Hindu festivals
Here is a little summary of the complex and difficult-to-understand calendar systems used in India, which give basis for the time when particular Hindu festivals take place. These systems follow a certain position of the Moon (like the one used for calculation of Christian Easter). If you want to see important dates of Hindu festivals without reading this introduction, click here.
If you would like to see a few good festival resources in India, click here or here www.hindu-festivals.com
Festivals
in India occur every year on a different date. Of the most common
calendar systems in India we may mention the Vikrama
system, which is used in western and northern
India, in Nepal, too; and the Saka
calendar (also called Shalivahana), which is used in southern
India and in some parts of south Asia.
The year 2002 in the Gregorian calendar
corresponds to the year 2060 in
the Vikrama system and to the year 1925
in the Saka system. However, there are many variants (Bengali
calendar, for example) of calendars. These discrepancies gave birth
to the united Hindu calendar - a variant of the Saka
calendar was modified and established as the Indian
national calendar in 1957.
The Bengali Calendar (introduced in 1584) is widely used in eastern India. The current Bengali year corresponding to the year 2010 is 1417. The Bengali year is always 593 years behind the Gregorian calendar. Telugu Calendar, for example, consists of a sixty year cycle and starts the new year on ugadi i.e., on Chaitra Sudhdha Paadyami. After the completion of sixty years, the calendar starts anew with the first year. (Ugadi, also known as Yugadi, is the Telugu and Kannada New Year. Ugadi 2010 date is March 16. Ugadi or Yugadi means the beginning of an era.)
The term "Panchangam" (astrological calendar) means five attributes, which are: Tithi, Vaar, Nakshatra, Yoga, and Karana. Panchangam is a Hindu astrological calendar. The above attributes have their nature: tithi (lunar day, for example, Pratipat, Dvitiya, etc.); nakshatra (lunar mansion - the ecliptic is divided into 27 nakshatras); karana (half of tithi); yoga (a special calculation when the longitude of the sun and of the moon is normalized to a value ranging from 0° to 360° and divided into 27 parts); vaasara, often abbreviated as vaara - a day of the week (1. Ravi vasara - Sunday [Ravi = SUN]; 2. Soma vasara - Monday [Soma = MOON]; 3. Mangala vasara - Tuesday [Mangala = MARS]; 4. Budha vasara - Wednesday [Budh = MERCURY]; 5. Guru vasara - Thursday [vrihaspati/guru = JUPITER]; 6. Shukra vasara - Friday [Shukra = VENUS]; 7. Shani vasara - Saturday [Shani = SATURN].
The lunar days or "tithis" are calculated according to the angle between the sun and the moon and are divided into two halves:
1 Pratipat
2 Dvitiya
3 Tritiya
4 Chaturthi
5 Panchami
6 Shashti
7 Saptami
8 Ashtami
9 Navami
10 Dasami
11 Ekadasi
12 Dvadasi
13 Trayodasi
14 Chaturdasi
15 Amavasya or Purnima (it depends on the calendar
system whether Dark Moon or Full Moon is accepted as the end of the
month)
The Hindu zodiac is similar to our (Western) one - Matsya (fish), for example, corresponds to Pisces.
Various differences in lunisolar calendars ensue from different opinions/customs used to specify the time when a month ends - it is either Full Moon (purnimanta) or Dark Moon (amanta). Thus, a month with a particular name can start/end at a different time in these calendar systems. There are 12 months in every lunar (solar) year and they may end/start in different times according to the nature of a lunisolar calendar we deal with.
The following dates of months are based on the Indian National Calendar (Saka), which is a standardized calendar system introduced in 1957 with purpose to suppress various confusing regional discrepancies:
Month Length
Start
date in the Gregorian calendar
1 Chaitra 30/31
March
22
2 Vaishakh 31 April
21
3 Jyaistha 31 May
22
4 Asadha 31
June
22
5 Sravana 31 July
23
6 Bhadra 31
August
23
7 Asvina 30
September
23
8 Kartika 30
October
23
9 Margashirsh 30 November
22
10 Pausa 30
December
22
11 Magha 30 January
21
12 Phalgun 30 February
20
Hindu Festivals in 2010
The following dates do not follow the American writing style for dates, but the DD:MM:YY format (Day:Month:Year).
