The Chinese New Lunar Year is a significant holiday in Asia. Many places around Asia will be closed for the Lunar New year holidays.
India celebrates its Lunar New Year celebrations based on its own lunar new year calendar: these Lunar New Year celebrations are not the same as the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, nor do they use the same lunar new year calendar. Some of their Lunar New Year celebrations in India are in the fall, and others in spring.
Table of Contents
- India Has Their Own Lunar New Year Celebrations
- Other Place In Southeast Asia Have Springtime New Year Celebrations
- Related Questions
India Has Their Own Lunar New Year Celebrations
India has their own Lunar New Year celebrations. India continues to use several lunar new year calendars, but they are different from the Chinese Luni-solar calendars used throughout east Asia.
The Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations usually take place each January or February; this festival is called the Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, or Springtime Festival.
India uses several other Lunisolar calendars that differ from the Chinese Lunar New Year. The Indian celebrations are in the fall or spring each year,
India’s most commonly used Hindu Lunar New Year celebrations are Diwali, Gudi Padwa, Ugadi, or Puthandu. Neither of these celebrations is celebrated at the same time as the Chinese Lunar New Year, so they are not the same lunar new year holiday.
India’s Diwali Lunar New Year Celebrations
India’s Diwali, also known as the Festival of the Lights, is a Dharmic religious festival and is considered one of Hinduism’s most important festivals. Like the Chinese Lunar New Year in Southeast and East Asia, this holiday can last anywhere from five to six days.
India’s Hindu Lunisolar calendar is not the same date as the Chinese calendar. Still, it is one of the traditional calendars that is used in the Indian subcontinent and also parts of Southeast Asia.
Because the Indians use this calendar, their new year or the Diwali celebrations will usually occur between Mid October to Mid November each year, like the Chinese Lunar New Year, and the dates will change according to the Hindu Lunisolar calendar.
At one time, Diwali was likely part of some harvest festivals in ancient India that were fused to become Diwali.
Diwali is a holiday that celebrates the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. So Diwali is a joyous festival about conquering the bad to replace it with the good.
The holiday is also closely associated with the following Hindu gods:
- Lakshmi – Lakshmi is the god of prosperity.
- Ganesha – Ganesha is the god of wisdom and is the god that can help you to remove any obstacle.
The festival mainly has these two gods prayed to so that the lunar new year can bring you health, wealth, and good fortune.
India’s Gudi Padwa – A Springtime Lunar Festival Celebration
Another major Lunar New Year celebration is Gudi Padwa, a springtime festival that marks the traditional new year for the Marathi or Konkani Hindus; it is also celebrated by other Hindus in other parts of India as well.
This festival and holiday are usually known as the Hindu New Year, which is only a 1-day celebration.
The holidays are based upon a Hindu lunisolar calendar; the lunisolar calendars look at the moon phases according to the solar year. It will also look at the position of the sun and the earth.
India’s Ugadi – A Springtime Lunar Festival Celebration
Ugadi is also another springtime Lunar festival celebration that is also based on another Hindu Lunisolar calendar. The official name of the celebration is Telugu New Year or Kannada New Year. It can also be called Yugadi, Samvatsaradi, Telugu, and Kannada New Year,
Hindus observe this new year in Telangana, Andhra, Pradesh, and Kamataka.
The date of this is usually the same as Gudi Padwa.
Puthandu – A Springtime New Year Celebration
Puthandu is a springtime new year celebration based on the Tamil calendar’s first day of the year. Puthandu is a traditional Tamil Hindu festival; this festival is also set with the Hindu lunisolar calendar.
The Tamils celebrate the Pathandu in India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Reunion Island, Malaysia, and Singapore.
The celebration is about gift giving, visiting the homes of family and friends, and the Hindu temples; thfestivalon is a day long.
Other Place In Southeast Asia Have Springtime New Year Celebrations
A springtime new year celebration is not uncommon in other parts of Southeast Asia. Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and India have springtime lunar new year celebrations.
Even though Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos are mainly Buddhist countries, they still celebrate a springtime new year based on their lunar new year calendar; this celebration is also not at the same time as the Chinese Lunar New Year.
In many of these places, such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, the new year is a water festival that will turn into a giant water fight; random strangers may come up to you and say Happy New Year as they dump a bucket of water over your head.
Lunar New Year celebrations take place according to whatever traditional lunar calendar the countries have traditionally used; they celebrate their lunar new year according to those dates and times.
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