There are numerous days throughout the year celebrated as New Year's Day in the different regions of India. The observance is determined by whether the lunar, solar or lunisolar calendar is being followed. For those regions which follow the solar calendar, the new year falls as Baisakhi in Punjab, Bohag Bihu in Assam, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Vishu in Kerala, Pana Sankranti or Odia Nababarsa in Odisha and Poila Boishakh in Bengal in the month of the calendar, i.e., Vaishakha. Generally, this day falls during 14th or 15th of the month of April. Those following the lunar calendar consider the month of Chaitra (corresponding to March-April) as the first month of the year, so the new year is celebrated on the first day of this month like Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra. Similarly, few regions in India consider the period between consecutive Sankarantis as one month and few others take the period between consecutive Purnimas as a month. In Gujarat the new year is celebrated as the day after Diwali. As per the Hindu Calendar, it falls on Shukla Paksha Pratipada in the Hindu month of Kartik. As per the Indian Calendar based on the lunar cycle, Kartik is the first month of the year and the New Year in Gujarat falls on the first bright day of Kartik (Ekam). In other parts of India, New Year celebrations begin in the spring.
Calendar | Date | Festival name | Region / Communities / Religions [3] |
---|---|---|---|
Solar | 1 Chet (14 April) | Vaisakhi | Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, and parts of Delhi |
Lunar | varies, Mar/Apr | Chaitra Navaratri (Hindu Lunar New Year) | Bihar (Bhojpur, Magadh), Uttar Pradesh (Awadh, Braj, Bagelkhand, Bhojpur-Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Kannauj, Rohilkhand), Madhya Pradesh (Bagelkhand, Bundelkhand, Malwa, Mahakoshal, Gird), Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand , and parts of Delhi |
Lunar | varies, Mar/Apr | Ugadi | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, parts of Goa |
Lunar | varies, Mar/Apr | Gudi Padwa | Maharashtra, Goa (Konkan) |
Lunar | varies, Mar/Apr | Navreh | Kashmir |
Lunar | varies, Jun/Jul | Ashadhi Bij | Kutch |
Lunar | varies, Oct/Nov | Nutan Varsh | Gujarat |
Lunar | varies, Mar/Apr | Cheti Chand | Sindh, Sindhi Hindus |
Solar | fixed, 13/14/15 April | Mesha Sankranti (Hindu Solar New Year) | Uttarakhand (Garhwal and Kumaon), Nepalis (Sikkim, Darjeeling) |
Solar | fixed, 13/14/15 April | Puthandu | Tamil Nadu |
Solar | fixed, 13/14/15 April | Vishu (traditional) | Kerala |
fixed, 17/18 August | 1st Chingam (Kollam era calendar) | ||
Solar | fixed, 14/15 April | Bisu Parba | Tulu Nadu |
Lunar | varies, Mar/Apr | Sajibu Cheiraoba [4] | Manipur |
Solar | fixed, 14/15 Apr | Buisu | Tripura |
Solar | fixed, 13/14/15 Apr | Bwisagu | Bodoland, Assam |
Solar | fixed, 13/14/15 April | Bohag Bihu | Assam |
Solar | fixed, 13/14 April | Pana Sankranti | Odisha |
Solar | fixed, 14/15 April | Pahela Baishakh | West Bengal and the wider Bengal region |
Solar | fixed, 13/14/15 April | Jur Sital | Mithila |
Lunar | varies, Dec | Losoong/Namsoong | Sikkim (Bhutia, Lepcha) |
Lunar | varies, Feb | Losar | Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh (Monpa) |
Lunar | varies, Oct/Nov | Mha Puja | Sikkim (Newar) |
Lunar | varies, Feb/Mar | Gyalpo Lhosar | Sikkim (Sherpa) |
Lunar | varies, Dec/Jan | Tamu Lhosar | Sikkim (Gurung) |
Lunar | varies, Jan/Feb | Sonam Lhosar | Sikkim (Tamang) |
Solar | fixed, 13/14 Apr | Sangken | Arunachal Pradesh (Khamti, Singpho, Khamyang, Tangsa), Assam (Tai Phake, Tai Aiton, Turung) |
Solar | fixed, 13/14 Apr | Bizhu | Chakma |
Solar | varies, 17, 18, 19 Aug [5] | Pateti | Parsis |
Solar | fixed, 21 March | Nowruz [6] [note 1] | Iranis/other Zoroastrians |
The New Year is the time or day at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system today, New Year occurs on January 1. This was also the first day of the year in the original Julian calendar and the Roman calendar.
The Hindu calendar, also called Panchanga, is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping based on sidereal year for solar cycle and adjustment of lunar cycles in every three years, but differ in their relative emphasis to moon cycle or the sun cycle and the names of months and when they consider the New Year to start. Of the various regional calendars, the most studied and known Hindu calendars are the Shalivahana Shaka found in the Deccan region of Southern India and the Vikram Samvat (Bikrami) found in Nepal and the North and Central regions of India – both of which emphasize the lunar cycle. Their new year starts in spring. In regions such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the solar cycle is emphasized and this is called the Tamil calendar and Malayalam calendar and these have origins in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. A Hindu calendar is sometimes referred to as Panchangam (पञ्चाङ्गम्), which is also known as Panjika in Eastern India.
