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EveryParampara

Hindu traditions

Hindu traditions fill the calendar of South Asia and the many places where Hindus have settled, from Bali and Mauritius to Fiji, Trinidad and Britain.

Hindu traditions fill the calendar of South Asia and the many places where Hindus have settled, from Bali and Mauritius to Fiji, Trinidad and Britain. They include daily puja, the festivals of Diwali, Holi, Navratri and Pongal, pilgrimages to the Ganges and Tirupati, the sixteen samskaras that mark life from birth to death and a great many regional and village customs. Hinduism has no single founder or text, and practice varies by family, region and community. These pages describe the traditions as those who keep them do.

Home and temple

Worship begins at home, with a shrine, a lamp and a morning prayer, and continues at the temple, where a priest offers the deity water, flowers, food and light on behalf of devotees. Visitors take darshan, receive prasad and walk around the shrine. Festivals bring the whole street into the temple or the pandal, with processions, music and communal meals, and the cycle of the year is marked by fasts and feasts.

Rites of life

The samskaras include the naming, the first rice, the sacred thread, marriage and the funeral. The wedding, with its seven steps round the fire, is the best known, while funerals involve cremation and offerings to the ancestors. Every region adds its own customs, such as the kolam in Tamil Nadu, the rakhi in the north and the Durga Puja of Bengal. The diversity is part of the tradition.

