Nabobarsho

Celebrated on Poila Baishakh (first day of the month of Baishakh), this day starts a Bengali new year. This day being auspicious, new businesses and new ventures are started. The traders purchase new accounting books called Halkhata...

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Annapurna Puja

‘Anna’ means foods and grains. ‘Purna’ means full, absolute and perfect. Annapurna is respected, supreme goddess, who is complete and perfect in food and grains. She is the representation for the one who grants sustenance on every level...

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May Day

May Day has become a day that is recognized around the world as a working class holiday, a day of solidarity between workers of all nationalities. May Day was born from the struggle for the eight-hour day...

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Akshaya Tritiya

Akshaya Tritiya, falling on the third day of the bright half of the lunar month of Vaisakha of the traditional Hindu calendar, is one of the most auspicious days of the year for Hindus. The word Akshaya, a Sanskrit word, literally means one that never diminishes, and the day is believed to bring good luck and success. The day is traditionally observed as the birthday of Parusurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu...

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Rabindra Jayanti

Celebrated on Panchise Baishakh (twenty fifth day of the month of Baishakh) as the birthday of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the international fame Bengali poet, Brahmo religionist, visual artist, playwright, novelist, and composer...

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Buddha Purnima

The birth anniversary of Lord Buddha is celebrated all over India both by the Mahayana and the Hinayana Buddhists as the Buddha Purnima...

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Jamai Shasthi

The flavor of family bonding finds expression through its social customs. Bengal's son-in-laws on the day of Jamai Shasthi comes closer with their other family in a very traditional way...

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Ganga Puja

Devi Ganga, the Hindu goddess of rivers, is worshipped in the Bengali month of Jaishtha with pomp & splendor throughout the Gangetic Bengal...

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Manosha Puja

Devi Manosha, the patron saint of serpents and snake catchers, is supposed to be the daughter of Lord Shiva. Her popularity is somewhat restricted to Bengal but even then she holds a high position in the Hindu belief. Manosha Mongol Kavya, a theological piece, composed in 14th century forms the ground for the Goddess...

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Ratha Yatra

Ratha Yatra is a major Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at many locations (biggest event are at Puri-Orissa, Mahesh - Bengal) during the months of June or July. The festival commemorates Krishna's return to his home in Vrindavan after a long period of separation from the people there...

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Jhulan Yatra

Jhulan Yatra commemorates the love relationship of Radha and Krishna. It is said that on this day they sat side-by-side in a swing of flowers prepared under a Kadamba tree and unfolded their tales of love...

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Swadhinota Dibas

On 15th August 1947, at zero hour two dominions were born in the Indian Subcontinent. Political freedom was granted to 1/5th of human race after a period of more than 200 years of imperial rule...

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Rakhi Purnima

Rakhi Purnima generally takes place in the month of August. It is is celebrated with great joy and excitement all around India. Known as Raksha Bandhan in other parts of the country, it symbolizes love, affection and feeling of brotherhood...

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Janmashtami

Hindu mythology terms the birth of Lord Krishna as Janmashtami. The incident of his birth & his transportation to Brindaban is celebrated all over Bengal...

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Ganesha Chaturthi

Ganesha Chaturthi is a day on which Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees. It is celebrated as it is the birthday of Lord Ganesha. The festival is ...

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Bishwakarma Puja

Bengali autumn begins with Bishwakarma puja. Biswakarma is worshipped as the supreme God of architecture and engineering...

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Mahalaya

The traditional six day countdown to Durga Puja starts from Mahalaya. The enchanting voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra fills up the predawn hours of the day thus marking the beginning of Debipaksha. People in the pre-dawn hours pray for their demised relatives and take holy dips in the Ganges. This ritual is known as Tarpon. This day bears immense significance for the Bengalis...

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Eid-ul-fitr

Eid-ul-fitr is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fitr means "to break the fast" and so symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period. This is the day following the appearance of the new moon. The Muslims put on their best clothes. The Eid prayers are said between the early morning and the noon prayers. Once the prayer is over they greet each other: Eid Mubarak...
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Gandhi Jayanti

Celebrated as the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, one of the most influential political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. He is also known as the 'Father of the Nation'...

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Durga Puja

Durga Puja is undoubtedly the biggest festival celebrated by the Bengalis all over the world. In the Krittibas Ramayana, Rama invokes the goddess Durga in his battle against Ravana. Although she was traditionally worshipped in spring, due to contingencies of battle, Rama had to invoke her in autumn as Akaal Bodhan. The pujas are held over a ten-day period, which is traditionally viewed as the coming of the married daughter, Devi Durga, to her father, Himalaya's home...

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Lakshmi Puja

Festive season continues as Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth is worshipped just after Durga Puja. Lakshmi is one of the daughters of Durga who symbolizes wealth, peace and prosperity. On a full moon night people worship her at their homes and pray for her blessings. It is considered that Lakshmi visits those homes and replenishes their homes with wealth...

