Hindu Festivalsव्रत और त्योहार
Every major Hindu festival with its date, its story and how it is kept, for India and for devotees abroad. Start with what is coming next, or open the full calendar for any year.
Coming up next
Full calendar by year
Festival guides
Each guide carries the story behind the festival, how it is celebrated, and the verified dates and timings. They open on the year that is coming next.
Vrat dates through the year
The recurring observances of every lunar month, each with its own dates page:
How Hindu festival dates are decided
- The lunar month: each month runs through two paksha, the waxing Shukla and the waning Krishna, and is named for the nakshatra of its full moon: Chaitra, Vaishakha, Jyeshtha and so on.
- The tithi: each paksha has fifteen tithis, and a festival belongs to a particular tithi of a particular month: Diwali to the Kartika Amavasya, Ram Navami to the Chaitra Shukla Navami.
- The prevailing moment: when a tithi spans two days, the festival follows the moment that matters for it: sunrise for most vrats, midday for Ram Navami, moonrise for Karwa Chauth, the evening pradosh for Diwali, midnight for Janmashtami.
- Adhik Maas: roughly every third year an extra lunar month is inserted to keep the lunar and solar years together, which is why some years hold thirteen Purnimas instead of twelve.
- Your own sky: the tithi is a position of the moon, identical everywhere at one moment, but sunrise, moonrise and sunset are local. That is why dates and muhurat abroad can differ from the ones printed on Indian calendars.
Frequently asked questions
Why do Hindu festival dates change every year?
Most festivals follow the lunar calendar, which is about eleven days shorter than the solar year, so they move backwards through the Gregorian calendar until an extra month (Adhik Maas) resets them. Solar festivals like Makar Sankranti barely move at all.
What is a tithi?
A tithi is a lunar day, the time the moon takes to gain twelve degrees on the sun. It can be shorter or longer than a solar day, which is why a festival is kept on the day its tithi prevails at the moment that matters: sunrise for some, midday, moonrise or midnight for others.
Why is a festival on a different date where I live?
A tithi begins and ends at one single moment worldwide, but that moment falls at a different local hour in every city, and sometimes on a different calendar date. Festivals fixed by moonrise or by the evening (Karwa Chauth, Diwali) are the ones most likely to shift abroad. Our city pages carry verified local dates and timings.
Where do these dates come from?
Every date on this site is verified against authoritative Panchang sources for the city shown, and each year is checked against the previous year before it is published. Where traditions genuinely differ, both are shown rather than one being quietly chosen.
Never miss a festival. The Bhakti Angan app brings the daily Panchang for your exact location, a new darshan each morning, japa and shubh muhurat.
Download free on the App StoreDates are verified against authoritative Panchang sources for each city and year shown. Traditions vary by family and region; for muhurat and puja vidhi please also consult your family panditji.