Indian festival calendar
When each festival falls this year and next, what it is, and how the Indian community abroad keeps it — with the events posted for it, country by country, wherever the community posts them. Dates are calendar facts; the parties are on the nearest weekend, so open a festival for what is actually on near you.
Nine nights of dance
Navratri & GarbaEvents & guide →2026: 11–19 October 2026
Nine nights for the goddess and, abroad, the best-attended dance events of the year: Garba and Dandiya Raas nights in school halls and sports centres.
Bengal’s five-day puja
Durga PujaEvents & guide →2026: 16–20 October 2026
Five days for the goddess Durga — Shashthi to Vijayadashami — kept abroad by the Bengali associations in rented halls, with the pandal, the dhak, bhog for everyone and the sindoor khela on the last day.
Ravana’s effigy burns
DussehraEvents & guide →2026: Tuesday, 20 October 2026
The tenth day after Navratri: Rama’s victory over Ravana, kept with Ramlila plays and the burning of Ravana’s effigy — abroad, usually at the Diwali fair on the weekend before or after.
A day’s fast for the moon
Karva ChauthEvents & guide →2026: Thursday, 29 October 2026
The north Indian fast married women keep from sunrise to moonrise for their husbands — abroad, a mehndi evening, the sargi before dawn, the bazaar the week before and a moon that rises early.
Festival of lights
DiwaliEvents & guide →2026: Sunday, 8 November 2026
The biggest night of the Indian year: lamps, sweets, new clothes and fireworks. Abroad it is celebrated over the surrounding weekends, with one large public event in most big cities.
Four days for the sun
Chhath PujaEvents & guide →2026: Sunday, 15 November 2026
The sun festival of Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Nepal, six days after Diwali: a thirty-six-hour fast and offerings to the setting and the rising sun, standing in the water.
Sikh Gurpurab
Guru Nanak JayantiEvents & guide →2026: Tuesday, 24 November 2026
The birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, kept at every gurdwara with kirtan, a nagar kirtan procession and langar for all.
Harvest, mid-January
Pongal & Makar SankrantiEvents & guide →2027: Thursday, 14 January 2027
The January harvest festival under its many names — Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Sankranti in the north and west, Lohri in Punjab, Bihu in Assam — kept abroad with kite days and Tamil association gatherings.
Punjabi bonfire night
LohriEvents & guide →2027: Thursday, 14 January 2027
The Punjabi winter festival on the eve of Makar Sankranti: a bonfire, popcorn, rewri and gajak thrown into it, bhangra and gidda round it, and a first Lohri for a new baby or a new bride.
The great night of Shiva
Maha ShivaratriEvents & guide →2027: Saturday, 6 March 2027
The night of Shiva, kept awake with a fast, four pujas through the night and the abhishek of the lingam — abroad, every Shiva temple’s longest night, and the Tamil and Nepali communities’ biggest after Diwali.
Festival of colours
HoliEvents & guide →2027: Monday, 22 March 2027
Colour, water and spring. In northern Europe the Holi parties are outdoor, ticketed and usually a few weeks after the date — because March is cold.
The Khalsa’s birthday, the harvest
VaisakhiEvents & guide →2027: Wednesday, 14 April 2027
The Sikh new year and the founding of the Khalsa in 1699, and Punjab’s harvest festival: nagar kirtan processions, langar on the street and the largest Sikh gatherings of the year, from Southall to Surrey.
Brothers and sisters
Raksha BandhanEvents & guide →2027: Tuesday, 17 August 2027
The full moon of Shravan, when a sister ties a rakhi on her brother’s wrist — abroad, a day of rakhi fairs, parcels posted weeks ahead and video calls across time zones.
Krishna’s birthday at midnight
JanmashtamiEvents & guide →2027: Wednesday, 25 August 2027
Krishna’s birth, kept at midnight with a fast, bhajans and the cradle, and the next day with dahi handi — abroad, the temples’ biggest night of the year, from Bhaktivedanta Manor to every ISKCON centre.
Ten days of Ganpati
Ganesh ChaturthiEvents & guide →2027: 4–14 September 2027
Ganpati comes home for up to ten days and leaves in a procession. Abroad the public celebrations are open to everyone, and the food is the reason to go.
Kerala’s harvest festival
OnamEvents & guide →2027: Sunday, 12 September 2027
Kerala’s harvest festival: a 26-dish sadya on a banana leaf, pookalam flower carpets, and Malayali associations everywhere booking a hall for it.
Dates follow the Hindu, Sikh and Malayalam calendars and can differ by a day between regions and temples; confirm a puja date with your temple or association.
Questions people ask
- Why do Indian festival dates change every year?
- Most follow the Hindu lunisolar calendar, so they move by about eleven days a year against the Gregorian calendar and jump back when a leap month is added. Only a few — Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Baisakhi, Vishu — sit on the solar calendar and stay near the same date.
- Are the dates the same abroad as in India?
- The tithi is the same, but a festival that starts at moonrise in India can fall a calendar day earlier in Europe or a day later in the Americas. Temples abroad announce their own dates; for a puja, use theirs.
- Are Indian festivals public holidays outside India?
- Rarely — a few countries with large diasporas mark Diwali. Elsewhere families take a day of leave, and community events are held on the nearest weekend, which is why the events on each festival page rarely fall on the date itself.
Every event near you — and your community with it
Free, in every country. Everything below is ranked by how far it is from you.
- Groups near youJoin the Indian community groups in your city — chat, plans and people who get it.
- Events near youEvery festival, garba night and meetup, ranked by distance, with RSVP and reminders.
- Buy and sellSarees, kurtas, furniture, kitchen things — from people a few streets away.
- Rent near youRooms and flats from the community, with the person behind the listing one tap away.
Organising something?
Post it from the app under Events, wherever you are. It is free, a moderator checks it, and it appears here and to every member nearby. Running several a year? Email hello@namaste.community for a listing invite.