Lakshadweep · Island Realms
Festivals
| Festival | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha (Bakrid) | Lunar calendar | The two occasions on which the whole island cooks, the sweets are made, the Lava and Kolkali troupes come out and households visit in sequence. Bakrid matters more where livestock has to be shipped in. |
| Milad-un-Nabi | Rabi al-Awwal, lunar | The Prophet's birthday, marked with duffmuttu, Arabic-Malayalam devotional singing and mosque gatherings — the most visible expression of the northern islands' Mappila inheritance. |
| Muharram | Muharram, lunar | Observed, but quietly, in a population that is overwhelmingly Sunni of the Shafi'i school. It is not the public spectacle it is on the mainland. |
| Minicoy village festivals and boat races | Mainly the fair season, and at Eid | Each avah fields its jahadhoni and its Lava troupe. Racing between village crews is the organising social event of the island's year, and the annual island picnic is a formal fixture rather than a casual outing. |
| Independence Day and Republic Day | 15 August and 26 January | Worth listing, because the administration's own account puts them at the head of the festival calendar and they are observed across several days with parades and dance performances — a genuine feature of a territory where the government is the largest institution on every island. |
The festival calendar of Lakshadweep — what is celebrated, when it falls and what happens. (5)