होली से पहले उपवास, पहाड़ से लाए गए पत्थरों के रंग और ढोलक-नगाड़ों की थाप, महाराष्ट्र के भील आदिवासियों का होली नृत्य सिर्फ़ उत्सव नहीं, एक जीवित परंपरा है। नंदूरबार के कलाकार गौतम खर्डे और उनकी मंडली इस लोककला को गाँव से राष्ट्रीय मंच तक पहुँचा रहे हैं।

From Chhattisgarh’s 75-day long Dussehra celebrations to Dashain in Sikkim, communities across the country celebrate Dussehra with different traditions and rituals. Here’s looking at some of them.

Celebrated every year in the sacred city of Varanasi, this festival marks Lord Shiva’s victory over the demon Tripurasur and is celebrated after 15 days of Diwali. It is also known as Tripurotsav and is observed on the day of Kartik Purnima.

Present-day festivities are limited by the modern urban life experiences whereas traditionally, festivals in India took an individual to the community and were varied and numerous in their modes of celebrations spread over a fortnight

Nuakhai, which literally translates as 'new food', is a harvest festival celebrated with great vigour in the coastal state. Often compared to Tamil Nadu's Pongal, Kerala's Onam and Assam's Bihu, the festival heralds the consumption of the fresh rice harvested from the paddy crop. Read on to know more about its origin, rituals, and cultural significance in Odisha.

Matar Tihar is celebrated two days after Diwali and is mostly observed by the pastoral community in Chhattisgarh. As a mark of respect, the freshly harvested grain is first offered to the cows after which it is used for preparing local cuisines.

While Diwali celebrates the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya, Sohrai Porab celebrates the return of the cattle to their village. Villagers in Jharkhand worship the cows by decorating them, lighting lamps, singing songs and offering pujas.

Moh-Mol is a pre-harvest festival celebrated by the Tangsa community of Changlang district. It is to seek blessings for a bumper harvest from the Goddess of Crops – Tunguja Chamja. They offer prayers called rom-rom and perform the Sapolo, a popular folk dance of the community.

For the last 150 years, Unnao district has been marking its Dussehra festival six days after the actual date. The delayed celebration is a practical measure undertaken by the denizens of Unnao to avoid their festival being eclipsed by the two neighbouring cities of Lucknow and Kanpur. Details here.

Sarhul, which means worshipping of the Sal tree, is the main festival of the tribal population of Jharkhand. The festival, which redefines worship of nature, is being celebrated with fanfare galore after a gap of two years due to COVID19. Details here.