About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Hindu (faith). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
KindSpiritualFestivalRite of passageTable customSeasonalDressPerformanceEtiquetteCraftGameFolkloreHomeCeremony
MealBreakfastLunchDinnerSupperTea-time and snacking customsTea, coffee and drinking ceremoniesSweets given and sharedFeasts and festival mealsFasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇳 IndiaAyudha Pujaआयुध पूजा A Hindu festival blessing the tools, vehicles, books and instruments of daily workSpiritual 🇮🇳 Sambalpur, IndiaNuakhai An agricultural festival in Western Odisha welcoming the first rice of the seasonSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreDol Purnima A Hindu spring festival honouring Radha and Krishna with swing processions and colourFestival 🇮🇩 IndonesiaGalungan A Balinese Hindu festival welcoming ancestral spirits and honouring good over evilSpiritual 🇮🇳 Chidambaram, India and 1 moreThiruvathira A Hindu festival celebrating Shiva's cosmic dance, observed in Tamil Nadu and Kerala with fasting, processions, and dancFestival 🇮🇳 Guwahati, IndiaAmbubachi Melaঅম্বুবাচী মেলা An annual gathering at Kamakhya Temple marking the earth's seasonal fertility.Spiritual 🇮🇳 IndiaGaye holudগায়ে হলুদ A Bengali pre-wedding ceremony where turmeric paste is applied to the bride and groomRite of passage 🇮🇳 India and 4 moreProstration Bowing the whole body to the ground, in prayer and as a sign of respectSpiritual 🇮🇳 India and 2 morePehlwani A traditional discipline of clay-pit wrestling across the Indian subcontinent.Game 🇹🇭 ThailandWai khruพิธีไหว้ครู A Thai ceremony of thanks to teachers, held in schools and in the artsSpiritual 🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreWinter solstice The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked with fire, feasting and poetrySeasonal 🇮🇳 Krishnanagar, IndiaJagaddhatri Puja A Hindu festival for the world-bearing goddess, kept in West Bengal each autumnSpiritual 🇮🇳 Tiruvannamalai, IndiaGirivalam A barefoot walk of about 14 km around Arunachala hill, most of all on full moon nightsSpiritual 🇨🇳 China and 5 moreAncestor worship Honouring dead relatives with offerings and prayers, kept in many cultures worldwideSpiritual 🇮🇩 Yogyakarta, IndonesiaWayangꦮꦪꦁ A night-long puppet theatre from Java, where a dalang tells epics behind a lit screenPerformance 🇮🇳 Varanasi, India and 5 moreRamlilaरामलीला Open-air community plays staged across autumn nights, recounting the journey of Rama.Performance 🇮🇳 Ayodhya, IndiaTilakaतिलक A forehead mark worn by Hindus and Jains, at home, at temple and on special daysDress 🇮🇩 Uluwatu, IndonesiaKecakᬓᬾᬘᬓ᭄ (Balinese), Tari Kecak (Indonesian) A circle of men chanting chak as they dance the Ramayana epic in BaliPerformance 🇮🇳 IndiaBharatanatyam A South Indian temple dance of set poses, hand gestures and rhythm, now danced on stagePerformance 🇳🇵 NepalMha Pujaम्हपुजा A Newar New Year ritual of self-worship, mandalas and renewal in NepalSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 Madurai, IndiaMeenakshi TirukalyanamChithirai Thiruvizha A two-week festival in Madurai celebrating the divine wedding of Meenakshi and Shiva.Festival 🇮🇳 Hyderabad, India and 3 moreBonalu An annual festival of thanksgiving to Goddess Mahakali across Telangana, IndiaFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 IndiaVat PurnimaVaṭapūrṇimā An annual Hindu festival where married women fast and pray around a banyan treeSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇨🇳 China and 5 moreAncestor veneration Honouring dead relatives with offerings, meals and prayers, kept in cultures worldwideSpiritual 🇮🇳 IndiaPushkaram A river worship festival rotating across twelve sacred Indian rivers over twelve yearsSpiritual 🇲🇾 Kelantan, Malaysia and 2 moreMak yongTarian Mak Yong (Jawi: مق يوڠ) A dance-drama of Kelantan and Patani, told in song, music and improvised speechPerformance 🇮🇳 Mumbai, India and 1 moreDhoti A long unstitched cloth men wrap like trousers, for worship and formal daysDress 🇮🇳 Pushkar, IndiaPushkar FairKartik Mela An annual camel and livestock fair with lake pilgrimage rites in Rajasthan, IndiaFestival 🇮🇳 IndiaAhoi Ashtami A day of fasting by Hindu mothers before Diwali, for their children's wellbeingFestival · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇮🇩 Bali, IndonesiaNgaben A Balinese Hindu cremation rite held to free the soul of the deadRite of passage 🇮🇳 Ahobilam, IndiaNarasimha Jayantiनरसिंहजयंती A one-day Hindu festival marking Vishnu's man-lion avatar and the rescue of PrahladaSpiritual 🇮🇳 Puri, IndiaNabakalebaraନବ କଳେବର (Navakalevara) A rare ritual in Puri where the wooden idols of four Hindu deities are replaced with new carvings every twelve to nineteSpiritual 🇮🇳 Kanchipuram, IndiaPanguni UthiramPaṅkuṉi Uttiram A Tamil Hindu festival celebrating divine weddings and the virtues of married lifeSpiritual 🇮🇳 Kochi, IndiaVallam Kalivaḷḷaṃ kaḷi A traditional canoe racing festival held across the waters of Kerala during OnamGame 🇮🇳 IndiaGanga Dussehra A ten-day Hindu river festival celebrating the descent of the Ganges to earthSpiritual 🇮🇳 Barsana, IndiaLathmar Holi A playful spring festival in two Uttar Pradesh towns where women strike men with sticks to reenact a divine legend.Festival 🇮🇳 IndiaKoodiyattamകൂടിയാട്ടം An ancient Sanskrit temple drama and dance tradition from Kerala, IndiaPerformance 🇮🇳 Ahmedabad, India and 1 moreGarbaगर्भ A Gujarati circle dance performed around a sacred flame during the festival of NavratriPerformance 🇮🇳 IndiaSanjhi Autumn devotion honoring a mother goddess and sacred floor art of Radha and KrishnaSpiritual 🇮🇳 India and 5 moreThimithiதீமிதி A South Indian firewalking festival honouring Draupadi Amman before DeepavaliSpiritual 🇮🇳 Sambalpur, IndiaSitalsasthiଶୀତଳ ଷଷ୍ଠୀ A festival in western Odisha re-enacting the divine wedding of Shiva and ParvatiFestival 🇱🇰 Anuradhapura, Sri LankaSinhala New Yearඅලුත් අවුරුද්ද The April solar New Year and harvest festival celebrated across Sri LankaSeasonal 🇧🇩 Dhaka, Bangladesh and 1 moreBaul traditionবাউল A Bengali devotional minstrel path uniting mystic poetry, music and dancePerformance 🇮🇳 India and 2 morePandal Temporary decorated pavilions and arches built for festivals and gatheringsFestival 🇹🇭 Bangkok, ThailandSongkranสงกรานต์ The three-day Thai New Year festival marked by water rituals and blessings for eldersFestival 🇮🇳 IndiaSheetala Ashtami A day for the goddess Shitala, kept eight days after Holi with food cooked in advanceSpiritual 🇮🇳 Pune, India and 5 moreTurbanدولبند (dolband) Cloth wound around the head, worn for faith, rank, shade and identityDress 🇮🇳 India and 2 moreFuneral The ceremony a community holds when someone dies, from burial to cremationRite of passage
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Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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