Traditions of Kolkata
Home of Durga Puja, when clay goddesses fill the streets and the whole city turns out to see them.
Kolkata, once Calcutta, is the cultural capital of Bengal and a city of adda, or long talk, of sweet shops and of rivers of tram wire. Its great festival is Durga Puja each autumn, when thousands of neighbourhood pavilions rise and the city stays up through the nights to walk from one to another.
Durga Puja
Artisans in Kumartuli make the clay images of the goddess and her children. The pandals, the bamboo and cloth pavilions, follow themes that can be a village, a temple or a political idea. On the last day, Dashami, women smear red vermilion on each other in sindoor khela and the images are taken to the Hooghly for immersion.
At the table
A Bengali meal moves from bitter to sweet: shukto, dal, fish curry with mustard, then mishti doi and rasgulla. Hilsa fish in the monsoon is prized. Street food includes kathi rolls, jhal muri and puchka, and a morning starts with luchi and alur dom.
Signature traditions of Kolkata
Durga Puja in KolkataThe autumn festival of the goddess, recognised by UNESCO as intangible heritage.
Kali PujaThe night of the goddess Kali, held on Diwali.Also part of it, and being written: Poila Boishakh (The Bengali new year in mid April.), Rasgulla (The sweet of chhana balls in syrup, central to Bengali celebration.).
A trail idea for Kolkata
- Kumartuli Watch clay images take shape in the potters' quarter.
- College Street Browse the great second-hand book market and its coffee house.
- Dakshineswar Kali Temple A riverside temple tied to the saint Ramakrishna.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Kali Puja: Jonoikobangali, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Durga Puja in Kolkata: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
- Chhau dance: Skasish, CC BY-SA 4.0, source