National Festivals of India (Date, Importance, Celebrations)

In this article, you will read about various National festivals of India and their date, Importance, celebration.

Introduction on National festivals

In India, several festivals are celebrated as India’s multi-culture & multi-religion land, and all these festivals get celebrated with full enthusiasm and joy. There is a number of communities and caste, and people celebrate various festivals according to the way it gets celebrated in their community.

Apart from some festivals of communities, there are also national festivals that get celebrated in the same way countrywide. National festivals are on which everyone has a holiday, and people get together to celebrate the festival joyfully.

What these National Festivals Mean to Indians?

The national festivals are celebrated with the same joy and happiness throughout the country. During these festivals people get crazy, and they forget all their sadness and sorrows and spend lots of money to celebrate the festival fantastically.

For example, during Independence Day, it gets celebrated by flying kites, and people spend lots of money on buying kites and threads and enjoy the festival.

List of National Festivals of India

The three major national festivals of India and here is the list of the festivals:

Gandhi Jayanti

Gandhi Jayanti falls on 2nd October every year, which is the birthday of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi sacrificed so much for the country and the independence struggle, and that is why his birthday on 2nd October every year gets celebrated as Jayanti, and as a national holiday.

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is celebrated on 2nd October every year as a contribution to Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a clean and green country.

Independence Day in India

India got independence on 15th August 1947 from British Authorities. Every year 15th August is celebrated as Independence Day throughout the country. The Tri-color National flag is hoisted on every government building terrace all over the country.

People fly kites and play with the colors of our flag. Various films and plays get performed by numerous theatrical people to show the contribution of various freedom fighters in the independence of the country.

Republic Day of India

India was declared as a republic country on 26th January 1950, and it is celebrated every year on 26th January. During this day Republic day parade is conducted in New Delhi, which is worth watching, and that is why people wait for the procession after waking up early on that morning.

People spend this fantastic day by participating in the parade and by visiting various places where the republic day parade takes place and by flying tricolor nation flag high on their terraces people show their love for the country. 

Importance of National Festivals

The huge importance of national festivals is split into some points below:

Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated so that people start incorporating the values of Mahatma Gandhi and start following his footsteps and start living like him and incorporate his dreams like the cleanliness of the country. It is also quite noticeable that people are following his footsteps as various children, adults, and government officials get together to clean the country and to celebrate this amazing festival.

On Independence Day, people show their love and happiness for getting independent, and that is why people show their love towards the country by painting their skins in tricolor and by showing happiness by flying kites.

Republic day gets celebrated as the constitution of India got written on today, and its importance is sort of noticeable by watching the enthusiasm of participants of the Republic Day Parade.

Other Cultural Festivals celebrated like National Festivals

There are many other cultural festivals as well, which get celebrated with the same joy and happiness as the national days of India.

Diwali

Diwali is a festival that gets celebrated to celebrate the victory of light over darkness. It is celebrated by firing crackers and decorating their houses with various kinds of lights.

Holi

One of the festivals that are celebrated by the people throughout the country is Holi, and people celebrate it by coloring each other and by throwing water on each other.

Dussehra

Dussehra is another festival that gets celebrated throughout the country, and this festival gets celebrated for the victory of goodness over badness. This festival was symbolizing the victory of Ram over Lanka by firing the statues of Ravana, Kumbhkarana, and Indrajeet.

Lohri

Lohri is celebrated on 13th January of every year in the Punjab region, which is in the north part of the Indian Subcontinent. It signifies the passing of the winter solstice.

Makar Sankranti

Makar Sankranti is observed and celebrated according to solar cycles, and it almost and always falls on 14th January of every year. It signifies the arrival of longer days.

Maha Shivaratri

In honor of Lord Shiva MahaShivratri is celebrated to marks the day of the consummation of the marriage of Shiva. Offerings of fruits, leaves, sweets, and milk to Shiva are made; some perform all-day fasting with tantric or Vedic worship of Shiva.

Ram Navami

Ram Navami may be a Hindu festival that celebrates the birthday of Lord Ram. The festival celebrates the descent of God Vishnu as Lord Rama’s avatar.

Krishna Janmashtami

Krishna Janmashtami is just referred to as Gokulashtami or Janmashtami. It’s an annual festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna, who was the eighth avatar of God Vishnu. It’s particularly celebrated in Mathura and Vrindavan.

GudiPadwa

GudiPadwa may be a springtime festival that marks the normal New Year for Marathi and Konkan Hindus. It’s celebrated in and near the state of Maharashtra and Goa on the primary day of the month of Chaitra.

Raksha Bandhan

Raksha Bandhan is a popular traditional annual rite that is celebrated across the country in which the sister of all ages ties a talisman or amulet called rakhi around the wrists of the brothers symbolically protecting them and receiving a gift in return.

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival that celebrates the arrival of Ganesh from Kailash mountains to earth with his mother goddess Parvati. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesh idol privately at home or publicly on elaborate pandals. The festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm, and it lasts for ten days.

Eid

Eid is additionally called the festival of breaking the fast, it’s a religious holiday celebrated by the Muslims that marks the top of the month-long dawn to sunset fasting of Ramadan. Eid al Fitr begins at sunset on the night of the primary sighting of the crescent moon.

Nanak Gurpurab

Nanak Gupurab celebrates the birth of the primary Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak. This is often one of the foremost sacred festivals in Sikhism. Nanak was the founding father of Sikhism and was liable for shaping the beliefs of Sikhs. 

Vaisakhi

Vaisakhi is additionally referred to as Baisakhi, Vaishakhi, or Vaisakhi may be a historic and nonsecular festival in Sikhism. In Sikhism, it marks the beginning of Khalsa. During Vaisakhi, Gurudwaras are decorated, and kirtans are held.

Christmas

Christmas is that the annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus, which is observed on 25th December as a cultural and nonsecular celebration. Christmas is that the word shortened sort of Christ’s mass.

Buddha Purnima

Buddha Purnima is a Buddhist holiday that celebrates the birth of the Prince Siddharth Gautam, who was later known as Gautam Buddha. He laid the foundation of Buddhism.

Mahavir Janma Kalnayak (Mahavir jayanti)

Mahavir JanmaKalnayak is the festival that celebrates the birth of Mahavir, who was twenty-fourth and the last Tirthankara. It is celebrated on the 13th day of the Chaitra month of Jain Calendar.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti

Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti maybe a festival and public holiday which is observed within the Maharashtra state. Bal Gangadhar Tilak expanded Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti so as to unite people against British Oppression. 

Dr. B R Ambedkar Jayanti

Also read – Essay on Dr. B R Ambedkar

Dr. B R Ambedkar Jayanti is widely known on 14th April on an annual basis, since 2015 it’s officially observed as a public holiday. His followers administer Ambedkar Jayanti processions at Chaitya Bhoomi in Mumbai and Deeksha Bhoomi in Nagpur.

Conclusion

The national festivals of India are vital festivals because though people get a vacation on the occasions, but people don’t celebrate the festival in the right manner.

People got to exit their houses and show their happiness for the festival they need. On Gandhi Jayanti, everyone should cleantheir nearby roads, on Independence Day everyone should fly the Tricolor flag, and on Republic day, everyone should watch the parade.

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