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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
🇮🇳 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 🇮🇳 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 🇳🇵 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 🇧🇩 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 🇮🇳 Kochi, IndiaVallam Kalivaḷḷaṃ kaḷi A traditional canoe racing festival held across the waters of Kerala during OnamGame 🇮🇳 Kanchipuram, IndiaPanguni UthiramPaṅkuṉi Uttiram A Tamil Hindu festival celebrating divine weddings and the virtues of married lifeSpiritual 🇮🇳 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 🇮🇳 Mumbai, IndiaWeddings in India Weddings across India, each shaped by faith, region and familyRite of passage 🇮🇳 Ahobilam, IndiaNarasimha Jayantiनरसिंहजयंती A one-day Hindu festival marking Vishnu's man-lion avatar and the rescue of PrahladaSpiritual 🇵🇰 Multan, Pakistan and 3 moreShalwar kameez Loose trousers and a long tunic, worn as one outfit across South AsiaDress 🇮🇳 IndiaAhoi Ashtami A day of fasting by Hindu mothers before Diwali, for their children's wellbeingFestival · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇮🇳 Mumbai, India and 1 moreDhoti A long unstitched cloth men wrap like trousers, for worship and formal daysDress 🇮🇳 India and 4 moreSariसाड़ी An unstitched length of cloth that women drape around the body, worn across South AsiaDress 🇮🇳 Tiruvannamalai, IndiaGirivalam A barefoot walk of about 14 km around Arunachala hill, most of all on full moon nightsSpiritual 🇮🇳 Baripada, IndiaChhau dance A masked dance of eastern India, blending martial steps with epic storiesPerformance 🇮🇳 India and 2 morePandal Temporary decorated pavilions and arches built for festivals and gatheringsFestival 🇱🇰 Anuradhapura, Sri LankaSinhala New Yearඅලුත් අවුරුද්ද The April solar New Year and harvest festival celebrated across Sri LankaSeasonal 🇮🇳 Pushkar, IndiaPushkar FairKartik Mela An annual camel and livestock fair with lake pilgrimage rites in Rajasthan, IndiaFestival 🇮🇳 IndiaPushkaram A river worship festival rotating across twelve sacred Indian rivers over twelve yearsSpiritual 🇮🇳 IndiaVat PurnimaVaṭapūrṇimā An annual Hindu festival where married women fast and pray around a banyan treeSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇮🇳 Hyderabad, India and 3 moreBonalu An annual festival of thanksgiving to Goddess Mahakali across Telangana, IndiaFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 Madurai, IndiaMeenakshi TirukalyanamChithirai Thiruvizha A two-week festival in Madurai celebrating the divine wedding of Meenakshi and Shiva.Festival 🇮🇳 Ujjain, India and 1 moreVikram Samvatविक्रमसंवत् A lunisolar Hindu calendar of Nepal and India, its years counted 57 ahead of the GregorianSeasonal 🇳🇵 NepalMha Pujaम्हपुजा A Newar New Year ritual of self-worship, mandalas and renewal in NepalSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 IndiaGamosaগামুছা A white Assamese cloth with a red border, worn, gifted and laid under sacred textsDress 🇮🇳 IndiaBharatanatyam A South Indian temple dance of set poses, hand gestures and rhythm, now danced on stagePerformance 🇮🇳 Ayodhya, IndiaTilakaतिलक A forehead mark worn by Hindus and Jains, at home, at temple and on special daysDress 🇮🇳 Varanasi, India and 5 moreRamlilaरामलीला Open-air community plays staged across autumn nights, recounting the journey of Rama.Performance 🇮🇳 India and 2 moreMangalasutraमङ्गलसूत्रम् (maṅgalasūtram) A necklace tied by the groom at a wedding, worn through married lifeDress 🇮🇳 Udupi, IndiaYakshaganaಯಕ್ಷಗಾನ (Kannada) A night-long dance-drama from coastal Karnataka, with sung dialogue and drummingPerformance 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreRangoliरंगोली Floor patterns of rice flour, sand or petals, drawn at the doorstep for festivalsCraft 🇮🇳 India and 2 moreRudrakshaरुद्राक्ष Seeds of the Elaeocarpus tree, worn as prayer beads by devotees of ShivaSpiritual 🇮🇳 IndiaAhimsaअहिंसा A daily Indian discipline of doing no harm, in deed, word and thoughtSpiritual 🇮🇳 Varanasi, IndiaHanuman Chalisaहनुमान चालीसा A forty-stanza Awadhi hymn praising Hanuman, said by Hindus each daySpiritual 🇮🇳 India and 2 morePujaपूजा (pūjā) Hindu worship: light, flowers and food offered to a deity or a guestSpiritual 🇮🇳 Nadia, IndiaDhunachi A Bengali incense burner, swung in worship and danced with at Durga PujaSpiritual
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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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