How many festivals and thereby holidays do you get as a resident of India?
- Pongal and Makra Shankranthi - mid January: This is a harvest festival celebrated in Southern India. The festival coincides with the harvest of the fall-winter crop, and with the apparent approach of the Sun. Because South India is close to the equator, the area doesn’t start warming up until about a month after the winter solstice.
- Republic Day - January 26: This is a national holiday, not a religious one, thereby falling on an exact calendar day. This was the day that India adopted its Constitution and stopped being a Commonwealth Dominion like Australia or Canada and became a republic. This was because being a dominion meant that the Queen or King of England would be the head of state, with a Crown appointed Governor General acting with their authority. India wanted to completely eliminate all foreign influence on their national government and opted instead to designate an indirectly elected President as nominal head of state. The day is observed with a big military parade in New Delhi.
- Martyr’s day (Gandhi’s day of death) - Jan 30: While this isn’t a holiday, this day is marked with most institutions observing a two minute silence at 11 AM, to commemorate the time that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse.
- Holi - late Feb to early March: Holi is a religious/harvest festival initially observed in Northern and Central India. The religious aspect commemorates the immolation of the villainess Holika during her attempt to murder Prahalad the young devotee of Vishnu. The festival itself is celebrated by people splashing paint of various colors all over each other, thereby resembling a country wide paintball game.
- Chandramma Ugadi - early to mid March: This is the day that a new year begins in Karnataka, AP and Telangana.
- Subhash Chandra Bose’s birthday: This day commemorates the birthday of the famous revolutionary who worked with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan to violently expel the British from India.
- Good Friday and Easter
- Rama Nawami - early April: Commemorates the (supposed) birth of Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu and hero of the Ramayana.
- Baisakhi - mid April: A harvest festival celebrated primarily in Western and Northwestern India.
- Basava Jayanthi - late April
- May Day - May 1: Equivalent of Labor Day in the US.
- Buddha Jayanthi - early May
- Krishna Jayanthi - early July
- Onam - mid July: Onam is the start of the new year in Kerala.
- Independence Day - Aug 15: This was the day that the British stopped direct rule over India and granted it Dominion status.
- Ganesha Chaturthi - early September: A festival celebrating Ganesha, the elephant god of wisdom and cleverness.
- Teacher’s Day - Sep 5: This is actually the birthday of India’s second President, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishna, who began his career as an educator. On this day, teaching is temporarily suspended in all schools, while students engage in multiple activities to show appreciation for their teachers.
- Gandhi Jayanthi - Oct 1: The birthday of Mohaandas Karamchand Gandhi.
- Varamahalakshmi - mid to late September: A festival celebrating Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.
- Dusserah - all through mid to late October: Dusserah commemorates an event in the Ramayana. Ten days of celebrations are held to celebrate Rama’s triumphant return to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana and rescuing Sita.
- Divali - early to mid November: This is probably the most well known Indian festival, as it is celebrated with lots and lots of fireworks.
- Children’s Day - Nov 14: This day is actually the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first ever Prime Minister of India. Since he would always find time even with the extremely busy schedule of a head of state, to play with children, it was decided to designate his birthday as a day celebrating all of India’s children.
- Christmas - Dec 25
