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.
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.
🇹🇭 Bangkok, ThailandCoronation of the Thai monarchพระราชพิธีบรมราชาภิเษก
A consecration ceremony blending Hindu and Buddhist rites to formally install the King of Thailand.Ceremony
🇵🇭 Philippines and 1 morePangalay
A traditional fingernail dance of the Tausūg and Bajau peoples in the Sulu Archipelago and Sabah.Performance
🇱🇦 Laos and 1 moreBaciບາສີ (Lao)
A Lao rite that calls the soul home and ties a thread on the wrist for good luckSpiritual
🇮🇩 IndonesiaOgoh-ogohᬳᭀᬕᭀᬄᬳᭀᬕᭀᬄ
Giant handcrafted statues paraded and burned on the eve of the Balinese Saka New YearFestival
🇮🇩 Ubud, IndonesiaBarongᬩᬭᭀᬂ
A sacred Balinese masked dance drama depicting the eternal struggle of good and evilPerformance
🇮🇩 Bali, IndonesiaPenjorᬧᬾᬜ᭄ᬚᭀᬃ
A curved bamboo pole decorated with leaves and offerings, raised in Bali to mark Galungan and invite prosperity.Spiritual
🇮🇩 Bali, IndonesiaMelasti
A Balinese Hindu purification ritual held at the sea before Nyepi to cleanse sacred objects and people.Spiritual
🇮🇩 Jakarta, Indonesia and 2 moreMudik
Indonesians head home to family before Lebaran, in the year's biggest journeyHome
🇹🇭 Thailand and 7 moreSpirit house
A small roofed shrine on a pillar, kept in homes and villages across Southeast Asia to honour protective spirits.Spiritual
🇹🇭 Chiang Mai, Thailand and 5 moreLoy Krathongลอยกระทง
A Thai festival of floating leaf baskets on rivers to honor water and release negativity.Festival
🇮🇩 Bali, IndonesiaNyepiᬜᬾᬧᬶ
A Balinese Hindu day of silence, fasting and stillness marking the Saka new yearSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇲🇲 Yangon, MyanmarThingyanသင်္ကြန်
A four-day water festival marking the Myanmar New Year, celebrated in April with merit-making and playful splashing.Festival
🇰🇭 Cambodia and 4 moreRoyal Ploughing Ceremonyព្រះរាជពិធីបុណ្យច្រត់ព្រះនង្គ័ល
A royal agricultural rite opening the rice season across mainland Southeast AsiaCeremony
🇰🇭 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
🇮🇩 Bali, IndonesiaNgaben
A Balinese Hindu cremation rite held to free the soul of the deadRite of passage
🇮🇩 Uluwatu, IndonesiaKecakᬓᬾᬘᬓ᭄ (Balinese), Tari Kecak (Indonesian)
A circle of men chanting chak as they dance the Ramayana epic in BaliPerformance
🇵🇭 PhilippinesFilipino wedding customsKasalan
A blend of indigenous rituals and Christian traditions marking the union of two families in the Philippines.Rite of passage
🇲🇾 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
🇮🇩 Yogyakarta, IndonesiaWayangꦮꦪꦁ
A night-long puppet theatre from Java, where a dalang tells epics behind a lit screenPerformance
🇹🇭 ThailandWai khruพิธีไหว้ครู
A Thai ceremony of thanks to teachers, held in schools and in the artsSpiritual
🇹🇭 Bangkok, ThailandSongkranสงกรานต์
The three-day Thai New Year festival marked by water rituals and blessings for eldersFestival
🇸🇬 Singapore and 3 moreMatchmaking
The custom of using a trusted intermediary to introduce partners for marriageRite of passage
🇹🇭 Bangkok, ThailandSongkranสงกรานต์
The Thai solar New Year marked by temple rites, elder blessings and water throwingSeasonal
🇮🇩 IndonesiaNgerorod
A Balinese Hindu way of marrying, where a couple wed by their own choiceRite of passage
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Bon Om Touk: Codas, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pangalay: BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Loy Krathong: John Shedrick, CC BY 2.0, source
- Nyepi: Matt Croxson, Public domain, source
- Thingyan: Pagan era painter(s), Public domain, source
- Royal Ploughing Ceremony: Xiengyod, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Galungan: Davidelit, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mudik: Arie Basuki, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Songkran: ผู้สร้างสรรค์ผลงาน/ส่งข้อมูลเก็บในคลังข้อมูลเสรีวิกิมีเดียคอมมอนส์ - เ, CC BY 3.0, source
- Baci: Dalbera, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ogoh-ogoh: Simondodit, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Barong: Michael Gunther, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Coronation of the Thai monarch: Tris_T7, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Penjor: Chainwit., CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Spirit house: Chainwit., CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ngaben: by kibitan, CC BY 2.0, source
- Kecak: Rollan Budi, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Filipino wedding customs: John Ryan Cordova, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Wayang: Kevin Gessner, CC BY 2.0, source
- Wai khru: seetefl on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Melasti: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Matchmaking: Pavel Fedotov, Public domain, source
- Songkran: Khunmoohan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source