Christmas

Christmas is the biggest festival celebrated by Christians. Christmas held’s on 25^th of December. The preparation for Christmas starts nearly a week before. In the preparations, Christmas tree is decorated & cribs are put up in house & societies, Church and houses are also decorated, sweets are prepared, and Christians buy gifts for their loved ones.

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On the night of 24^th December, all members of Christian community visit their local church to attend the midnight mass. On this night, churches are decorated with flowers and candles. When the mass gets over, everyone wish each other “Merry Christmas” and relishes mouth-watering delicacies. After this gifts are exchanged and Santa Clause entertains children’s with gifts and toys.

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On the Christmas day morning, nativity plays are staged in church and schools. Young children’s performs depiction of the birth, life and actions of Jesus Christ and the performance ends with the singing of carols and the visit of a person dressed as Santa to distribute candies to kids.

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Baisakhi

Baisakhi or Vaisakhi Festival is one of the major festivals of Sikh community. For Punjab being the large farming community, Baisakhi is celebrated as harvest of Rabi crop.
           

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Baisakhi festival is celebrated as Sikh New Year. According to english calender, it falls on 13 April every year and on 14 April once in 36 year. This difference in date is due to the fact that date of Baisakhi is counted according to the solar calender.
                            Baisakhi is celebrated all over India in different states under different rituals like "Rongali Bihu" in Assam, "Naba Barsha" in Bengal, "Puthandu" in Tamil Nadu and "Pooram Vishu" in Kerala.

Baisakhi is considered as a extremely important festival in India for it is also foundation day of "Khalsa Panth". In the year 1699, it was Baisakhi day when Tenth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh founded Khalsa Panth or the Order of Pure Ones to give unique identity to Sikhs.

Sikhs celebrate Baisakhi by participating in special prayers in Gurudwaras and carry out joyful Baisakhi procession to mark the day.




               

Eid-ul-Fitr

Eid-ul-Fitr is a festival celebrated by Muslim community all over the world. Eid is a three day celebration helds after the month of Ramdan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

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Eid is a Arabic word which means "festivity" and Fitr means "to break the fast". And so Eid-ul-Fitr symbolise the breaking of fasting period.

Ramdan is a month of Fasting for Muslims. In month of Ramdan, Muslims donate actual food to the poor making sure that the needs of the poor are fulfilled which is known as "sadagah-al-fitr" (charity of fast breaking)

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On the day of Eid, Muslims gather early in the morning to perform Eid prayer which consist of a sermon followed by a short congregational prayer. After the prayer everybody wish Eid to friends and family and hug each other.

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Whether it is Hindu or Muslim, the festival Eid brings peace, love and affection among the people so the bond gets stronger.

Ganesh Chaturthi

 
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Vakratunda Mahakaaya
Suryakoti Samaprabha
Nirvighnam Kuru Mey Deva
Sarva Kaaryeshu Sarvada

 Means: The Lord with the curved trunk and a mighty body, who has the spark of a million suns, I pray to thee Oh Lord, to remove all the obstacles from all the actions I intend to perform.

Ganesha is the lord of prosperity and is invoked before the begining of any important work by Hindus. It is belived that for fulfillment of one's dream the lord Ganesha's blessings are necessary. He gives inner spiritual strength to acheive success.

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesh, from 10 days of Bhadrapad Shudh Chaturthi to the Anant Chaturdashi. These days Ganesha's statues are installed in the street corners and in homes. Arrangements are made for decoration, lighting and flowers. Daily prayers are performed. As prasad coconut, jaggery, 21 'modakas', 21 'durva' blades and red flowers are offered.
           The artists who make the idols of ganesh compete with each other to make bigger, magnificent, elegant and more beautiful idols. The size of such idols may vary from 10 meters to 30 meters.
           On the 11th day, the statue is taken through the streets in a procession accompanied with dancing, singing, and fanfare to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolising a ritual see-off of the Lord Ganesha in his journey towards his abode in kailash while taking away misfortunes of his devotees with him, this ritual is known as Ganesh Visarjan.  All join in this final procession shouting "Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Laukar Ya", means Lord Ganesha, come again speedily next year).


                                        
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                                       May the blessings of Shri Ganesha be upon you all
                                          May he remove all the obstacles from your path
                                May he bestow material prosperity and liberation to all of you.
                 


              
                              
 

Festivals in India

It is said about India that.. "INDIA is a land of different fairs and festivals." India is a very big country where each day of every year is a festival and is celebrated with great joy and happiness.

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Indian festivals are identified with its rich cultural and commercial wealth which symbolizes spirit of the people. People in India celebrate the fetivals for each and every reason, be it any religious reason, change of season, ripening of harvest, full moonor the birthdays of divine being. Many of these festivals are common to the most parts of India. However, may be called by different names and celebrated by different fashion.

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 India being a country of many religions there are a lot of festivals celebrated in the country. For Hindu there is Diwali, for Muslims there is Eid and for Parsi's there is New year. Apart from these festivals which are celebrated with great enthusiasm in the country are Onam, Durga Puja, Dusshara, Baisaakhi, Mahavir Jayanti, Buddha Jayanti, Kumbh Mela, Guru Poornima, Rakhsha Bandhan, Teej, Basant Panchami, Childrens Day and Many Many more festivals.




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 The royal era of the history almost comes back to life through the pomp and show on these festivals. Every festival in India has unique historical backgroud, culture, colour, sweets, prayers, rituals, customes and traditions attached to them. 
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 Festivals bring joy and happiness in life and spread the message of peace, brotherhood and humanity among the people.