Tag Archives: hindu festival

Indian Festival of Trailanga Swami Jayanti

Celebrating the 409th Birth Anniversary of Shri Trailanga Swami.

Indian Festival of Trailanga Swami Jayanti

Trailanga Swami (reportedly 1607 – December 26, 1887 CE) was a great Hindu yogi and mystic famed for his spiritual powers. For most of his life he stayed in Varanasi, India. He is regarded by devotees as an incarnation of Shiva. Swami Ramakrishna referred to him as The Walking Shiva of Varanasi. According to some accounts, he lived a very long life of around 280 years. Trailanga Swami was also known as Telang Swami and Tailang Swami.

Indian Festival of Makar Sankranti

Celebrating the spirit of Sankranti, the festival of harvest.

Indian Festival of Makar Sankranti

Makar Sankranti is a Hindu harvest festival celebrated in almost all parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh in many cultural forms. It falls on the Magh month of the Hindu Solar Calendar. It is celebrated on January 15 in 2016. On this day the Sun returns to the Northern Hemisphere and passes from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn (Makara). The name of the festival literally means the movement of Sun into Capricorn. Sankranti marks the termination of winter season and beginning of a new harvest or spring season.

Indian Festival of Lohri

Midwinter festival of Punjab with bonfire, song, Bhangra and Gidda dance.

Indian Festival of Lohri

Lohri is a popular Punjabi festival, celebrated by people of Sikh faith as well as Hindu faith from the Punjab region of India. Lohri is mainly Sikh festival however the day of Lohri is decided based on Hindu calendar. Lohri is closely linked to Hindu festival Makara Sankranti and it is celebrated one day before of that on the last day of Punjabi month of Poh. So, Lohri commemorates the passing of the winter solstice.

Indian Festival of Karva Chauth

Hope this auspicious day makes the bonding stronger.

Indian Festival of Karva Chauth

Karva Chauth is a one-day festival celebrated by Hindu women in North India in which married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands. The fast is observed in the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, western Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The festival falls on the fourth day after the full moon, in the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Kartik.

Durga Puja Parikrama 2014

Twelve famous pandals visited during Durga Puja in Kolkata.

Durga Puja Parikrama

Any Durga Puja celebration is incomplete without visiting the many different pandals (displays) of Goddess Durga, each with a unique theme. A major attraction during the festival, this activity is often referred to a Pandal Hopping. The magnificence of the festival is revealed in these twelve famous and extravagant Pandals in Kolkata, some modern and some traditional, that were worth visiting during Durga Puja in 2014.

Indian Festival of Durga Puja

The festival epitomizes the triumph of good over evil.

Indian Festival of Durga Puja

Durga Puja, also referred to as Durgotsava (Festival of Durga), is a famous Hindu festival marked by worship of Mother Goddess Durga over the last five days of Navratri, in the Ashwin month of the Hindu calendar. These five days are observed as Shashthi, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Vijayadashami. The festivities culminate on the tenth day on Vijayadashami when Durga idols are carried out in grand procession and immersed in the river or other water bodies.

Indian Festival of Dussehra

The celebration of victory of good over evil.

Indian Festival of Dussehra

The nine-day Navaratri festival culminates with the celebration of Dussehra or Vijayadashami (victory on tenth day). Dussehra is celebrated as the victory of Lord Rama over demon king Ravana of Lanka. Dussehra also commemorates the triumph of warrior Goddess Durga over the buffalo-headed demon called Mahishasura, giving the goddess her name Mahishasura-Mardini (the slayer of Mahishasura).

Indian Festival of Onam

May the spirit of Onam remains everywhere.

Indian Festival of Onam

Onam is an ancient ten day harvest festival celebrated by the people of Kerala in honor of mythical King Mahabali’s annual visit from the netherworld to see his people living happily. The ten days of Onam are celebrated with great fanfare in the month of Chingam, the first month of Malayalam calendar. Of all these days, most important ones are the first day, Atham, and the tenth and final day, Thiru Onam. In 2014, Thiru Onam is on Sunday, September 7.

Indian Festival of Raksha Bandhan

The sacred thread of love and a bond of protection.

Raksha Bandhan

Raksha Bandhan is an ancient Hindu festival that ritually celebrates the affectionate bond between brothers and sisters. It is also called Rakhi Purnima, or simply Rakhi (sacred thread of love). ‘Raksha’ means protection and ‘Bandhan’ means a bond (a bond of protection).