1. National days

• Republic Day — 26 January — Constitution in force, 1950; parade at Kartavya Path
• Independence Day — 15 August — 1947
• Gandhi Jayanti — 2 October — also the International Day of Non-Violence
• Constitution Day — 26 November — Constitution adopted 1949
• National Science Day — 28 February — Raman Effect
• National Sports Day — 29 August — Dhyan Chand’s birthday

2. UNESCO Intangible Heritage — festivals or festival-arts
India has 16 ICH elements (Deepavali added 2025). Festival-related entries:

• Ramlila — 2008 — North India; Ramayana play
• Ramman — 2009 — Garhwal, Uttarakhand; ritual theatre
• Mudiyettu — 2010 — Kerala; Bhadrakali ritual drama
• Kumbh Mela — 2017 — Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik
• Durga Puja in Kolkata — 2021 — West Bengal
• Garba of Gujarat — 2023 — Navratri dance
• Deepavali / Diwali — 2025 — pan-India
• Nowruz — 2016 — shared; Parsi / Central Asian spring new year

Related but not “festivals”: Yoga (2016), Vedic chanting, Kutiyattam, Chhau, Kalbelia, Sankirtana (Manipur), Ladakh Buddhist chanting.

3. Pan-Indian Hindu cycle (high frequency)

• Makar Sankranti — 14/15 January — Sun enters Capricorn; start of Uttarayana
• Pongal — mid-January — Tamil harvest
• Lohri — 13 January — Punjab bonfire; winter turn
• Vasant Panchami — January–February — Saraswati; yellow; start of spring
• Maha Shivaratri — February–March — Shiva
• Holi / Holika Dahan — March — colour; spring; good over evil
• Chaitra Navratri / Ugadi / Gudi Padwa — March–April — lunar new year in many regions
• Ram Navami — Chaitra — Rama’s birth
• Hanuman Jayanti
• Akshaya Tritiya — April–May — auspicious buying
• Rath Yatra — June–July — Puri (copies elsewhere)
• Guru Purnima — Ashadha — teachers
• Raksha Bandhan — Shravan
• Janmashtami — Shravan–Bhadra — Krishna; Mathura–Vrindavan; Maharashtra Dahi Handi
• Ganesh Chaturthi — Bhadra — Maharashtra public visarjan culture
• Onam — Chingam (August–September) — Kerala
• Sharad Navratri — September–October — Durga; Garba / Dandiya; Durga Puja
• Dussehra / Vijayadashami — Rama’s victory / Durga’s victory
• Karva Chauth — North Indian fast
• Diwali — Kartika Amavasya — lights; Lakshmi; Rama’s return in the north
• Govardhan / Annakut — next day
• Bhai Dooj
• Chhath Puja — Kartika — Sun; Bihar–Jharkhand–east UP; riverbanks
• Kartik Purnima / Dev Deepawali — Varanasi ghats

Diwali cluster: Dhanteras → Naraka Chaturdashi / Chhoti Diwali → Diwali → Govardhan → Bhai Dooj.

4. Harvest and regional New Year

• Makar Sankranti / Uttarayan / Poush Parbon / Magh Bihu / Pongal — many names, same solar turn, about 14 January — Sun into Makara
• Pongal (Bhogi, Thai Pongal, Mattu, Kaanum) — Tamil Nadu — four days in January — rice harvest; Sun, cattle
• Lohri — Punjab, Haryana — 13 January — bonfire; rabi eve
• Bhogali / Magh Bihu — Assam — January — harvest feast; meji fire
• Baisakhi — Punjab, Haryana — 13/14 April — rabi harvest; Khalsa founded 1699
• Bohag / Rongali Bihu — Assam — mid-April — Assamese New Year; sowing
• Puthandu — Tamil Nadu — 14 April — Tamil New Year
• Vishu — Kerala — mid-April — Malayalam New Year; Vishukkani
• Poila Boishakh — West Bengal, Tripura — mid-April — Bengali New Year
• Mahavir Jayanti — Jain — March–April
• Ugadi — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka — Chaitra Shukla 1 — Telugu–Kannada New Year; bevu-bella
• Gudi Padwa — Maharashtra — same tithi — Marathi New Year; Gudi flag
• Cheti Chand — Sindhi — same season — Jhulelal
• Navreh — Kashmiri Pandits — Chaitra
• Sajibu Cheiraoba — Manipur — April — Meitei New Year
• Onam — Kerala — August–September — harvest + Mahabali; Sadya, Pookkalam, Vallamkali
• Nuakhai — Western Odisha — August–September — new rice
• Nabanna — Bengal — November–December — new rice
• Wangala — Garo (Meghalaya / Assam) — October–November — 100 drums; Saljong
• Kati / Kongali Bihu — Assam — October — lean-season prayers
• Pana Sankranti / Maha Vishuva — Odisha — mid-April — Odia New Year

Bihu three times: Rongali (April, new year), Kati (October), Magh / Bhogali (January, harvest).

5. Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Christian, Muslim, Parsi

• Gurpurabs — Sikh — Guru Nanak (Kartik Purnima), Guru Gobind Singh, martyrdom days
• Baisakhi — Sikh + harvest — Khalsa, 1699, Anandpur Sahib
• Bandi Chhor Divas — Sikh — coincides with Diwali; Guru Hargobind’s release
• Buddha Purnima / Vesak — Buddhist — birth, enlightenment, parinirvana; Vaishakha Purnima
• Saga Dawa — Sikkim / Tibetan
• Losar — Ladakh, Sikkim, Monpa — Tibetan New Year
• Hemis — Ladakh — Guru Padmasambhava; Cham dances at Hemis gompa
• Mahavir Jayanti — Jain
• Paryushan / Das Lakshan — Jain — fasting and forgiveness (Samvatsari / Kshamavani)
• Eid-ul-Fitr — Muslim — end of Ramzan
• Eid-ul-Adha (Bakrid) — Muslim
• Milad-un-Nabi — Muslim
• Muharram — Muslim — remembrance of Karbala; Tazia processions
• Christmas / Easter — Christian — Goa, Kerala, North-East, cities
• Good Friday — Christian
• Nowruz / Jamshedi Navroz — Parsi and others — spring new year; UNESCO shared list
• Pateti — Parsi

6. State and tribal festivals (high exam frequency)

• Hornbill — Nagaland — 1–10 December, Kisama; “festival of festivals”
• Sangai — Manipur — named after the deer
• Ziro / Dree — Arunachal (Apatani) — Dree about 5 July; agriculture
• Chapchar Kut — Mizoram — spring; after jhum clearing
• Wangala / Nongkrem — Meghalaya — Garo / Khasi harvest
• Ambubachi — Assam — Kamakhya; temple closed then reopened
• Raja Parba — Odisha — earth menstruating; three-day women’s festival
• Chhau season / Seraikela — Jharkhand–Odisha–West Bengal — UNESCO dance
• Kullu Dussehra — Himachal — starts when others end; week-long devtas
• Mysore Dasara — Karnataka — state festival; palace lit
• Thrissur Pooram — Kerala — temple festival; elephants, kudamattam
• Theyyam season — North Kerala — ritual dance, winter–spring
• Pushkar Fair — Rajasthan — Kartik; cattle + pilgrimage
• Desert Festival / Rann Utsav — Rajasthan / Kutch — tourism calendar
• Tarnetar — Gujarat — tribal fair
• Ganeshotsav — Maharashtra — public since Tilak
• Naga Panchami / Pola — Maharashtra–Karnataka — cattle
• Teej / Gangaur — Rajasthan — monsoon / spring; women
• Karaga — Karnataka (Bengaluru)
• Baneshwar — Rajasthan — tribal (Bhil) fair
• Bhagoria — Madhya Pradesh–Maharashtra Bhil — Holi-time tribal haat
• Sarhul / Karma — Jharkhand–Chhattisgarh–Odisha tribes — sal flowers / harvest dance
• Tusu / Sohrai — Jharkhand–West Bengal tribal — harvest / harvest-art
• Losar / Pi Thod — Himalayan Buddhist
• Hemis / Phyang — Ladakh — monastery festivals
• Sindhu Darshan — Ladakh — Indus
• Torgya — Tawang
• Losoong / Namsoong — Sikkim — harvest new year
• Moatsu / Sekrenyi — Nagaland tribes
• Yaoshang — Manipur — Holi + sport
• Lai Haraoba — Manipur — Meitei origin myth
• Kang (Rath) — Manipur
• Bathukamma — Telangana — floral stacks; Navratri
• Bonalu — Telangana — Mahakali; Hyderabad–Secunderabad
• Medaram Jatara (Sammakka–Sarakka) — Telangana — largest tribal congregation after Kumbh
• Attukal Pongala — Kerala — women’s offering; huge gathering
• Chithirai — Madurai — Meenakshi–Sundareswarar
• Aadi Perukku — Tamil Nadu — monsoon / Cauvery
• Kojagiri / Sharad Purnima — West India
• Sonepur Cattle Fair — Bihar — Kartik; one of Asia’s largest
• Chhath — Bihar–Jharkhand–Purvanchal — strict sun worship; no priest as middleman
• Ganga Sagar Mela — West Bengal — Makar Sankranti; Sagar Island
• Magh Mela — Prayag — annual; Kumbh is the 12-year peak

7. Kumbh Mela (must-know)

• UNESCO list — 2017
• Four sites in a 12-year rotation: Prayagraj (Ganga–Yamuna–mythic Saraswati), Haridwar (Ganga), Nashik-Trimbak (Godavari), Ujjain (Shipra)
• Purna Kumbh every 12 years at a site; Ardh Kumbh at 6 years at Prayagraj / Haridwar; Maha Kumbh rhetoric is used for the 144-year Prayagraj cycle
• Timing follows Jupiter’s (Brihaspati) zodiac position

8. Same day, different name (trap list)

• About 14 January — Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Uttarayan (Gujarat kites), Magh Bihu, Poush Sankranti (Bengal), Maghi (Punjab)
• Mid-April — Baisakhi, Puthandu, Vishu, Poila Boishakh, Rongali Bihu, Maha Vishuva Sankranti
• Chaitra Shukla 1 — Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, Cheti Chand, Navreh
• Ashvina Shukla — Navratri / Durga Puja / Dussehra / Bathukamma / Garba
• Kartika Amavasya — Diwali / Deepavali / Bandi Chhor Divas / Kali Puja (Bengal)

Kali Puja in Bengal falls on Diwali night; Durga Puja is the bigger Bengal festival in Ashvina.

9. Community food / ritual tags

• Pongal — boiled sweet rice overflowing
• Onam — Onasadya on banana leaf; snake boats
• Lohri — til, gajak, popcorn into the fire
• Sankranti — til-gul (Maharashtra); undhiyu + kites (Gujarat)
• Baisakhi — bhangra; Nagar Kirtan
• Navratri — nine forms of Durga; fasting; Garba circle around a lamp or pot
• Chhath — thekua; arghya at dawn and dusk
• Eid — sewaiyan
• Christmas — Goa midnight mass
• Paryushan — fast and micchami dukkadam

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