INTRODUCTION
In India, the celebrations of fairs and festivals are considered as an enjoyment for all the people, especially the children.
Indians from various religious groups celebrate their respective festivals with much joy and enthusiasm and they will offer prayers to the gods and worship them for their prosperity.
There are a large number of Hindu religious festivals celebrated throughout the world. Hindus living in foreign countries also celebrate the festivals as if they are celebrating in their home town. They will not forget their Indian culture, and celebrate it as a token of paying respect to the god.
Most important festivals widely celebrated by the Indians throughout the world, are: Diwali, Pongal, Navratri, Vinayaka Chaturthi, Krishna Jayanti, Maha Shivaratri, Hanuman Jayanti and Ram Navami.
1. Holi Festival is mainly celebrated by the north Indians. It is celebrated in order to mark the killing of Holika by Prahalad, the demoness aunt of Bhakt Prahalad. It is a festival for destroying the evil. It is a celebrated for more than a week. During this festival, people throw colored water on each other in a joyful mood.
2. Diwali is the festival of lights. Diwali is also a festival celebrated similar to the people celebrating the Christmas festival in the foreign countries.
3. Durga Puja: Durga, is also worshiped as Amba or Jagdamba, Annapurna, Bhairavi, and in many other forms by the Indian people, during the Navratri festival days.
4. Chhat Puja (Festival dedicated to the Sun God also known as Surya Bhagawan). Chhath is mainly celebrated in Bihar but is also celebrated in other states by the north Indian temple. It is a festival dedicated to the Sun God for fulfilling wishes and getting relieved from various diseases, since sun god is capable of relieving us from our various diseases, and gives us peace and prosperity in our life.
5. Ratha Yatra: Rath Yatra is the festival related with Puri Jagannath.It is the most important festival of Bengalis and Odias and celebrated in Odhisha in honor of Lord Krishna Bhagawan.
6. Raksha Bandhan: Raksha Bandhan is a festival mainly celebrated by the north Indians in order to show their bondage of love between the brothers and sisters.
7. Thai Pongal: Pongal is one of the most popular harvest festivals of Tamil Nadu. It will be celebrated on January 14th or 15th of every year, along with the successive Mattupongal and Kaanum Pongal festivals. People will cook pongal in their homes, and offer it to the sun god, and eat it with the company of their friends and relatives.
8. Onam: Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala. Onam is traditionally a Hindu festival celebrated in Kerala, in order to welcome their great king Mahabali, who once ruled kerala, and was very much liked by his people for his golden rule, and now living in the pathala loka, the netherworld. Keralites will prepare sumptuous food in order to welcome their beloved king Mahabali at their home on the onam festival day, and will share their delicious food with others, and nowadays, many people are donating food to orphanages and old age homes on onam festival day considering it as a charitable activity.
9. Vasant Panchami: Vasant Panchami is celebrated for getting the blessings of Mata Saraswati, the education goddess.
10. Thaipusam: Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil people. The festival marks the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a spear in order to destroy the demon Soorapadman.
11. Maha Shivaratri: Maha Shivaratri is celebrated by the devotees of Lord Shiva and used to offer bilva leaves to him. It will be celebrated during February – March. Devotees would observe fasting on that day, and chant various slokas and mantras of Lord Shiva. They will visit to the nearby shiva temples, and some of them will stay in the temple for the entire night, in order to watch all the pujas of Lord Shiva.
12. Rama Navami: Rama Navami is celebrated as the birth day of Lord Rama. It is celebrated during April – May, and people would visit to the Ram temples and Vishnu temples, and pay their respects to the god. By chanting the rama mantra “JAI SREE RAM” along with “JAI HANUMAN” will bring all the prosperity in our life.
13. Gudi Padwa: Gudhi Padwa is celebrated as New Year Day by Marathis, Konkanis and Sindhis. According to the ancient Brahma Purana, it is believed that during this day Lord Brahma had first created the world.
14. Ugadi: Ugadi is a New Year day for kannadigas and Telugu people.
15. Vishu: Vishu is a Hindu festival celebrated in Kerala. It usually falls on 14th April of every year.
16. Tamil New Year: The Tamil New Year is celebrated mostly by the Tamil people and it usually falls on 14th April of every year.
17. Hanuman Jayanti: Hanuman Jayanti is celebrated as the birth day of Lord Hanuman. By worshipping Lord Rama and Hanuman on this day, we get great physical and mental strength and can attain all the prosperity in our life.
18. Guru Purnima: Guru Purnima is the festival where devotees would offer prayers to their guru. It is also celebrated as the birth of Sage Veda Vyasa. In Raghavendra and Sai Baba temples, lot of devotees would worship their beloved gurus and get their divine blessings.
19. Mahalakshmi Vrata: Mahalakshmi Vrata is a puja performed by married Hindu women for the well-being of their husband, and also for getting good fortunes in their life.
20. Krishna Janmaashtami: Krishna Janmaashtami is celebrated as the birth day of Lord Krishna. During this day, devotees would visit Vishnu or Krishna temples and offer prayers to the god, and also prepare various of hot snacks and offer it to Krishna, and have it along with their neighbours.
21. Radhastami: Radhastami is celebrated mainly in Northern India as the birth day of Mata Radha, consort of lord Krishna.
22. Ganesh Chaturthi: Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated as the birth day of Lord Ganesha. It is celebrated by all the hindus, and worship the divine god, by buying a clay statue of god at their nearby pavement shops. It is the most important festival in Maharashta.
23. Kartik Poornima: A main festival is celebrated in Varanasi and it is celebrated by Lord Murugan Devotees, and shiva devotees.
24. Skanda Sashti: Skanda Sashti festival will be celebrated during October–November of every year. It is one of the important festivals of Lord Muruga and it is celebrated as a victory of Muruga against the Demons.
25. Karthikai Deepam: Karthikai Deepam is the festival of lights and mostly celebrated by Tamil Hindus on the full moon day of Karthikai month on November-December.
26. Kumbh Mela: The Kumbh Mela, is mainly celebrated in north india, and lot of people would visit the holy place of Haridwar and offer their prayers to the sacred river ganga and to Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati.
27. Godavari Pushkaram: Godavari Pushkaram is the celebration of festival of the river Godavari. It occurs once in every 12 years. The river Godavari took birth at triambakeswar of Nasik. It flow through various regions of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
28. Naga Panchami: Naga Panchami is a worship of snake gods, and celebrated throughout India and in Nepal. In north India, people will visit the shrine of Mansa Devi, haridwar and offer their prayers to the serpent goddess, who is also the sister of the great serpent king Vasuki.
CONCLUSION:
Thus Hindu festivals are celebrated with much joy and interest by the Hindu people in India and also by people from all over the world. Though certain changes are there towards celebrating Hindu festivals in ancient times and in current trend, the joy of celebration remains the same. The bhakti spirit of the people also will never change.
CELEBRATION OF FESTIVALS OCCURS HAPPILY ACROSS THE WORLD AND PEOPLES ARE CELEBRATING THE FESTIVALS WITH MUCH JOY AND INTEREST, AND THAT TOO, MAINLY CHILDREN'S WHO ARE IN THEIR BELOW 10’S.
SENT BY
- R.HARISHANKAR
