Tag: Festival

  • Celebration of Holi – A Unique and Vibrant Festival of Colors

    Holi or Holika, is a spring festival celebrated at the onset of the spring season, on the full moon day (Purnima) in the month of Phalguna. It is also the first day of the Hindu calendar (samvat) and a day of great joy and gaiety in the cities of Vrindavan and Mathura. Holi means the…

  • Chaitra Navaratri – Spring Festival of the Goddess

    Chaitra Navaratri or the nine (nava-) nights (-ratri) of Durga, are celebrated in the first 9 days of the bright half of the month of Chaitra (starting from the day after Amavasya). According to the Indian lunar calendar, this usually in late March or early April. This period of nine days heralds the onset of…

  • Goddess Durga Mantras

    The Gayatri Mantra is one of the most revered and perhaps one of the most practiced mantra in Hinduism. The Durga Gayatri is a variation of the Gayatri mantra designed to address Goddess Durga, particularly during the period of Durga Navaratri or Durga Puja. The Durga Gayatri adapts the 24-syllable metre of the original Gayatri…

  • Durga Navaratri – Celebrating the Goddess

    Durga Navratri, or the nine (nava-) nights (-ratri) of Durga, are celebrated in the first 9 days of the bright half of the month (starting from the day after Amavasya) of Aswayuja/Asvina in the Indian lunar calendar (usually in end of September or early October). This period of nine days is the beginning of the…

  • Celebrating Makar Sankranti

    Makar Sankranti is observed on the 14th of January every year and is (incorrectly) thought to coincide the astronomical event of the northward motion of the sun (uttarayana) from the tropic of capricorn towards the tropic of cancer. In India, it also marks the end of winter and the onset of spring and the progression…

  • Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi – The Bond of Love and Protection

    Raksha Bandhan (the bond – Bandhan of protection – Raksha) is a Hindu festival, which celebrates the love between brothers and sisters. It is celebrated on the full moon (poornima) of the month of Shraavan. This article discusses the different ways that Raksha Bandhan is celebrated across India, the legends behind the festival and the…