25 Oct
Sharad Purnima / Kojagari
A full-moon festival associated with Lakshmi in some traditions and Krishna’s rasa traditions in others.
Explore →Festivals
A festival is a story you can walk into.
Music in the street, food in the kitchen, a vrata at home, a procession outside, a story remembered again. Festivals make philosophy physical.
In brief
Hindu festivals are not a single uniform calendar of identical customs. Their dates follow lunar or lunisolar calculations, while their stories and practices can change across regions, temples, languages and family traditions.
- Festival dates can shift each year because they follow tithis rather than the Gregorian calendar alone.
- The same festival may carry different stories or ritual emphases in different regions.
- Navratri can include Navadurga worship, Durga Puja, Garba, Golu, Ayudha Puja and Ramlila.
- Regional variation is part of the tradition, not necessarily a contradiction.
- Exact puja timings should be checked against a reliable local panchang.
Coming up
The next sacred days on the calendar.
6 Nov
Dhanteras
The Diwali season begins with health, prosperity, auspicious purchases and Dhanvantari.
Explore →7 Nov
Kali Chaudas / Choti Diwali
The day before the main Diwali night in several traditions, with protective and cleansing observances.
Explore →8 Nov
Naraka Chaturdashi / Deepavali
A major Deepavali morning centred on Krishna’s defeat of Narakasura, early oil bath, new clothes and family celebration.
Explore →8 Nov
Diwali & Lakshmi Puja
The festival of lights carries several regional narratives, including Lakshmi worship and Rama’s return to Ayodhya.
Explore →2026 Hindu Festival Calendar
Dates are useful. Context makes them memorable.
Browse major 2026 festivals month by month, with tithis, regional notes and a short explanation of what each day remembers.
Read for Diwali
Diwali 2026: one festival season, many stories.
Start with the complete guide to the date, five-day sequence, Rama, Lakshmi, Krishna, Kali, Govardhan, Jain and Sikh traditions.
Read the Diwali 2026 guide →Read before Navratri
Navratri 2026: beyond dates, colours and fasting lists.
Sharad Navratri begins on 11 October 2026. Our guide follows the nine forms of Durga, separates textual tradition from later custom, and explains why Vijayadashami also carries Sri Rama’s victory in many traditions.
Read the Navratri 2026 guide →Why traditions differ
The same festival can carry a different memory in the next state, town or family.
Hindu festivals are not a single uniform calendar of identical practices. Regional history, temple traditions, local deities, family customs and different retellings can change what is emphasized and how it is celebrated.
Our festival guides keep that diversity visible. We distinguish a textual story from a regional custom instead of pretending one explanation covers everyone.
Festival guides
Go beyond the date.
Each guide keeps the current year at the top while the permanent URL stays the same, so the story, meaning and traditions can grow over time.
2026 guide
Makara Sankranti & Pongal
Makara Sankranti falls on 14 January 2026. Across India, the day marks a solar turning, harvest, gratitude and the many regional ways people thank the land, cattle and Sun.
Read guide →2026 guide
Vasant Panchami
Vasant Panchami falls on 23 January 2026. The festival welcomes spring and turns toward Saraswati, learning, music, language and the joy of beginning again.
Read guide →2026 guide
Maha Shivaratri
Maha Shivaratri falls on 15 February 2026. It is a night of Shiva, fasting, vigil and inward attention, carrying several stories rather than one single origin.
Read guide →2026 guide
Holi
Holika Dahan falls on 3 March 2026 and Holi on 4 March. The festival moves from a night fire to a day of colour, carrying Prahlada, Krishna and strong regional traditions.
Read guide →2026 guide
Ugadi & Gudi Padwa
Ugadi and Gudi Padwa fall on 19 March 2026. They mark regional New Year traditions built around the first day of Chaitra, new beginnings and the mixed taste of life.
Read guide →2026 guide
Rama Navami
Rama Navami falls on 26 March 2026 in the Smarta calendar. The festival celebrates the birth of Sri Rama and turns the Ramayana into a day of worship, recitation and remembrance.
Read guide →2026 guide
Hanuman Jayanti
Hanuman Jayanti falls on 2 April 2026 in a widely followed Chaitra tradition, though regional calendars differ. The festival honours strength that becomes sacred through service.
Read guide →2026 guide
Akshaya Tritiya & Parashurama Jayanti
Akshaya Tritiya and Parashurama Jayanti fall on 19 April 2026. The date has become famous for buying gold, but its older language is about what does not diminish.
Read guide →2026 guide
Narasimha Jayanti
Narasimha Jayanti falls on 30 April 2026. The festival remembers the moment Vishnu appears in a form that breaks every condition Hiranyakashipu thought could protect him.
Read guide →2026 guide
Ganga Dussehra
Ganga Dussehra falls on 25 May 2026. The festival remembers the descent of the Ganga and the long effort of Bhagiratha to bring sacred water from heaven to earth.
Read guide →2026 guide
Jagannath Ratha Yatra
Jagannath Ratha Yatra falls on 16 July 2026. In Puri, Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra leave the temple and travel publicly in enormous chariots.
Read guide →2026 guide
Guru Purnima
Guru Purnima falls on 29 July 2026. It is a day to honour teachers, remember Vyasa and ask what it actually means to receive knowledge well.
Read guide →2026 guide
Onam
Onam falls on 26 August 2026. Kerala’s great harvest festival remembers Mahabali, welcomes abundance and fills homes with flowers, feasts, games and regional tradition.
