Travel to India, this Festive Season Diwali Holi, and More …
India is the land of festivals; a confluence of many religions produced a calendar which is dotted with these ceremonies.Travel to India this festive season Diwali Holi and More can be explored.
India celebrates the vividness and the richness of its history and opens a window to its thousands of years old culture. Plan a travel to India during the festive season. It is a sure shot way to discover this unique land and also witness it through the lenses of a ‘resident’.
India is vast. There are many States and Union territories that constitute this country. With each new state comes the change in language and culture. Not only that, but within the same state too one can see vividness. Every few miles traversed in any direction will not only change the landscape but it will also present a culture – markedly different in its practices and local lifestyle. A huge diversity is palpable which is expressed through the local customs and celebrations of local deities. Even big festivals like Diwali & Holi, with pan India presence, are celebrated in a very different fashion across the country.
Since not all the festivals are of equal significance and are not celebrated across the country with the same vigor, the travelers can plan an itinerary covering the major festivals of different major faiths – Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Jainism well in advance.
Constrained by words, I aim to share and recommend few major festivals of Hindu Religion month wise- clearly earmarked in the Hindu calendar which is Lunisolar.
January – Sankranti, Pongal, Lohri
February – Vasant Panchami
March- Holi, Chaitra Navratri, Ugadi, Gangaur
April- Ramnavmi, Hanuman Jayanti
June- Rathyatra
July-Guru Purnima
August- Rakhi, Janmashtami, Kumbh Mela, Ganesh Chaturthi
September- Navratri, Dasha-Hara.
October – Diwali and nearby festivals
A travel planned for the month of September/October may not be a bad idea to start with. The festival calendar starts from either these two months which last till the year-end.
The preparations start before the Navratri – a nine-day long festival which culminates on the tenth day with the celebrations of Bijoya Dashmi or Dasha-Hara meaning “remover of bad fate.” It is also called as Dussehra.
Also read my post: Navratri the Nine Nights Festival
After 20 days, comes the festival of lights Diwali. It is a celebration of lights and prosperity. Lakshmi – The goddess of wealth – is worshipped by all and sundry.
Preparations start in advance
First we buy the Lamps or Candles
Then we buy sweets
Then some fire crackers
Also read my post: Diwali at Pink City Jaipur
Most of the cities are decorated with glittering lamps and hand-made lamps or ‘diyas’ elevating the mood. Colorful patterns or ‘Rangolis’ also adorn the floors and the courtyards. It is an art form in which colorful patterns are created by using colored rice, dry flour, and flower petals.
I love traveling to religious and spiritual destinations. It is the best way to understand the local culture and lifestyle. Check out my post : Spiritual Travel in India .
The history of place usually determines the architecture and landmarks which travelers explore but the true essence of a place can be best felt by imbibing the local customs and rituals which have been shaped by years of practices and passing down of well-kept secrets. As a traveler, there’s no other better way to learn it all than by witnessing these magical festivals which all have a hidden meaning.
‘Travel like a local’ is a buzzword nowadays but why don’t we celebrate like a local too???
October is also a month of celebration across the world and so much so that the Oktoberfest is named after this month. If this was not enough one can participate in the ‘Blogtober‘ too.
Check out the Diwali Lighting below at the Pink City Jaipur and let us know how you liked the celebration
Life is a celebration and it’s a good idea to celebrate as much one can!
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I love that India has so many great festivals to choose from! I’ve still never been, so it would be amazing to go and witness a festival. Holi in particular has always seemed really fun!
Helene, glad you liked, you will love visiting India, Holi is a nice option for photographers to capture colors and also enjoy the colorful parties now organized on a larger scale even outside India too.
Thank you for sharing the events. It will help me out in planning my trip. Holi no doubt is a very colorful and exciting festival.
Glad you liked Heraa, Holi is indeed a good event to explore for photographers and travelers, I am sure you will like it ..
Nice read. What’s the street food like in India?
Thanks, Michael, the street food is an unlimited exploring option in itself, with each state the street food changes, depends on which part you are visiting, there are more dedicated food chains too now on street food, can be checked on food apps like Zomato and the street food chains are authentic and hygienic too… The famous options are mostly the fried and spicy ones like ‘Samosa, kachori, Chola Bhatura, Idli Gol Gappa’ ..must try them … 🙂
As someone who has never been to India this post is going to be very useful to me for the future. Thank you !!
Glad you liked this post Kimberly, I have highlighted only a few famous ones there are so many others too but these one must try to attend 🙂
India is loaded with festivals. We Indians just need a reason to celebrate 😉 We try and visit out hometown during Diwali annually. Let’s hope we do this time too. Cheers!!
it will be great to visit hometown during Diwali 🙂 I have still not attended all festivals myself
Wow there’s a lot of festivities going on in India, Love to know that Indians are always celebrating, it means that they are happy right? so love your culture.
Alexine, you got it right, these festivals are just another means to make all happy, so no matter what happens people get back on track and celebrate 😀 its fun to join the festivities, I am still exploring these festivals since they are so many.
