
Public holidays in India
Indian holidays are extremely complex. Basically, every day, there is a public holiday somewhere because every community can set its own days. Nationwide public holidays are just Republic Day, Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. All other holidays are only valid regionally or even only within certain religious denominations.A special feature of Indian holidays is the orientation to the Hindu lunar calendar. Until 1957, there were even several dozen different calendars in India, which were only combined then. Because even the Hindu calendar is still calculated differently depending on the region, the dates cannot be matched exactly to the Gregorian calendar.
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Non-floating holidays
Non-statutory holidays are written in gray.Date | Holiday |
---|---|
Jan. 1st | New Year's Day |
Jan. 5th | Guru Govind Singh Jayanti |
Jan. 26th | Day of the Republic |
Jan. 31st | Me-dam-me-phi (Ancestor Festival of Ahom) |
April 14th | Bengali New Year (Tripura + West Bengal only) |
May 1st | Labor Day |
May 7th | Birthday of Rabindra Nath Tagore |
Aug. 15th | Independence Day |
Oct. 2nd | Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi |
Dec. 24th | Birthday of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad |
Dec. 25th | Christian Christmas |
Dec. 31st | New Year's Eve |
Moving Holidays in India
Holiday | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Good Friday | April 7th | March 29th | April 18th | April 3rd | March 26th |
Festival of breaking the fast | April 21st | April 9th | March 30th | March 19th | March 9th |
Mother's Day | May 14th | May 12th | May 11th | May 10th | May 9th |
Father's Day | June 18th | June 16th | June 15th | June 21st | June 20th |
Festival of Sacrifice | June 28th | June 16th | June 6th | May 26th | May 16th |
Awal Muharram (Islamic New Year) | July 18th | July 7th | June 26th | June 16th | June 5th |
Diwali (Hindu festival of lights) | Nov. 12th | Nov. 1st | Oct. 21st | Nov. 8th | Oct. 29th |
Moving holidays with (so far and for us) uncalculatable dates:
Holiday | Datum |
---|---|
Vasant Panchami | 5th day of the Hindu month Magha, January/February |
Makar Sankranti / Pongal | January Solstice |
Spring Festival Holi | 1st full moon day of Hindu month Phalgun, February/March |
Shiva's Big Night | 13th day of Hindu month Phalgun, February/March |
Ugadi | 1st new moon after the equinox in spring |
Rama Navami (Rama's Birthday) | 9th day of Hindu month Chaitra, March/April |
Mahavir Jayanti | 13th day of the waxing moon in the Hindu month of Chaitra, March/April |
Birthday of Buddha | Full moon day of the Hindu month Vaisakh |
Raksha Bandhan | Full moon day of Hindu month Shravana, August |
Janmashtami, birth of the god Krishna | 8th day of Hindu month Shravan, August/September |
Birth of the God Ganesh | 4th day of the waxing moon in the Hindu month of Bhaadrapada, August / September |
Ganesh Chaturthi | 4th day of Hindu month Bhadrapad, September |
Dashahara | Day 10 of the moonlit half of the Hindu month of Ashvayuja |
Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev | Full moon in the Hindu month Kartik |
Probably the most important secular holiday in the Indian calendar is the national holiday — Republic Day on January 26. The occasion marks the constitution coming into effect in 1950, and on this date the capital celebrates with a big parade. The birthday of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2 is also celebrated nationwide. In addition, there are numerous Hindu holidays, but none of them are attached to nationwide public holidays. Nevertheless, they are mostly celebrated nationwide and in most regions of India, they are also days off from work. Due to the Hindu and therefore polytheistic belief of the majority of the population, there are numerous peculiarities and different holidays. First and foremost in its importance is Diwali, the festival of lights. The light triumphs over the darkness — good over evil. With this extremely rough description, the similarities nearly end. The characteristics and interpretations are different around the country. In many regions of the south, the victory of Krishna over Naraka is at stake, while most northern inhabitants tend to associate the day with the exile of the god Rama. Among Indian Muslims, the festival of sacrifice (al-Adha) and the end of Lent (al-Fitre) are the most prominent. For the few Christians in the country, Easter and Christmas are also celebrated. In addition, there are some less common holidays from the most diverse religions in India.