Sankranti refers to the transmigration of the sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. In Saurmanavarsha, there are twelve Sankrantis corresponding with twelve months of a year. The Sankrantis can be broadly classified into four main categories: Ayan (Solstice), Vishuva (Equinox), Vishnupadi and Shadshitimukhi sankrantis.
Phalguna is a month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar, Phalguna is the twelfth month of the year and corresponds with February/March in the Gregorian calendar.
Chaitra is a month of the Hindu calendar.
Vaisakha is a month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds to April/May in the Gregorian Calendar. In the Indian national calendar, Vaisakha is the second month of the year. It is the first month of the Vikram Samvat calendar, Odia calendar, Maithili Calendar, Punjabi calendar, Assamese calendar and the Bengali calendar. This month lies between the second half of April and the first half of May.
Jyeshtha or Jyēṣṭha is a month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar, Jyestha is the third month of the year. Known as Joishtho in Bengali, it is the second month of the Bengali calendar.
Bhai Dooj, Bhai Tika, Bhaubeej, Bhai Beej, Bhai Phonta or Bhratri Dwitiya is a festival celebrated by Hindus on the second lunar day of the Shukla Paksha of Kartika, the eighth month of the Vikram Samvat Hindu calendar or the Shalivahana Shaka calendar. It is celebrated during the Diwali or Tihar festival and Holi festival. The celebrations of this day are similar to the festival of Raksha Bandhan.
Vaisakhi, also known as Baisakhi, marks the first day of the month of Vaisakh and is traditionally celebrated annually on 13 April and sometimes 14 April. It is seen as a spring harvest celebration primarily in Punjab and Northern India. Whilst it is culturally significant as a festival of harvest, in many parts of India, Vaisakhi is also the date for the Indian Solar New Year.
Vikram Samvat, also known as the Bikram Sambat in Nepal, is a Hindu calendar and official calendar of Nepal historically used in South Asia and still used in several states. It is a solar calendar, using twelve to thirteen lunar months each solar sidereal years. The year count of the Vikram Samvat calendar is usually 57 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar, except during January to April, when it is ahead by 56 years.
Gudi Padwa is a spring festival marking the start of the lunisolar new year for Marathi and Konkani Hindus. It is celebrated in and around Maharashtra, Goa & Damaon at the start of Chaitra, the first month of the lunisolar Hindu calendar. The festival is characterised by colourful floor decorations called rangoli, a special gudi dvaja; which is a saari or dhoti or other piece of cloth garlanded with flowers, mango & neem leaves; a sugar crystal garland called gathi, topped with upturned silver or copper vessels. Celebration also includes street gathering, dancing & festive foods.
Puthandu, also known as Tamil New Year, is the first day of year on the Tamil calendar that is traditionally celebrated as a festival by Tamils. The festival date is set with the solar cycle of the solar Hindu calendar, as the first day of the month of Chittirai. It falls on or about 14 April every year on the Gregorian calendar. The same day is observed elsewhere in South and South East Asia as the traditional new year, but it is known by other names such as Vishu in Kerala, and Vaisakhi or Baisakhi in central and northern India.
Amāvásyā is the lunar phase of the new moon in Sanskrit. Indian calendars use 30 lunar phases, called tithi in India. The dark moon tithi is when the Moon is within 12 degrees of the angular distance between the Sun and Moon before conjunction (syzygy). The New Moon tithi is the 12 angular degrees after syzygy. Amāvásyā is often translated as new moon since there is no standard term for the Moon before conjunction in English.
The Vira Nirvana Samvat (era) is a calendar era beginning on 7 October 527 BCE. It commemorates the nirvana of Mahavira, the 24th Jain Tirthankara. This is the oldest system of chronological reckoning which is still used in India.
Shankheshwar is a town in the Patan district of Gujarat state of India. It is an important place of pilgrimage for the followers of Jainism.
Kārtika is the eighth month of the Hindu calendar, which falls in October and November of the Gregorian calendar. In India's national civil calendar, Kartika is the seventh month of the year, beginning on 23 October and ending on 21 November.
Navami is the Sanskrit word for "ninth", and is the ninth day in the lunar fortnight (Paksha) of the Hindu calendar. Each month has two Navami days, being the ninth day of the "bright" (Shukla) and of the "dark" (Krishna) fortnights respectively. Navami occurs on the ninth and the twenty-fourth day of each month.
Pana Sankranti,, also known as Maha Bishuba Sankranti, is the traditional new year day festival of Odia people in Odisha, India. The festival occurs in the solar Odia calendar on the first day of the traditional solar month of Meṣa, hence equivalent lunar month Baisakha. This falls on the Purnimanta system of the Indian Hindu calendar. It therefore falls on 13/14 April every year on the Gregorian calendar.
Tirhuta Panchang is a calendar followed by the Maithili community of India and Nepal. This calendar is one of the many Hindu calendars. It is a tropical solar Hindu calendar in which the year begins on the first day of Baishakh month i.e. Mesh Sankranti. Every year, this day falls on 13/14 April of the Gregorian Calendar
Here is a list of glossary of Culture of India in alphabetical order: