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.

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreHindu weddingVivaha (विवाह) A traditional Hindu marriage ceremony involving sacred rituals and vows witnessed by fire.Rite of passage

🇮🇳 Jaipur, IndiaGangaurगणगौर A North Indian spring festival honouring Shiva and Gauri with clay idols and processionsFestival · Fasting and breaking the fast

🇮🇳 Mysuru, IndiaMysore Dasara Karnataka's ten-day Dasara, with the lit Mysuru Palace and a Vijayadashami processionFestival

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreLakshmi Pujaलक्ष्मीपूजा A Hindu festival of lamps, prayers and offerings welcoming the goddess of prosperitySpiritual · Sweets given and shared 🇮🇳 IndiaUttarayanaउत्तरायण (Uttarāyaṇa) The Sun's six-month journey north, kept as an auspicious Hindu season and festivalSeasonal

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreNaraka Chaturdashi The dawn festival of oil baths, ancestor lamps, and harvest foods during DiwaliFestival · Breakfast

🇳🇵 Kathmandu, NepalIndra JatraYenyā Punhi An eight-day street festival in Nepal featuring masked dances, chariot processions, and sacred pole ceremonies.Festival

🇮🇳 Vrindavan, India and 2 moreGovardhan Puja A Hindu festival of piled vegetarian foods and sculpted earth, honouring KrishnaSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇳🇵 Kathmandu, NepalGai JatraSā Pāru (𑐳𑐵𑐥𑐵𑐬𑐸) A Newar festival in the Kathmandu Valley to honor relatives who died that year through processions and satire.Festival 🇮🇳 IndiaChaturmasyaचातुर्मास्य A four-month sacred monsoon season of fasting, vows, and monastic retreat in IndiaSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast

🇮🇳 Tiruvannamalai, India and 1 moreKarthika DeepamKārtikai Tīpam A Tamil and Malayali Hindu festival of lights honouring Shiva, Kartikeya and ParvatiSpiritual · Sweets given and shared

🇮🇳 IndiaBathukammaబతుకమ్మ A nine-day floral festival celebrated by women across Telangana and Andhra PradeshFestival

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreCheti Chandچيٽي چنڊ The Sindhi New Year festival celebrating the arrival of spring and JhulelalSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇰🇭 Phnom Penh, Cambodia and 1 moreBon Om Toukបុណ្យអុំទូក A three-day Cambodian festival of dragon boat races, floating lanterns and moon offeringsFestival · Tea-time and snacking customs

🇮🇩 IndonesiaGalungan A Balinese Hindu festival welcoming ancestral spirits and honouring good over evilSpiritual

🇮🇳 Madurai, IndiaGoluபொம்மை கொலு An autumn festival display of stepped dolls and figurines in South Indian homesFestival · Sweets given and shared

🇱🇰 Kandy, Sri LankaEsala Perahera A Sri Lankan procession of sacred relics, drummers and elephants honouring the BuddhaSpiritual

🇮🇳 Kolkata, IndiaDurga Puja in Kolkataকলকাতার দুর্গাপূজা The grand annual autumn festival honouring the mother goddess Durga across KolkataSpiritual

🇮🇳 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

🇮🇳 Puri, IndiaRajaRaja Parba (Odia: ରଜ ପର୍ବ) A three-day festival of womanhood and earth in Odisha, celebrating the monsoon and fertility.Festival

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreDol Purnima A Hindu spring festival honouring Radha and Krishna with swing processions and colourFestival

🇮🇳 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

🇮🇳 IndiaMagh Bihu A harvest festival of bonfires, feasts and winter games in AssamSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals

🇮🇳 IndiaGaye holudগায়ে হলুদ A Bengali pre-wedding ceremony where turmeric paste is applied to the bride and groomRite of passage

🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreWinter solstice The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked with fire, feasting and poetrySeasonal

🇮🇳 IndiaSadyaസദ്യ A vegetarian feast from Kerala, served on a banana leaf at Onam, Vishu and weddingsTable custom · Lunch

🇮🇳 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

🇮🇳 Krishnanagar, IndiaJagaddhatri Puja A Hindu festival for the world-bearing goddess, kept in West Bengal each autumnSpiritual

🇮🇳 Haridwar, IndiaKumbh MelaKumbha Mēlā A major Hindu riverside pilgrimage held across four rotating holy cities in IndiaSpiritual

🇮🇳 Mumbai, IndiaDahi Handi A Hindu festival sport where teams build human towers to break suspended curd potsFestival

🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 3 moreHosay An Indo-Caribbean Muharram commemoration with ornate floats, drumming and processionsSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast

