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Holi splashes its colours on India
New Delhi, March 1 Clouds of colour in the air, faces unrecognisable but for big smiles, frenzied dancing, and the sweetest of sweetmeats...India Monday immersed itself in Holi - a festival that leaves few untouched, be it young or old, rich or poor, Hindu or Muslim.
Pongala fest to see 3 mn women devotees
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 27 Hundreds of thousands of women carrying bricks, firewood, rice, jaggery and coconut have converged around the Attukala Bhagavathi temple here for a mega festival known as pongala on Sunday. Authorities expect the crowd to exceed last year's three million.
Thousands take dip on Mahashivratri
Haridwar, Feb 12 Braving the dark of the pre-dawn hours, the chill in the air and the ice cold water of the Ganga, thousands of devotees ecstatically shouting 'Bom Bom Bhole' started bathing in the holiest river of the Hindus on the occasion of Mahashivratri on Friday, one of the biggest days of the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela here.
Chhath festival ends peacefully in Bihar
atna, Nov 5 Millions of people, mostly women, took a dip in rivers and ponds across Bihar and offered prayers to the rising sun early on November 5 to mark the end of the four-day long Chhath festival, which concluded peacefully.
Indians around the world celebrate Diwali
London, Oct 29 Indians around the world celebrated Diwali with great pomp and show - visiting temples and gurdwaras, spending the evening at musical concerts and hotel parties besides lighting earthen lamps and firecrackers.
Devotees in West Bengal celebrate Mahanavami
Kolkata, Oct 8 Festivities reached a crescendo, as thousands of people resplendent in their finest attire swarmed the streets on October 8 to visit different Durga Puja pandals celebrating Mahanavami across West Bengal.
Durga Puja celebrations come to an end in West Bengal
Kolkata, Oct 9 Five days of Durga Puja festivities finally ended as West Bengal bid a tearful adieu to the goddess and her children on October 9, marking another yearlong wait for her autumnal homecoming.
Ravan effigies go up in flames to mark Dussehra
New Delhi, Oct 9 Wild cheering and applause rent the air as effigies of demon king Ravan, his brother Kumbhakaran and his son Meghnad exploded in a brilliant display of fireworks to mark Dussehra, the grand finale of the nine-day Navratri celebrations, on October 9.
Markets packed on Eid eve in Kashmir
Srinagar, Sep 30 As Eid-ul-Fitr, the Muslim festival marking the end of month-long fasting, draws closer, buying is at a feverish pitch with people in the Kashmir valley thronging markets to shop, jostling, haggling and pushing one another to jump the queue.
Onam's journey from harvest festival to shopping carnival
There is a morning-after air in Kerala as the state recovers from the hectic annual Onam festivities.
Evocative debut tale of social divisions, family dynamics
'Evening is the Whole Day' is an absorbing and richly embroidered tale about the life of an Indian immigrant family in Malaysia. The title is drawn from a Tamil song and the story revolves around the dynamics and relationships within lawyer Rajasekharan's family, their hopes, aspirations and disappointments.
Go on the Ramayana trail this Dussehra
New Delhi, Sep 9 Tour operators are increasingly cashing in on mythical tales to lure more pilgrims and the curious to religious trails.
Thousands celebrate Janmashtami in T&T
Port-of-Spain, Aug 25 Thousands in Trinidad and Tobago celebrated the Janmashtami festival at temples here, joining their counterparts the world over in marking the occasion of the birth of Lord Krishna, one of Hinduism's most popular deities.
Janmashtami celebrated with fervour in India and abroad
New Delhi, Aug 24 Millions of Hindus in India and abroad on August 24 celebrated Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna, one of the most popular Hindu gods, with visits to ornately decorated temples, prayers, devotional songs and preparing special sweets.
Prayers, fasts mark Janmashtami celebrations
New Delhi, Aug 24 Little children dressed up as Krishna - flute in hand and peacock feather stuck on headband - did the rounds of colonies as Hindus decorated homes with garlands and floral motifs and visited temples on August 24 to celebrate Janmashtami, the birthday of the much-loved Hindu god.
Dwarkadhish temple decorated for massive Janmashtami celebrations
Jamnagar (Gujarat), Aug 23 The famed 16th century Dwarkadhish (Lord of Dwarka) temple here is all decked up to celebrate the 5,235th birth anniversary of Lord Krishna on August 24.
Stores crammed with rakhis and gifts
New Delhi, Aug 14 With the Hindu festival Raksha Bandhan to be celebrated on August 16, markets across the city are chock-a-block with an array of rakhis in mind-boggling styles, colours and designs, as also with expensive designer rakhis and upmarket gifts.
Teej Festival Celebrates The Spirit Of Parvati
Once upon a monsoon, in a land called Bimala Nagari, King Chandraprabha set out for a hunt in a nearby forest. While he was roaming the woods, he chanced upon a group of apsaras engaged in an intense ritual of prayer and fasting for the goddess Parvati. They tied a sacred thread around the king’s wrist, after which he returned home. On seeing the thread, the king’s favourite wife Vishalakshi seethed with anger and jealousy. She snatched off a bit of the thread and threw it on a dead tree. Instantly, the tree bloomed to life. The king’s second wife, Sri Mahadevi, took some of the thread from her husband’s wrist and placed it on herself and thenceforth she became the centre of the king’s attentions. Vishalakshi, banished to the forest, prayed to Swarna Gauri or Parvati and in so doing she won back the goodwill of the king and she returned to the palace, her life and love restored.