I have India fever because I’ve been dying to go! They have so many festivals,, it seems India loves celebrating which is a great place to be! I only hear of Holi and Diwal. I hope soon I can make a trip.
Hi, Tyra, I am sure soon you are visiting India and there’s so much to explore 🙂 Will share a few details this week on India for travelers!
India looks incredible and I would love to visit during a festival season! LOVE THIS!
Katie glad you liked this post….I am sure you will love the colors in festivals!
To visit in India during any festival is already delightful experience, have you experience Lorhi festival in Punjab state, Punjabi’s celebrate this festival in unique way.
I have attended Lohri Festival in Delhi and Binsar! Punjab Lohri seems like a good option to explore ! will surely attend some day.
So many festivals coming. Tale lots of photos. Festivals are great for photo opps.
Done Noel actually last weekend was Navratri–sharing pictures in my next blog.
I did not know there were so many festivals. How cool is that!!
Hi teya….these are only the main ones like the tip of an iceberg —I am also still exploring 😀
Love Indian festival, cannot wait for Diwali this great. Great post enjoyed reading.
Thankyou so much !! SO glad you liked this post. More soon .. #blogtober lol
I love this post – India is somewhere I never really considered travelling to but reading your posts makes me want to visit! The festivals look great 🙂
So glad you are now including India in your list, I am surely sharing a lot more on India, so might inspire you further to visit India soon and then will suggest you some awesome places to visit 😀
Thankyou so much !! Did you see our post on Zurich 🙂
I’ve never been to India. Yet. It’s on my list of course. But now I see that there is more to see than temples, sun and heat in India😊
Thank you for this informative post.
Lol yes theres more than temples, it’s the culture ! Thankyou for the positive feedback on this post glad you liked it and I can inspire you to revisit India sooner 🙂 and this time I hope you catch most of the festivals and see an awesome side of this incredible country!
Well well compiled… The festivals really gives an intense glimpse of the culture of India. If you wish to see India turned like a bride then these festivivities are apt to do the same.
I agree that its like India turning into the bride with all the color and light during these festivals 🙂 Thankyou for the positive feedback on this post glad you liked it 🙂
This made me so nostalgic. I have been to India once and did the golden triangle tour while there. It was amazing and I know it didn’t even scratch the surface of what the country has to offer. I was also hoping to catch the Holi Festival in March, but sadly, I missed that. I’m really looking forward to going back and will keep this page handy, so I can align my trip with a festival too..
Thankyou for the positive feedback on this post glad you liked it and I can inspire you to revisit India sooner 🙂 and this time I hope you catch most of the festivals and see an awesome side of this incredible country!
This is such an encouragement to go to India.. I love cultural and festive events. Love the blog!
Thankyou for positive feedback on this post glad you liked it , its such a colorful country 🙂
Lovely festival! I would like to go and photograph. I hope to get to India finlally 🙂
Thankyou for positive feedback on this post glad you liked it and I can inspire you to visit India sooner 🙂
This is very interesting and informative.I didn’t India there were so many festivals, each month has its own!! So, If I have the opportunity to visit India which month do you thing would be the best?
Thankyou for positive feedback on this post glad you liked it and I can inspire you to visit India sooner 🙂 As shared the month of September to November are preferred esp if you can check the date of festival of light called as Diwali it will be really worth it 🙂
My area I live in has a large Indian population and these festivals are really fun to attend – I can imagine it’s even better in India itself 🙂
Glad to know you have attended these in Singapore as well , this is one thing I love about globalization we get to participate and celebrate more 🙂
Loved this post! It’d be great to visit India during Diwali someday, the lights look so beautiful!
Thankyou for positive feedback on this post glad you liked it and I can inspire you to visit India sooner 🙂
Being of Indian descent I’ve only ever traveled to India in April this year. I witnessed the celebration of Hanuman Jayanti and was blown away as it isn’t even the biggest celebration but was done on such a grand scale. It’s definitely in the plan to experience more celebrations in India – beautiful post!
Wow, where did you attend the Hanuman Jayanti ? I want to explore more on that as he’s such a powerful deity. Thank you for positive feedback hope you revisit during the Diwali 🙂
You summed up all the festivals so beautifully, I always envy that in Dubai I get so less holidays but in India we get so many reason to celebrate and also so many holidays 😀
Thankyou for appreciating the post , I always felt holidays were less though lol grass is greener on other side ?
India is one place I would love to visit for the festivals, especially during Diwali. India has so many festivals – one each month! Must be so pretty during Diwali, with all the cities lit up by the hand made lamps.
Thankyou for appreciating the post, Diwali is definitely the best time to visit India as it gets really pretty 🙂
India has so many interesting festivals. I would love to visit and experience some of them sometime.
Thankyou for appreciating the post , glad I could inspire you to visit India sooner 🙂
I just love participating in all the above mentioned festivals ! In school, we are always waiting for festive holidays. The moment we are back to school after a holiday, we start waiting eagerly for the upcoming ones. It’s the only driving factor at school. It keep us going. Am so glad to be a part of India and to experience such diversity without travelling.
I so agree with you 🙂 its one festival after the other which keeps the entire year so festive, Indian is incredible!