🇳🇵 Bhaktapur, NepalBiska Jatra𑐧𑐶𑐳𑑂𑐎𑐵𑑅 𑐖𑐵𑐟𑑂𑐬𑐵 An annual solar new year festival in Nepal with chariot pulls and tall wooden poles.Festival

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreFuneral The ceremony a community holds when someone dies, from burial to cremationRite of passage

🇮🇳 Pune, India and 5 moreTurbanدولبند (dolband) Cloth wound around the head, worn for faith, rank, shade and identityDress 🇮🇳 IndiaSheetala Ashtami A day for the goddess Shitala, kept eight days after Holi with food cooked in advanceSpiritual 🇫🇯 FijiFiji Week A week of national celebration in Fiji marking independence and colonial history with cultural performances.Festival

🇹🇭 Bangkok, ThailandSongkranสงกรานต์ The three-day Thai New Year festival marked by water rituals and blessings for eldersFestival

🇧🇩 Dhaka, Bangladesh and 1 moreBaul traditionবাউল A Bengali devotional minstrel path uniting mystic poetry, music and dancePerformance 🇮🇳 Sambalpur, IndiaSitalsasthiଶୀତଳ ଷଷ୍ଠୀ A festival in western Odisha re-enacting the divine wedding of Shiva and ParvatiFestival 🇮🇳 India and 5 moreThimithiதீமிதி A South Indian firewalking festival honouring Draupadi Amman before DeepavaliSpiritual

🇮🇳 IndiaSanjhi Autumn devotion honoring a mother goddess and sacred floor art of Radha and KrishnaSpiritual

🇮🇳 Ahmedabad, India and 1 moreGarbaगर्भ A Gujarati circle dance performed around a sacred flame during the festival of NavratriPerformance

🇮🇳 IndiaKoodiyattamകൂടിയാട്ടം An ancient Sanskrit temple drama and dance tradition from Kerala, IndiaPerformance

🇮🇳 Barsana, IndiaLathmar Holi A playful spring festival in two Uttar Pradesh towns where women strike men with sticks to reenact a divine legend.Festival

🇮🇳 IndiaGanga Dussehra A ten-day Hindu river festival celebrating the descent of the Ganges to earthSpiritual

Photo credits on this page

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

Sadya: Augustus Binu / facebook, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Golu: Ksiva21, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Prostration: Meghan Breeze, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Pehlwani: Prasanna Revan aka. Prasannare at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Antyesti: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Govardhan Puja: Ms Sarah Welch, CC0, source
Gai Jatra: Krish Dulal, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Jagaddhatri Puja: শরদিন্দু ভট্টাচার্য্য, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Dol Purnima: Satyabrata sahoo369, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Galungan: Davidelit, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Kumbh Mela: Yosarian, CC BY 3.0, source
Dahi Handi: AKS.9955, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Durga Puja in Kolkata: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
Hosay: Julius Eduard Muller, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Biska Jatra: Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Turban: pxhere, CC0, source
Gangaur: Avinashmaurya, CC BY 3.0, source
Songkran: ผู้สร้างสรรค์ผลงาน/ส่งข้อมูลเก็บในคลังข้อมูลเสรีวิกิมีเดียคอมมอนส์ - เ, CC BY 3.0, source
Cheti Chand: Coolross ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Bathukamma: Randhirreddy at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Nuakhai: Mamata Padhi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Baul tradition: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
Magh Bihu: Diganta Talukdar, CC BY 2.0, source
Thiruvathira: Kalakki at Malayalam Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, source
Sanjhi: Veer jindal, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Garba: anurag agnihotri, CC BY 2.0, source
Koodiyattam: Sreekanthv at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Lathmar Holi: Original: Sachinghai09 Derivative work: Radomianin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Ganga Dussehra: Barry Silver, CC BY 2.0, source
Mysore Dasara: Kalyan Kumar, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Hindu wedding: Dinesh Cyanam, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Winter solstice: Image by Przemyslaw " Blueshade " Idzkiewicz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Raja: Saroj Bal, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Ambubachi Mela: Kunal Dalui, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Karthika Deepam: SriniG, Public domain, source
Lakshmi Puja: Subharnab Majumdar, CC BY 2.0, source
Naraka Chaturdashi: India (Delhi Agra area), Public domain, source
Esala Perahera: Ashan96, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Indra Jatra: Kamal Ratna Tuladhar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Bon Om Touk: Codas, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Ayudha Puja: Augustus Binu / facebook, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Gaye holud: Arr4, CC BY-SA 4.0, source