Festivals were celebrated by Hindus to make everyone happy and unite their family and society. It will be like get together parties.
It was the practice of ancient Indians to link all festivals and other activities with religion so that people listen to them. At present, more or less all the days in a year are festival days one way or other celebrated by anyone of the groups in India.
In real sense, some are connected to religion and others not.
Vinayaka chadhurthy,Krishna jayanthy, Navarathri (Durga puja) Deepavali, Onam are few which has the background of Purana stories.
Vinayakar has many names like Ganapathy, Ganesan, Pillaiyar, Adhimoolam, Balachandar, Herambar etc.. Adharvasirsho Upanishad used ganapathy as God for explaining philosophy. It is a belief among Hindus that he should be worshipped before starting any new venture so that obstructions will not be faced. Buddhists believe that Buddha lived as an elephant in one of his earlier births. So, they are also worshipping him.
Ganapathy is married in north India where as single in south. Ganapathy pooja will be celebrated for ten days in north and only one day in south. Ganapathy is younger to Karthikeya in north but elder in south. Vedas quote Ganapathy as a supreme God and elder (Jyeshta Rajam) to all.
Krishna jayanthy or janmashtami is celebrated as the birth day of lord Krishna We learn about Krishna.from Bagavatham and Mahabaratham. Krishna’s younger life was written in Bagavatham where as his middle and ending days of Krishna were written in Mahabaratham.
Navarathri pooja in south and Durga pooja in Eastern part of India are the same. This festival will be celebrated for nine days. This festival is being celebrated based on the story in Devi Bagavatham. (Devi Bagavatham and Bagavatham are different books) Goddess took three forms as Saraswathy, Lakshmi and Durga on different days, did meditation for getting powers to destroy evils. The story goes as Durga destroyed the evils on ninth day.
It will be so pleasant to view the arrangements of different idols in steps. This is called as ‘Kolu’ in Tamil language. This festival will be celebrated during the month of September.
Deepavali is an another famous festival in India throughout. It also has a story in background which could be found in Vishnu puranam. The story is in connection with the evil called Nagarahasura killed by lord Krishna. Fire crackers and sweet snacks are the speciality on this celebration. Western part of India celebrating this day as new account opening day after doing Lakshmi pooja.
Onam is a festival famous in south west India. It also having a background story in Vishnu purana. Vishnu took incarnation as Vamana (Dwarf) and destroyed the ego of king Mahabali. Onam is being celebrated to remember this incident.
Similarly Holi is a grand day of celebration in northern India.
The first day of each Year is being celebrated on two different days. They depend on solar and lunar calendars.
Sankaranthi in north and Pongal in South India are the same. It is a great festival in south and being celebrated for three days. People will call it as harvest festival. Pongal is the name of a food item. It is being prepared (Cooked) in combination of milk, jaggery and rice obtained from newly harvested paddy. Sun is the main contributor for crops. So, pongal will be offered to Sun God with thanks giving prayer before eating.
The second day will be celebrated to respect the animals which helped the fatrmers to plough, separate the paddy seeds from grass, pull the cart etc..
The third day is a rest or entertainment day. People as a family will visit their places of interest. Few will go to movies.
Pongal is mainly a farmer’s festival. This festival being celebrated while Sun enters Makara Rasi (Name of one out of twelve segments of Horoscope chart). So, north Indians will call this day as Makara Sankaranthi. This day is also used for remembering the ancesters.
Sankaranthi or Pongal: Pongal in south is a great festival. It is being celebrated in the month of January by inviting the Sun God to come and bless them with good yield from fields. Most of the Indians are farmers. This will be a harvesting time. So the farmers enjoy this festival very much because they will be wealthy in this season by way of good yield from their fields.
Houses will be painted fresh and decorated with drawings. Rice from new yield will be cooked in milk with Jaggery (Unpurified sugar) and ghee (purified butter). This is called as “Pongal’ in local language. They enjoy this festival with their relatives and friends by inviting them.
The next day belongs to oxen and the tools they use. This is a rest day for pet animals like cows, oxen etc.. Farmers will bath the animals and decorate them with garlands. Sweets and fruits will be fed to them.
This is also a day to show bravery. Younsters will show their bravery to attract girls. Girls also will select their love by seeing the skills of their life partner. This activity is being followed in remote villages at present and faded almost. Pongal is a popular festival now even though it’s charm slowly reduced.
Onam: This festival is very famous in Kerala state in India. It has a background story from purana. Lord Vishnu took a form of a dwarf to kill an evil
Holi is a famous festival in north India.
India, particularly south has many temples with big towers. Some of Them were built more than thousand years before. Every year, there will be 10 days festival in each temple. The people surrounding the temple will join together to conduct the festival. Decorations will be most enjoyable to watch. Such festivals will unite the people.
All weekdays are allotted to one deity and celebrating the day for that deity. Mondays for Rudhra, Tuesday for Karthikeya, Wednesday for Narayana, Thursday for Dhakshinamoorthy (Guru), Fridays for female deities (Durga and Lakshmi), Saturdays for Venkatachalapathy and Sunday for Surya Narayana. Full moon day will be devotted to worship female deities. New moon day is to worship ancesters.
All stars were grouped into twenty seven (At present) and each group was given a name. The names are starting with Aswini, Barani, Krithigai …………. upto Revathy. Each group consisting of different numbers from single to multiple of stars. There was twenty eighth group of stars called ‘Abijith’ but later combined with an another group.
Each group of stars was referred with a name of God. The Star Kriththika was said to be the birth star of Karththikeya. The star Rohini was wife of the Moon. The star Thiruvadhirai (Arudhra) was connected to lord Siva.
So, each day is an important day for a particular deity. Most of the months were having festivals. Chithra (Chaithra) powrnami (Full moon day in the first month of Hindu calendar) celebrated for the deity Indhra in olden days. At present, there is no temple for Indhra. But, it being celebrated for lord Siva.
The second month vaikasi is famous for Vaikasi (vaisaka) visakam (Visakam is a group of stars) during which lord Karththikeya will be worshipped.
Adi (Ashadam) is the fourth month during which Goddess will be worshipped.
Avani (Shravanam), the fifth month is famous for Ganesa pooja and to remember ancient saints. (Shravanam or Avani avittam)
‘Purattasi’ (Bathrapadham) the sixth month is famous for worshipping goddess. Navarathri (nine nights) falls in this month.
The eight month Karththigai (Kartheegam) is famous for worshipping Karththikeya. It will be explained in temples by lighting lamp on top of hill (Lighting many lamps in houses) that God is in the form of fire or light.
Margazhi (Agrahayanam) is the ninth month famous for worshipping lord Vishnu or Narayana. Lord Krishna quotes in Bagavath Geetha that he is the month of Margazhi (Agrahayana) out of the twelve months. This statement explains the importance of the month. All the thirty days will be celebrated by worshipping God in temples.
Thai (Bowshya) is the tenth month of a year when the famous Sankaranthi day falls. Most of the people will prefer to conduct marriages during this month. So most of the days in this month will be spent in happy mood. This month was the first month of a year once during ancient days.
Panguni (palguna) is the twelth month during which Siva temples will celebrate ‘Bramhothsavam’ for ten days.
Certain temples like the ones in Thirupathy and Srirangam are celebrating festivals almost on all the days.
Apart from religious functions, there were new year day and Adip perukku for inviting water flow in the river Kavery been celebrated.
The Hindu festivals were seem to be started for making the community unite and maintain happiness almost on all the days of a year to all.
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