January
13-01-2010
Lohri is the Indian version of a thanksgiving
day (a harvest festival in India).
20-01-2010
Vasant Panchami is a festival
for celebration of Wisdom Goddess, Saraswati
(Her Birthday). Yellow color is
given special importance on Vasant Panchami.
30-01-2010
Thaipusam, celebrated mostly by the Tamil community (Full Moon)
in the Tamil month of Thai, is the festival for celebration of the
Lord Murugan's birthday.
February
12-02-2010
Maha Shivaratri or Shivaratri is a Hindu festival for
Lord Shiva; devotees spend this night in vigilance
(ratri = night) and offer Bilva leaves to Lord
Shiva.
March
1-03-2010
Holi is a festival of colors.
22-03-2010
Saka New Year.
24-03-2010
Ramanavami is a festival for celebration of the Lord Rama's
birthday.
30-03-2010
Hanuman Jayanti is the day when the Lord
Hanuman's birthday is celebrated.
April
15-04-2010
Bengali New Year.
May
27-5-2010
Buddha Purnima / Vaisakhi Purnima.
June
11-06-2010
Ganga Dashami/Dussehra is the festival for Goddess Ganga.
July
13-07-2010
Rath Yatra is a celebration of Lord Jagannath - in the
vaishnava community, a very merciful form of Lord
Krishna.
25-07-2010
Guru Purnima is the day when the birth of Vyasa
(author of the Mahabharata) is celebrated.
August
15-08-2010
Indian Independence Day (this date never changes) from the
year 1947.
23-08-2010
Onam is the festival related only to the Indian state of Kerala;
it is celebrated in memory of the great King
Mahabali to whom Lord Vishnu (in
His Vamana incarnation) appeared and later sent him to nether
worlds. King Mahabali received Vishnu's approval to
visit his land (Kerala) every year and during this festival it is
believed that King Mahabali is with
his people. The King is one of the Chiranjeevins (immortals
in Hinduism). When the festival ends, the King goes back to his underworld
home.
24-08-2010
Raksha-Bandhan is the festival during which relationships between
brothers and sisters are celebrated.
September
2-09-2010
Krishna Janmashtami is the festival when devotees have the
birth of Lord Krishna in memory.
11-09-2010
Ganesh/Vinayak Chaturthi is the festival especially dedicated
to Lord Ganesh; it takes 10 or 11 days and
at the end of it hand-made statues of Lord Ganesh
are immersed into the sea.
17-09-2010
Vishwakarma Puja is a celebration of the celestial architect
- Lord Vishwakarma.
October
02-10-2010
Gandhi Jayanti is a national holiday in memory of Mahatma
Gandhi.
7-10-2010
Mahalaya is the Mother Durga's
day when devotees prepare for Durga puja.
8-10-2010
Navaratri is a Hindu festival of worship and dance especially
focused on nine nights (nav = nine; ratri = night) in worship of Goddess
Durga. On this day Navaratri begins.
14-10-2010
Durga puja/Dusshera begins.
25-10-2010
Karwa Chauth is a Hindu fasting festival for married women.
November
5-11-2010
Diwali or Deepawali is a very important Indian and Nepalese
festival of lights, which signifies victory of the Celestial
Energy over the evil one. In some customs this is
also the Kali's day (Kali Puja).
6-11-2010
On this day, the Vikram New Year (2067) starts.
11-11-2010
Chhat Puja is a festival for Sun God.
21-11-2010
Guru Nanak Jayanti, the founder of the Sikh
faith, was born in the month of Kartik
(October/November), and his birthday is known as Guru
Nanak Jayanti, which is an important festival for the Sikh
community in India.
December
17-12-2010
Gita Jayanti is the day when Bhagavadgita
was born.
