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India, being a multicultural and multireligious society, celebrates holidays and festivals of various religions. There are three national holidays in India: states and regions have local festivals depending on prevalent religious and linguistic demographics. Popular religious festivals include the Hindu festivals of Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Dussehra and the Islamic festivals of Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Mawlid an-Nabī which are celebrated throughout the country. Muharram, mourning for the Prophet Muhammad's grandson is observed by some sects of Islam. In addition, the Sikh festivals such as Guru Nanak Jayanti, the Christian festivals such as Christmas, Good Friday and Jain festivals like Mahavir Jayanti, Paryushan are celebrated in certain areas where these religions have a significant following. While having so many Government Holidays keep in line with the idea of peaceful co-existence of all religions, there have been demands from various public bodies that the system of a multitude of religious holidays is hampering economic activities to a great extent. The past two Central Govt. Pay Commissions[1] have recommended the abolition of all Central Govt. Holidays on religious festivals, and instead, substitute with three national Holidays, i.e., Independence Day (August 15), Republic Day (January 26) and Gandhi Jayanti October 2). It was also recommended to increase the amount of existing Restricted Holidays (Optional Holidays) depending on one's religious persuasion from existing two to eight. The rationale being, 8 holidays can more than cater for the festivals of any particular religion. So there is no point in having more than these many number of holidays, since religion does not warrant a Hindu to celebrate Id or a Muslim to celebrate Diwali. With the proposed system, however, it was left to the individual to chose which 8 Holidays to celebrate, irrespective of his religious belief. However, this logical recommendation has not been accepted by the Govt. of India, fearing a loss of popularity, and thus Indian Govt. continues with an unusually large number of religious holidays as compared to most other countries. The following is a List of Festivals in India that are declared public holidays in the calendar of Government of India or the States or both in some cases:
[edit] National
[edit] Hinduism Hindus celebrate a number of festivals all through the year. From celebrating the advent of spring to celebrating the win of good over evil, Hindu religion and culture provide its followers endless reasons to celebrate. Given below is the list of just a few of these festivals that are celebrated with great zest and fervor. For dates see: Main article: Hindu festivals
[edit] Sikhism
[edit] Major Hindu Festival dates 2009Holidays
Other Festival Holidays in 2009
Below are listed the Public Holidays for the January 2009-December 2010 period. 2009
2010
Note (a) ** Only the secular holidays of Republic Day, Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday are universally observed. Public holidays in India tend to be observed on a strictly regional basis. The above dates are Government of India holidays, when government offices will be closed nationwide. In addition, there are numerous festivals and fairs which are also observed in some states as holidays, the dates of which change from year to year. For more details, contact Incredible India (see Contact Addresses). (b) Muslim festivals are timed according to local sightings of various phases of the moon and the dates given above are approximations. During the lunar month of Ramadan that precedes Eid al-Fitr, Muslims fast during the day and feast at night and normal business patterns may be interrupted. Many restaurants are closed during the day and there may be restrictions on smoking and drinking. (c) Although not government official holidays, Christmas Day (25 Dec) and New Year's Day (1 Jan) are widely observed nationally. [edit] Buddhism
[edit] Islamic
[edit] Christian[edit] Jainism[edit] ZoroastrianismBelow is a list of festivals and public holidays celebrated by the Parsis and Iranis in India. The Parsis in India use a Shahenshahi calendar, unlike the Iranians who use a Kadmi calendar. The North Americans and European Parsis have adapted their own version of the Fasli calendar. This is however looked down upon by a lot of the Parsis in North America, who continue to use the Shahenshai calendar. These differences cause changes in the dates of the public holidays. For example, the Zoroastrian New Year falls in the spring for the Iranians but in the summer for the Parsis
[edit] Tribal Festivals of India
[edit] See Also[edit] External links |
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