This document discusses different types of festivals celebrated in India. It describes religious festivals like Diwali, Christmas, Eid, Mahavir Jayanti and Buddha Poornima. It also mentions harvest festivals such as Pongal, Onam and Baisakhi that are celebrated to thank God for a good harvest. Further, it provides details about national festivals like Independence Day and Republic Day that are celebrated to commemorate important national events and occasions. The document also includes recipes for sweet pongal and details about snake boat races during the Onam festival in Kerala.

1. 3. Our Festivals

2. Let’s Celebrate
Festivals are times to celebrate important events and
occasions with friends, relatives and family members.
There are some special days like birthdays and weddings
which we celebrate with our family and very close friends.
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3. Religious Festivals Harvest Festivals
National Festivals
Types of Festivals

4. Religious Festivals
✔ Diwali
✔ Christmas
✔ Eid –ul-Fitr
✔ Buddha Poornima
✔ Mahavir Jayanti
✔ Ganesh Chaturthi
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5. Diwali
✔ Diwali is also called Deepavali.
✔ It is the festivals of lights.
✔ It is celebrated because on this day Lord Rama returned home to
Ayodhya after 14 years in exile.
✔ People decorate their houses with lights, wear new dresses and
share sweets.
✔ They pray to Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha on this day. 5

6. Diwali
✔ We burn crackers on Deepavali but it is not good to do so.
✔ It causes a lot of air and noise pollution.
✔ Deepavali usually falls in the month of October or November.
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7. ✔We celebrate Christmas on 25th December
every year.
✔It is the birthday of Jesus Christ.
✔We decorate our houses and Christmas trees.
We also exchange gifts and wear our best
clothes.
✔Prayers are organised at churches and people
sings Christmas carols.
✔Some people dress up as Santa Claus and give
gifts to children to make them happy.
Christmas
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8. Eid – ul -Fitr
✔The festival of Eid –ul-fitr
marks the end of Ramzan- a
holy month in which Muslims
fast.
✔People wear new clothes and
visit mosque to offer namaaz.
✔They greet each other by
saying Eid Mubarak.
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9. Mahavir Jayanti (599 BCE)
✔Mahavir Jayanti is celebrated to mark the
birth anniversary of Lord Mahavir.
✔Lord Mahavir preached non – violence.
✔On this day, the Jain temples are decorated
with flags.
✔People meditate and offer prayers to Lord
Mahavir on Mahavir Jayanti.
✔Mahavir Jayanti 2020 was celebrated
on April 6, 2020 (Monday). 9

10. Buddha Poornima
✔Buddha Poornima falls on the day of full moon in
the month of Vaisakha (April or May)
✔It is the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha, the
founder of Buddhism. Pilgrims from all over the
world visit Bodh Gaya, the place of Lord Buddha’s
enlightenment to pay homage to him.
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11. Ganesh Chaturthi
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12. Religious festivals
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Other
Religious
festivals
Holi Durga Puja
West Bengal,
Assam ,Odisha
Celebrated
during
navratri
Celebrated in
the month of
march
Colours

13. Harvest Festivals
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Harvest Festivals are celebrated to thank God for a good harvest.

14. Pongal
It is celebrated in southern
India.
It falls in mid-January every
year.
It last for 4 days.
The Sun and cows are worshiped
on the day of Pongal.
A special dish called Sweet
pongal is made and offered to
God.
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Search for the recipe of Sweet Pongal!

15. Onam
✔It is the most
popular festival in
Kerala.
✔It falls during the
month of August or
September.
✔The snake boat
race is an important
event related to this
festivals.
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Search about a Snake boat race!

16. Baisakhi
✔Baisakhi is derived
from the word Vaisakh, a
month that begins from
13 or 14 April.
✔Sikhs visit Gurdwaras
on this day and listen to
kirtans .
✔A community lunch
called langar is served
on this day.
✔This is the time when
the Rabi crop is ready
for harvesting. 16
50,000 people a day
The langar at the Golden Temple serves a massive number –
50,000 people a day! On holidays/religious occasions, the
number often goes up to 100,000! The free community kitchen at
The Golden Temple feeds thousands of people daily.

17. Harvest Festivals
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Onam
Pongal
Baisakhi
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18. We celebrate Independence Day on
15 August every year. On 15 August
1947, India won freedom from the
Bristish rule. We remember all
freedom fighters who fought for
freedom of the country.
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Independence Day

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Our Prime Minister hoists the National Flag at the Red Fort and
delivers a speech every year on Independence day.

20. We celebrate Republic Day on 26th
January, every year. On 26th January
1950,India was declared a republic and
the constitution came into effect. A
large number of parades take place on
Raj path in New Delhi, on this day. All
the armed forces-Navy, Army and Air
Force march in formations. Live
Republic Day celebration is also shown
on television.
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Republic Day

21. .
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Gandhi Jayanti
•We celebrate Gandhi Jayanti on 2
October.
•It is the birth anniversary of Mahatma
Gandhi .
•On this day , people offer prayers at
the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi at Raj
Ghat in New Delhi.
•Prayer meetings are also arranged all
over the country.

22. National Festivals
National festivals are celebrated to make a special occasion of national
importance. They are celebrated by the whole country and make us feel
united with fellow citizens.
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23. Recipe of Sweet Pongal
INGREDIENTS (1 CUP = 240ML )
½ cup rice (any kind)½ cup rice (any kind)
½ cup moong dal (or ⅓ cup if you prefer less)½ cup MOONG DAL (or ⅓ cup
if you prefer less)
2¾ cups water (to cook rice & dal)2¾ cups water (to cook rice & dal)
For jaggery syrup
½ cup jaggery (grated, 120 grams, refer notes)½ cup JAGGERY (grated, 120
grams, refer notes)
¼ cup water¼ cup water
¼ to ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder (elaichi powder)¼ to
½ teaspoon green cardamom powder (elaichi powder)
For tempering
2 to 3 tablespoons ghee (or more as desired)2 to 3 tablespoons GHEE (or
more as desired)
12 cashew nuts split and cleaned12 cashew nuts split and cleaned
2 cloves (crushed, optional)2 cloves (crushed, optional)
2 tablespoons coconut pieces, sliced or chopped
(optional)2 tablespoons coconut pieces, sliced or chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon raisins1 tablespoon raisins
1 small pinch edible camphor (pacha karpooram) (optional)1 small
pinch edible camphor (pacha karpooram) (optional)

24. Snake boat race
Vallam Kali ( boat game) is a traditional boat
race in Kerala, India. It is a form of canoe racing,
and uses paddled war canoes. It is mainly
conducted during the season of the harvest
festival Onam in spring. Vallam kali includes
races of many kinds of paddled longboats and
'snake boats'. Each team spends about 6 lakh
rupees for the Nehru Trophy..
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