Gordon Brown unveils Sikh 'golden rule' on Baisakhi
London, April 15 With his popularity sliding in opinion polls, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has presented a new 'golden rule' to Britain that he said reflects Sikh values.
Baisakhi celebrated in Poland
Warsaw, April 13 The Indian community celebrated Baisakhi with traditional fanfare at a gurdwara in the Polish capital. This is the only Sikh shrine in the whole of Eastern Europe.
Over 20,000 Sikh pilgrims attend Baisakhi Mela in Pakistan
Hasanabdal (Pakistan) More than 20,000 pilgrims from all over the world, including 3,000 from India, participated in the annual Baisakhi Mela (spring festival) in Panja Sahib Sikh shrine here, some 60 km from Islamabad.
Malaysian Tamils mark New Year
Kuala Lumpur, April 14 The Tamil New Year or 'Varusha Pirappu' saw Hindus across Malaysia offering prayers and seeking divine blessings.
Trinidad to host Hanuman festival
Port of Spain, March 25 Trinidad & Tobago is set to host a 'Hanuman Heritage Festival' this month that will include cultural events, religious discourses and a global Hindu conference on the popular monkey god.
Lord Krishna's land rocks to beats of Holi
Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh), March 20 The influx of pilgrims, both foreign and Indian, to the Hindu holy town of Vrindavan to enjoy the famous Braj ki Holi - festival of colours in Lord Krishna's land - has added sparkle to the celebrations already underway.
Trinidad Hindus observe Good Friday
Port-of-Spain, March 22 Hindus in Trinidad & Tobago participated in hundreds to observe Good Friday. The tradition is that hundreds of devout Hindus, mainly women, visit the Roman Catholic Church at Siparia, 50 km from the city, and offer obeisance to 'La Divina Pastora, or Divine Shepherdess', but Hindus honour her as 'Soparee Mai' — the incarnation of Mother Kali.
Milk and metal skewers - Malaysia's Thaipusam festival
The jeep's headlights penetrate the night to reveal granite blocks bearing carved and weathered inscriptions. Thousands of graves half sunken in the hilly grassland stand at the foot of Mount Erskine.
Gypsies to be the focus of diaspora festival
When an Indian scholar went to study the Romas or gypsies in Kosovo in Serbia in summer 2007, his hosts had a special term for him - Purano Manush or ancient person.
Through Eid, Muslims should convey message of peace
The day of Eid-ul-Fitr truly symbolizes piety, patience, fortitude and godliness. Socially, Eid reminds us of the noble human feeling to share the festivities with the poor, underprivileged, downtrodden, orphans, the neglected and the cast off besides embracing people from all walks of life. Muslims need to clearly denounce those misguided people who in the name of Islam call for the death of innocent people.
Unique Indian festival celebrates brother-sister bond
There's Valentine's Day for the love of your life, Father's Day and Mother's Day, but it is perhaps only in India that there is a festival dedicated exclusively to sibling bonds. Raksha Bandhan, or Rakhi for short, celebrated this month is the day when sisters all over northern India tie a silken thread on their brothers' wrist as a symbol of lasting love and loyalty.
Big global bang of NRI Diwali
Diwali has become a global festival today - thanks to non-resident Indians (NRIs). Wherever Hindu NRIs live in sizeable numbers, be it Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, the Middle East, South Africa, to Europe, North America and the Caribbean, Diwali has the same colour, feasting, gifting and sparkle as in India, dominated by the worship of the goddess of wealth, or Lakshmi Puja.
Ramadan, the month of unprecedented shopping in Hyderabad
With the Muslim holy month of Ramadan entering its final phase, Eid shopping has reached its peak in this city of nawabs, palaces, pearls and tasty biryani.
Spring festival that celebrates the diversity of India
Baisakhi in Punjab. Bohag Bihu in Assam. Poila Baisakh in West Bengal. Vishu in Kerala. Pudu Varsham in Tamil.
Of Good Friday and Easter Sunday
In the Roman Catholic Church, liturgical service is held on this day. The liturgy, now celebrated after 3 p.m., consists of three distinct parts: readings and prayers (including the Passion according to St. John), the veneration of the cross, and the communion (in place of the Liturgy of the pre-sanctified which developed in the Middle Ages).
April 14, 2006: Unique day in Kerala's calendar
Vishu, the Malayalam New Year's Day, and Good Friday on the same day - a coincidence that marked a clash of emotions in Kerala with the day signifying all-round happiness for Hindus but mourning for Christians who recall Christ's crucifixion.
A splash of myths on Holi!
As myriad as the delectable greens, yellows and reds that hang in the air on Holi are the legends woven around it. And the rich harvest of myths makes for equally diverse festivities across India.
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