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Kali Puja

Kali Puja is performed on a new moon night. As Kali is associated with dark rites and demon worship, the rituals performed are austere and offered with great devotion. Alongwith Kali puja, Diwali or Deepavali, the festival of Light is celebrated. The festival marks the victory of good over evil, and uplifting of spiritual darkness. Symbolically it marks the homecoming of goodwill and faith after an absence, as suggested by the story of Ramayana...

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Bhatri Dwitiya

Bhatri Dwitiya or Bhai phonta is an event especially among Bengalis when the sister prays for her brother's safety, success and well being...

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Jagadhatri Puja

On the month of Karthik, the ten-handed Goddess Durga presents herself in front of her devotees as the four-handed Devi Jagadhatri, the caring mother of the world...

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Rash Yatra

Rash Yatra is one of the many festivals in the busy Bengali calendar, held in the month of December every year. It is a festival to commemorate the feats of Lord Krishna and is more acclaimed due to the fairs held in different parts of Bengal. Rash emphasizes on the various miraculous deeds of Lord Krishna, while he was in Vrindavan, in the midst of the cowboys...

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Kartik Puja

Kartik month is a fortunate month and on the eleventh day from no-moon women on the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi carry out an exclusive festival called Kartik Puja. This also happens to be the date of extraterrestrial matrimony of Tulsi with Saligram Shila...

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Christmas Day

Celebrated as the birthday of Jesus, it is though nominally a Christian holiday, also observed as a cultural holiday by many non-Christians. Christian belief is that on that day Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary in the city of Bethlehem...

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Kalpataru Utsav

Kalpataru utsav is held at the Kakurgachi Yogaydyan under a mango tree. A Kalpataru, according to Indian myth is a magical tree, which grants anything a person desires from it. It is also said that Ramakishnadeva took away the diseases of certain people by touching them on that day. The day is remembered through the teachings and philosophy of Ramakishnadeva...

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New Year's Day

The first day of the first month January celebrated as New Year’s Day according to English Calendar...

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Muharram

Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four months of the year in which fighting is prohibited. The event marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala when Imam Husayn ibn Ali, a grandson of Muhammad the founder of Islam, and a Shia Imam, was killed by the forces of the second Ummayad caliph Yazid I. The event is marked by arranging majalis (gatherings) to review Islamic teachings and to commemorate Husayn's sacrifice...

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Makar Sankranti

Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the last day of the Bengali month of Poush. In Bengal, this day is one of the most auspicious periods of the year. Thousands of pilgrims from different parts of the country gather at Gangasagar, the point where the holy river Ganges meets the sea, to take a dip and wash away all the earthly sins...

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Kolkata Boi Mela

The Calcutta Book Fair (now renamed Kolkata Book Fair in English, and officially Kolkata Boi Mela in Bengali) is a winter fair in Kolkata. It is a unique book fair in the sense of not being a trade fair - the book fair is primarily for the general public rather than whole-sale distributors. It is the world's largest non-trade book fair, Asia's largest book fair and the most attended book fair in the world. It is the world's third largest annual conglomeration of books...

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Republic Day

Republic Day is one of the greatest national celebrations observed throughout the country on 26th January every year. India became Republic on the 26th January, 1950. The country became a sovereign democratic republic with a written constitution and an elected parliament...

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Saraswati Puja

Goddess Saraswati is represented as a graceful woman in white, a symbol of purity and peace. She is the Goddess who signifies knowledge, learning, arts and culture. She is seen as the serene Goddess wearing a crescent moon on her brow riding a swan or seated on a lotus flower. Saraswati Puja is performed to pay allegiance to the Goddess of learning...

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Shivratri

On the thirteenth day of the waning moon in the month of Phagun falls the festivals of Mahashivratri, symbolizing the wedding day of Shiva and Parvati. This auspicious festival comes sometime in February and March according to English calendar. This day the married women and unmarried girls perform puja with great faith and fervor...

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Dol Yatra

Dolyatra is celebrated with pomp and dignity in the state of West Bengal. This is essentially a festival of colors, just as Holi is but the way it is celebrated makes it different from Holi as witnessed in rest of India. It celebrates the legend of Radha and Krishna which says that Lord Krishna expressed his love to her beloved Radha on the day of Dolyatra...

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Neel Shasthi

NeelShasthi is the day in the Bengali month of Chaitra when Bengalis celebrate the marriage of Lord Shiva with Devi Parvati by offering puja to the Lord. This puja is done by the married women folk to seek the blessings of the Lord for their husbands & children. According to certain beliefs the word Neel is derived from Neelkantha, which means a person with a blue colored throat, which actually indicates Lord Shiva...

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Charak Puja

Charak puja is a traditional Bengali festival celebrated mainly in the rural areas. The groups of men and women, who take up this Brata or the time bound ritual, have to go through a month long fasting from sunrise to sunset, live strictly on fruits & perform the daily worship in order to get the blessings of the lord. On the day of the Charak or the Gajan, as it is also called, bamboo stages are made on bamboo poles. What follows is a macabre yet fascinating...

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