centuries-old festival where a carrier balances an intricate floral pyramid representing Draupadi across streets.
Bihu
AprilRegionalAssam and across the Brahmaputra Valley.
Assam's set of harvest festivals marking the agricultural cycle. Rongali Bihu welcomes the Assamese New Year with Bihu dance, folk songs, and feasting.
Chad Sukra
AprilReligiousJowai, West Jaintia Hills district, Meghalaya, with Seiñ Raij chapters elsewhere holding their own.
A living religious tradition of the Niamtre faith rather than a tourism product, organised by the Seiñ Raij Jowai, the Pnar socio-religious body.
Cheiraoba
AprilCulturalThroughout the state of Manipur, particularly centered in the domestic courtyards and sacred hilltops of the Imphal Valley.
The traditional Meitei New Year, marked by feasts cooked at home and a climb to the local sacred mountain tops.
Chithirai Festival (Madurai)
April - MayRegionalMadurai, Tamil Nadu.
Madurai's grandest temple festival, re-enacting the celestial wedding of Goddess Meenakshi and Lord Sundareswarar, with massive chariot processions.
Garia Puja
AprilReligiousAcross the state of Tripura, observed with immense religious devotion inside both rural tribal hamlets and urban administrative quarters.
A tribal harvest ritual in which Lord Garia is worshipped in the form of an adorned bamboo pole.
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Hanuman Jayanti
AprilReligiousCelebrated pan-India; particularly popular in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
Celebrates the birth of Lord Hanuman, the devoted companion of Rama and symbol of strength and devotion. Marked by temple visits and recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa.
Kollam Pooram
AprilRegionalAsramam Sree Krishna Swamy Temple grounds, Kollam, Kerala.
A spectacular temple pageant of caparisoned elephants, its own orchestral arrangements, and parasols changed in sequence overhead.
Meghalaya Strawberry Festival
AprilFoodSohliya village, Umsning block, Ri-Bhoi district, Meghalaya — the origin site and usual inaugural venue.
A modern government agri-tourism event, first held in 2024, organised with the state tourism and agriculture departments.
Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year)
AprilRegionalWest Bengal, Tripura, and across Bengali diaspora communities worldwide.
The Bengali New Year, marked by Prabhat Pheri processions, new ledgers for businesses (Halkhata), cultural programmes, and festive Bengali feasts.
Puthandu
AprilRegionalAcross the state of Tamil Nadu, with grand celebrations in major temple hubs like Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, and Chennai.
The Tamil New Year, centred on the Kani — an auspicious tray of fruits and gold viewed first thing in the morning.