Hindu Festivals

There are a lot of Hindu festivals, they all go according to the lunar Hindu calender, I will be naming them all, and describing some.

• Diwali: This is the festival of Lights. The story of Lord Ram is written in the Ramayan. Lord Ram returns home after 14 years of living in the forest, this festival was celebrated by the people of his kingdom when he returned by lighting up the entire kingdom. We celebrate the death of evil and the victory of God by lighting up the house, we clean the house, we make delicacies, we dress niceley, we play with fire crackers, we get gifts, and its just the happiest time.
• Nutan Varas (New Year)/Annakut: The Hindu New Year, we dress nicely and give and get gifts, we visit peoples house and greet them. At our mandir we have an annakut festival, everyone brings delicious delicasies and offers it to God. 
• Prabhodini Ekadashi: Bhagwan Vishnu wakes up from his four month sleep and goes to his adobe. This is also the month where all the plants are harvested in India. The vegetables and fruits from these plants are placed in front of God to thank him for giving us Food.
• Uttarayan: The festival of flying kites. You also donate anything you can because it is considered an auspicious day.
• Vasant Panchami: The beginning of Spring. The birthday of Shikshapatri (a moral code of conduct book written by lord Swaminarayan).
• Maha Shivratri: We pray to Lord Shiva. We bathe him, we fast on this day, and stay up all night singing praises of god. There are also special gatherings held called melas.
• Holi: Festival of colors. We celebrate the victroy of good. We play with colors, and water.
• Fuldol: This is just like Holi but for a different purpose. You ask God to spray you with color, the color of knowledge, and devotion.
• Ram Navami: Birthday of Lord Ram.
• Hari Jayanti: Birthday of Lord Swaminarayan.
• Hanuman Jayanti: Birthday of Lord Hanuman, or the monkey God who is the ideal devotee of lord Ram.
• Nrusinh Jayanti: We celebrate the Incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu as Nrusinh, half human, half lion. He killed an evil king who was very mean to his son. He wanted everyone to praise him and pray to him not to God. His son knew that his father was wrong and he would always pray to God. Because the his Father did not like that, he tried to kill him in many ways. Finally, when Nrusinh killed the King, was peace returned in the kingdom.

For today, this much is enough, I will post the rest of the festivals in my next blog. I hope you learned something from this blog, and I hope that this was helpful. If you have any questions or concerns please comment. Have a great day! :)