Top 10 Famous Festivals In India | India’s Famous Festivals

By Minky Chawla on July 8, 2021

Top 10 Famous Festivals In India: Onam is the number 1 most famous festival of India that is celebrated in Kerela. India is a beautiful country with vast unity in Diversity. People of different religions, communities, and states celebrate many festivals in the country throughout the year. The festivals bring peace and togetherness to all of us and are celebrated with huge fun and frolic. Kids in India enjoy the festivals a lot and we enjoy holidays during festivals.

Top 10 Famous Festivals In India

In Indian culture, the festivals are to Indian cuisine and the most important forms of celebrations. Be it lighting up the halls with the diyas in Diwali and ringing of bells in Christmas and each and every festival in India is welcomed with the big celebrations and unison of the cultures. Different religions have their own ways of celebration here. Here is our list of the top 10 famous festivals in India.

No 1. Onam

Onam is the festival celebrated in Kerala for a long week and carnival in God’s own country. This festival is very happily celebrated as it brings togetherness to everyone in Kerala as all the streets of Kerala get crowded with performances, boat races, elaborate feasts, processions, and many more. This year Onam will start from 23^rd August 2021. Onam is celebrated in Kerala as it is a prosperous festival celebrated by Malayalis as they commemorate the homecoming of the legendary King Mahabali.

No 2. Holi

Holi is celebrated as the festival of colors and many of the streets are seen dotted with the people applying dry and wet colors on the face of each other. Holi marks the victory of good over evil. Holi is one of the most loved festivals of India and it is celebrated with happiness, utmost gusto, fervor, and as people attend the parties, throwing colors, water balloons, and they indulge in some lassi. Mostly this festival is celebrated in the month of March every year. Holi is connected to the mythology of Prince Prahlad killing Holika. Holi brings the arrival of the spring season.

No 3. Eid Ul Fitr

Eid Ul Fitr is one of the major festivals celebrated in India and it is also one of the most important festivals for the Muslim community all over the world. This festival is celebrated as a holy month of fasting, and the festivities are quite magical. There are sessions created for the community in which the prayers take place, a sacrificial event, a splendid feast, and more where friends and family are called over. EID-Ul-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims from all over the world and following the Ramadan fast month. People enjoy this festival when the fasts are over.

No 4. Rakshabandhan

Rakshabandhan is one of the popular festivals in India which is celebrated and aims to highlight and celebrate a brother and sister’s bond. The signification of this festival is that a brother has the responsibility to take care of his sister through thin and thick. This festival is basically a symbol of the promise which is made by the brother to his sister. This year this festival will be celebrated on 22^nd August 2021. Sisters and brothers exchange sweets and gifts this day. Throughout the year this day is special for brothers and sisters and the brothers promise to take care of the sisters for their whole life.

No 5. Janmashtami

Janmashtami is celebrated as the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna in Mathura prison. Janmashtami is one of the most popular festivals in India and there are celebrations that take place across the country, especially in Vrindavan and Mathura. This festival is celebrated with the prayers, bhajans, dances, and other hymns are sung thought out the night and day as Lord Krishna’s birth is depicted. This year Janmashtami celebrations are on 30^th August 2021. This festival reminds us of the birth of Lord Krishna in the Mathura prison and it is celebrated with tremendous enthusiasm.

No 6. Durga Puja/Dussehra

Durga Puja or Dussehra is one of India’s popular festivals and the celebrations are quite vibrant in the country. The day 10^th of Navratri is welcomed with a massive celebratory spirit as Goddess Durga is worshipped. Also, the effigies of Ravana are burnt as a means to showcase victory of good over evil as Lord Rama defeated Ravana to bring back his wife, Sita. This year it will be celebrated on 15^th October 2021, as announced by the Hindu Calendar. This festival is celebrated for two reasons, one is to commemorate Lord Rama’s victory of Ravana and it also celebrates the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahihasura.

No. 7 Ganesh Chaturthi

Among the top 10 famous festivals in India, Ganesh Chaturthi is the festival that is celebrated famously in Maharashtra and it is also a very important festival celebrated in India. The significance of this festival is Lord Ganesha’s birth following a tragic story. The carnivalesque affair of the 10 days, has people bring home Ganesha idols or even raise pandals with Ganpati idols which stay for the duration before the idols are immersed in the sea. This year this festival will be celebrated on 10^th September 2021. This festival symbolizes the birth of Lord Ganesha is the elephant-headed deity who is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.

No. 8 Navratri

Navratri is also one of the most important festivals celebrated in India and this festival arrives with myriad reasons for people to ring in the festivities. The diverse form of Goddess Amba is worshipped in this festival as she takes on new forms to defeat demons. This year Navratri would be celebrated between 7^th October to 14^th October 2021. The significance of this festival is to represent the nine diverse forms of Goddess Amba and each day is dedicated to one of her forms and the celebrations lead to the final avatar of Goddess Durga in Dussehra.

No. 9 Diwali

Undoubtedly, Diwali is one of the most famous festivals celebrated in India, it is the festival of lights. Everyone gets together to light up the diyas and celebrate the festival of lights in unison. This year, Diwali falls on 4^th November 2021. The significance of this festival is as it marks the return of Lord Rama along with his wife Sita and a brother Lakshman after an exile of 14 years. It is also signified with the death of Narkasur at the hands of Lord Krishna.

No. 10 Christmas

Christmas is one of the most famous festivals celebrated in India as well as across the world also. Christmas is a fun festival in which everyone huddles up to welcome Lord Jesus. Santa gets all the attention and drops the gifts that everyone wishes for all through the year. Halls, houses, Christmas trees are decorated and are lit up and everyone revels in the celebrations of Christmas. Every year, Christmas is celebrated on 25^th December. The significance of this festival is to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ.