Kashmir Valley · Western Himalaya & Trans-Himalaya
Festivals
| Festival | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha | Lunar calendar | The valley's largest observances. The bakery economy peaks, wazwan is cooked at home rather than bought, and Rouf is danced by women on the nights around Eid-ul-Fitr. |
| Herath (Mahashivratri) | Phalguna, February–March | The central Kashmiri Pandit festival, observed over several days with the vatuk — pots filled with soaked walnuts, worshipped and then distributed. Walnut, not fruit or flower, is the offering, and the household's calendar of cleaning, cooking and visiting runs off it. Muji gaad is the associated dish. |
| Navreh | First day of Chaitra, March–April | The Kashmiri Pandit new year, counted in the Saptarishi era. A thali of rice, curd, walnut, a flower, a coin, a pen and the new almanac is set out to be seen first thing on waking. |
| Kheer Bhawani mela at Tulmul | Jyeshtha Ashtami, May–June | The annual gathering at the spring-fed shrine at Tulmul in Ganderbal, whose water is locally read for the year ahead by its colour. It remains the largest occasion that brings Kashmiri Pandit families back to the valley together, and the shrine is looked after between melas by its Muslim neighbours. |
| Urs of Nund Rishi at Charar-e-Sharief | Varies by the lunar calendar | Days of continuous recitation of the shruks with a fair attached; one of a calendar of urs observances at shrines across the valley, each drawing its own catchment. |
| Moi-e-Muqaddas observances at Hazratbal | Several fixed days in the Islamic calendar, including Eid Milad-un-Nabi | The relic is displayed to a congregation that fills the lakefront. These are the valley's largest single assemblies. |
| Muharram | The first ten days of Muharram, lunar | Observed by the valley's substantial Shia population, particularly in Budgam, Zadibal and the Pattan belt, with majlis, nauha and the distribution of cooked food and halwa. |
| Badamwari and the almond blossom | Late February–March | The walled almond orchard below Hari Parbat opens when the trees flower, and the city treats the first blossom as the formal end of winter. The tulip garden below the Zabarwan follows in early April. |
| Navroz | 21 March | The Persian new year, kept in the valley as a spring observance — one of the more visible traces of the Central Asian and Persian connection that also brought the crafts. |
The festival calendar of Kashmir Valley — what is celebrated, when it falls and what happens. (9)