Read guide →2026 guide
Raksha Bandhan
Raksha Bandhan falls on 28 August 2026. The rakhi is the visible centre of the festival, but the larger idea is a relationship marked by care, protection and responsibility.
Read guide →2026 guide
Krishna Janmashtami
Krishna Janmashtami falls on 4 September 2026. The festival remembers Krishna’s birth in Mathura, the prison escape into the night and the child raised in Gokul.
Read guide →2026 guide
Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh Chaturthi falls on 14 September 2026. The festival welcomes Ganesha into homes and public pandals, then ends with visarjan, a powerful ritual of arrival and release.
Read guide →2026 guide
Dussehra
Dussehra and Vijayadashami fall on 20 October 2026. The day carries more than one victory: Rama over Ravana, Devi over Mahishasura and regional traditions of tools, learning and kingship.
Read guide →2026 guide
Sharad Purnima
Sharad Purnima falls on 25 October 2026. The bright autumn full moon carries Lakshmi worship in some regions, Krishna’s rasa traditions in others and a night of moonlight, food and wakefulness.
Read guide →2026 guide
Chhath Puja
Chhath Puja falls on 15 November 2026. The festival is built around discipline, water, fasting and offerings to the setting and rising Sun.
Read guide →2026 guide
Kartik Purnima
Kartik Purnima falls on 24 November 2026. The full moon carries river bathing, lamps, Shiva and Vishnu traditions, and the famous Dev Deepavali of Varanasi.
Read guide →2026 guide
Gita Jayanti
Gita Jayanti falls on 20 December 2026. The day remembers the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on Kurukshetra, at the exact moment he no longer knows how to act.
Read guide →2026 guide
Diwali
Diwali 2026 falls on 8 November. But the festival is much larger than one night: Rama, Lakshmi, Krishna, Kali, Govardhan, family rituals and regional traditions all meet in the same season.
Read guide →2026 guide
Dhanteras
Dhanteras falls on 6 November 2026. The day is famous for buying gold and utensils, but its older themes are health, auspicious beginnings and the arrival of Dhanvantari.
Read guide →2026 guide
Naraka Chaturdashi
Naraka Chaturdashi falls on 8 November 2026 in major Indian calendars. For many South Indian families, this is the heart of Deepavali morning.
Read guide →2026 guide
Lakshmi Puja
Bengali Kojagari Lakshmi Puja falls on 25 October 2026 in Kolkata; Diwali Lakshmi Puja is on 8 November. Both honour Maa Lakshmi, on different tithis and with different family traditions.
Read guide →2026 guide
Govardhan Puja
Govardhan Puja falls around 9–10 November 2026 depending on location. The story begins when Krishna asks a village to look again at what truly sustains it.
Read guide →2026 guide
Bhai Dooj
Bhai Dooj falls on 11 November 2026. After the lamps and large festival rituals, Diwali ends by returning to one simple relationship: a brother and sister.
Read guide →2026 guide
Kali Puja
Kali Puja falls on 8 November 2026, the same new-moon night as Diwali. In Bengal, the dark night turns toward Kali rather than only toward Lakshmi.
Read guide →2026 guide
Navratri
Sharad Navratri begins on 11 October 2026. The calendar matters, but the deeper question is what the nine nights are asking us to remember.
Read guide →From the music
Three festivals, three very different moods.
Ganpati arrives with drums. Nag Panchami can become a quiet prayer for protection. Dussehra can be heard through the fierce presence of Mahakali.
4:52Mahakali · Devi
Mahakali
A devotional trance song for Maa Mahakali, with layered voices, deep drums and the refrain “काली काली माँ महाकाली”.
3:49Ganesha · Devotional
Aaya Re Ganpati
A Ganpati arrival anthem with dhol and tasha.
5:59Nag Panchami · Devotional
Naag Devta Chhaya Rakhna
A Nag Panchami bhajan with female vocals and the prayer “नाग देवता छाया रखना”.
FAQ
Questions readers ask
Why do Hindu festival dates change every year?
Many Hindu festivals are calculated using lunar tithis, solar movement and local sunrise rather than fixed Gregorian dates. Because those astronomical cycles do not line up perfectly with the civil calendar, festival dates shift from year to year.
Why is the same Hindu festival celebrated differently across India?
Regional languages, temple traditions, local histories, devotional lineages and family customs all shape festival practice. One sacred season can therefore carry several legitimate ritual and narrative traditions.
Is Navratri the same as Durga Puja?
They overlap in the same sacred season but are not identical in practice. Durga Puja is especially prominent in Bengal and focuses intensely on the Goddess during the later days, while Navratri includes many other regional forms of worship.
What is the difference between Dussehra and Vijayadashami?
The terms often refer to the same tenth-day festival, but regional emphasis differs. Some traditions foreground Rama’s victory over Ravana, others Devi’s victory over Mahishasura, and others connect the day with learning, weapons, tools or royal ceremony.
Why can a festival span two calendar dates?
A tithi can begin or end at any time during a Gregorian day and may cross sunrise. Ritual calendars often use the tithi present at sunrise or another rule specific to the observance, so one festival period can overlap two civil dates.
Sources
Calendar references
These links are provided so readers and machines can trace important claims back to the text or reference used.
Drik Panchang ↗Calendar cross-check for tithis and major festival dates; exact timings vary by location.
Prokerala Hindu Calendar ↗Secondary calendar cross-check for major Indian festival dates.