Festivals and fairs have always been a part of india and will stay so forever to add to India's colour and integrity. Take a look at fairs and festivals of this country in order to become a part of the same.

        India is a land of festivals and fairs.Every festival has some or the other traditional or religious importance.Every day of the year there is a festival celebrated in some part of the country. Some festivals welcome the seasons of the year, the harvest, the rains, or the full moon. Others celebrate religious occasions, the birthdays of divine beings, Saints, and gurus (the revered teachers), or the advent of the new year. A number of these festivals are common to most parts of India, however, they may be called by different names in the various parts of the country or may be celebrated in a different fashion.Every festival is celebrated in a unique style.

January

Makar sankranti is a hindu festival.It marks the begining of the sun's journey towards northern hemishere .People take dip in the rivers and worship the sun .Gangasagar Mela is being organised near Calcutta where people come from all over India. In Gujarat, Makara Sankranti is celebrated by the flying of kites.

Pongal is celebrated in the southern part of the country. At dawn on this day families everywhere gather around a new earthen pot. As the pot of milk boils over, signifying prosperity, a shout of "Pongal Pongal" rents the air.

Republic Day is India's great national festival. The celebrations are most colourful in Delhi, the capital.Republic Day Celebrating the anniversary of India's establishment as a Republic 26th January 1950, all the state capitals resound with the beating of drums and parading of the army including the three armed forces, followed by floats and dancers from all parts of the country starting from India Gate and ending at the famous and historical Red Fort.In the evening, there are fire works and lighting at government buildings.

February-March

Vasant Panchami is a festival in honor of Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and learning.This festival is particularly significant to the people from West Bengal.

Maha Shivaratri This is a day of fasting dedicated to Lord Shiva, the third deity of the Hindu trinity. Religious people stay awake and chant prayers the whole night. Processions to the festivals are followed by chanting of mantras and anointing of lingams.Usually there are fairs near temples for the entertainment of villagers during the daytime.

Holi marks the begining of the spring season and the end of the frosty winters.On the eve of Holi, bonfires are built to symbolize the destruction of the evil demon Holika.It is celebrated by throwing colored water and powder at each other.

Jamshed-i Navroz is the New Year's Day for the Parsi community according to the Falsi calendar.They greet each other on this day and celebrate with feasting.They also visit to their fire temple.

Mahavir Jayanti is the birth anniversary of Mahavira, The 24th and the last jain Tirthankar.It is a major jain festival. It is a day of prayer. Most of the jains fast on this days .Processions are carried out and offering are given to the god.There are celebrations in all Jain temples and pilgrimages to Jain shrines.

Ram Navami is the day of Rama's birth and is celebrated as a day of great piety, with the chanting of prayers and the singing of ballads.On this day processions are carried out in Ayodhya,the birth place of Lord Rama.Temples are decorated with lights and flowers.

April

Good Friday is a Christian festival and is celebrated with great enthusiasm in India.Christians observe Good Friday as the day on which Jesus laid down his life for the good of humanity. Services and recitals of religious music are held in the churches.

Easter The Resurrection of Christ is celebrated with fervour by members of the Christian community. The occasion is solemnised in some parts of the country by processions being taken out.

Baisakhi is the harvest festival of the Punjab and is celebrated with dances and gaiety.The solar new year's day is observed on this day throughout northern India. For Hindus, it is significant of the days of the descent of the Ganges to the earth, and people take holy dips in rivers. The Sikhs attach religious significance to day, as it is day of the formation of the Singh, who converted the Sikhs into a martial race. On this day in 1699, Guru GobindSingh organised the Sikhs into the 'Khalsa'. In Punjab, farmers start their harvesting operations on this day with great fanfare.

Id-ul-Fitr or Ramazan Id is a day of feasting and rejoicing as it marks the end of the end of Ramazan (Ramadan), the Muslim time of fasting.

May-June

Buddha Purnima The three ocassions of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and his reaching nirvana are all celebrated on this day. The Buddha is supposed to have gone through each of these experiences on the same day, but of different years.Buddha Purnima.

July

Rath yatra of Lord Jagannath's great temple chariot makes its stately journey from his temple in Puri, Orissa. Similar, but far less grandiose festivals take place in other locations.People offer rice as prasad

Nag Panchami The festival of Nag Panchami is celebrated throughout the country in the month of Shravana (July-August). This festival is dedicated to Ananata, the serpent whose coils Lord Vishnu rests between universes. Offerings are made to snake images. Snakes are supposed to have the power over the monsoon rainfall and keep evil from homes.Snakes are worshiped and offered milk.Many hindu families do pooja at home.

August

Raksha Bandhan, celebrated in India in the month of Shravana (July-August), is an age old festival which strengthens the bond of love between brother and sister. Raksha Bandhan is an integral part of the Hindu family structure whereby a woman ties a rakhi or decorative thread on the wrist of her brother to remind him to protect her if the need arises. The festival is celebrated as Coconut Day in Maharashtra as the monsoon seas are calmed by coconuts thrown to Varuna, the god of waters.

Independence Day India attained independence on 15th August 1947. It is celebrated as the anniversary of India's independence.The prime Minister delivers an address from the ramparts of Delhi's Red Fort. The national flag is hoisted on the red fort. It is celebrated all over the country with meetings and flag-hosting ceremonies.

September

Janamashtami The birth of lord Krishna, the eighth incarnation on earth of Lord Vishnu, is celebrated throughout India. Devotees celebrate it by fasting and prayers, which is followed by feasting and merriment.The temples remain open throughout the night and birth of lord krishna is celebrated at midnight.Scenes of lord Krishna's childhood are enacted in Mathura and Vrindavan.On the next morning Nand utsav is celebrated.people distribute prasad and dance with joy. Earthern pots filled with butter,favourite of lord krishna are tied to several places at certain heights.People try to break this pot by forming pyramides. It is also commonly known as 'DAHI HANDI".

Bakri-id The festival of Bakri Id is also known as Id-ul-Azha. It is celebrated on the 10th day of the Muslim month Zil-Haj. Bakrid celebrates the sacrifice of Hazrat Ibrahim, who willingly agreed to kill his son at the behest of God. To celebrate the event Muslims sacrifice one animal per family or group of families. There are prayers in mosques, feasting, and rejoicing. New clothes are worn and visits and greetings are exchanged.

Onam is Kerala's notable festival. It is celebrated with great enthusiasm. It is primarily a harvest festival observed not only in every home but also out in the open, against the backdrop of lush green tropical vegetation in which the region abounds.Onam is also celebrated Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The lawns in the houses are decorated with floral motifs, swings are tied, and delicious food is cooked. Processions of caparisoned elephants are taken out and snake boat races are held. People get together for various games, which is followed by dance and music.

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated in the honour of lord Ganesha. This festival is dedicated to the popular elephant headed God, Ganesha. Pune, madras, and Bombay are the important centers of celebration. The elephant-headed god who is worshipped is beleived to be the remover of obstacles. In Maharashtra, huge images of Ganesha are carried in procession. On specific dates in the following ten days, these images are immersed in the sea or rivers with thousands of worshippers dancing and singing after them.

Ladakh Festival The blend of various cultures of Central Asian, Tibetan, Northern India are found in Ladakh.The duration of Ladakh festival is of 15 days i.e From the 1st to the 15th of September.Various sports such as polo and archery are conducted. Folk dances and songs, its age-old social And cultural ceremonies, its art and handicrafts, all come alive in a colorful kaleidoscope.

October-November

Navaratri/Dussehra/Durga Pooja. Navaratri, the Festival of Nine Nights, is celebrated in honor of goddesses Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati.It is celebrated with great enthusiasm all over the country but specially in gujarat.People wear traditional outfits like ghagra choli and play garba and dandiya ras. The tenth day, Dussehra, commemorates the victory of Rama, of the epic Ramayana, over Ravana. In many places it culminates with the burning of huge images of Ravana and his accomplices, celebrating the victory of the good over evil. Re-enactments of the epic Ramayana takes place in various places.it is also known as Vijayadashami.In Mysore in the hilltop Chamundi temple, Dussera is a picturesque festival. The godess is the Maharaja's family deity and a procession of elephants, courtiers and court symbols attracts tourists by the thousands as it wends its circuituous way to the temple, decorated splendidly for the festival. With the decline of the royal family of Mysore however the festival has lost some its traditional lustre.

Diwali or Deepawali, the festival of " lights", is the most important of all Hindu festivals. It is celebrated int the month of Kartika according to the hindu calender.It is believed that it was on this day that Rama entered Ayodhya after 14 years of exile.This is perhaps the happiest of Hindu festivals. Diwali is an occasion of great excitement and rejoicing all over the country. Every city, town and village is turned into a fairyland with thousands of flickering oil lamps and electric lights illuminating homes and public buildings. Countless number of lamps are lighted at night, giving the impression that the stars have descended on earth. These lights are symbolic of the spiritual light dispelling evil and the darkness of ignorance. Deepavali is also celebrated as Naraka Chaturdashi, the day when the demon of darkness and dirt, Narakasura, was destroyed by Krishna. The celebrations commence with a purifying oil bath and the lighting of lamps, symbolic of the spiritual light pervading the earth and the destruction of darkness and ignorance.Laxmi pooja is done.People burst crackers and distribute sweets and greet each other.

Gandhi Jayanthi- Gandhiji is rightly called the father of the nation.Gandhi jayanti is celebrated on the 2nd of october every year.Prayer meetings are held at Raj Ghat where he was cremated. He was a great freedom fighter and the follower of Non voilence.

Gurupurab or Guru Nanak jayanti is the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak who founded the Sikh faith. For two days and nights preceding the festival the Granth Saheb (Scriptures) is read. On the day of the festival, the Granth Saheb is taken out in a grand procession. The celebrations at Amritsar are the most impressive.Prayer meeting and processions are carried out particularly in punjab.Sikh conduct 'langer' {distribution of food }in the Guru Dawara November: Govardhan Pooja A Hindu festival dedicated to the holiest of animals for the Hindus, the cow.

December

Christmas is widely celebrated all over India and is especially interesting in Goa and Kerala, where some of the local culture has been absorbed into the festivities.The birth anniversary of Jesus Christ is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike, with special enthusiasm in big cities like Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta, where shops and homes take on a festive air. Families get together around decorated trees and gifts are exchanged. On Christmas Eve, midnight services are held in churches.