Punjab Doabs · Upper Indus–Gangetic Plain
Festivals
| Festival | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Vaisakhi | 13 or 14 April | The wheat harvest festival and, since 1699, the anniversary of the founding of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib. It is a solar date and therefore fixed, unlike most Indian festivals, because it is tied to a harvest rather than to a lunar month. Fairs, bhangra, gatka and enormous gatherings at Anandpur Sahib, Talwandi Sabo and Amritsar. |
| Lohri | 13 January | A midwinter bonfire festival marking the end of the coldest stretch. Sesame, gur, peanuts and popcorn are thrown into the fire, children go door to door singing for gur, and the birth of a child or a first marriage in a household is celebrated at it. The day after is Maghi. |
| Maghi and the Muktsar mela | 14 January | Commemorates the forty Sikhs who died fighting at Khidrana in 1705, after which the place was renamed Muktsar. A very large fair is held at Muktsar, with a bathing observance and a cattle market attached. |
| Hola Mohalla | The day after Holi, February–March | Instituted by the tenth Guru as a martial gathering held the day after Holi, at Anandpur Sahib. Nihang contingents demonstrate gatka, horsemanship and tent-pegging, langars run along every street for days, and the crowd runs into lakhs. |
| Gurpurabs | Through the year, by the Nanakshahi calendar | The birth and martyrdom anniversaries of the Gurus. The largest are Guru Nanak's birth anniversary in November, centred on Amritsar and Sultanpur Lodhi, and Guru Gobind Singh's in the winter. Each is preceded by an unbroken forty-eight-hour reading of the scripture and a nagar kirtan procession through the town. |
| Shaheedi Jor Mela | Late December | Three days at Fatehgarh Sahib commemorating the deaths of the tenth Guru's younger sons in 1705. It is a solemn observance rather than a celebration, and among the largest annual gatherings in Punjab. |
| Basant Panchami | January–February | The spring festival, marked by yellow clothing, mustard-flower fields and, historically, mass kite flying across the region's cities. Kite flying has been curtailed in places because of injuries caused by abrasive coated string. |
| Teej | Sawan, July–August | The monsoon women's festival, with swings hung from trees, giddha, mehndi and a return to the natal village for married daughters. |
| Baba Farid Aagman Purab, Faridkot | September | A multi-day observance in the town named for the thirteenth-century Sufi Fariduddin Ganjshakar, whose Punjabi verse is included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Qawwali, kafi singing and a fair. |
| Chhapar Mela | August–September | A large fair at Chhapar in Ludhiana district held at the shrine of Gugga, the snake deity venerated across northern India, drawing crowds from across Malwa. |
| Kila Raipur rural sports | February | Bullock carts, tractors, kabaddi, wrestling and improbable feats of strength over a few days at a village outside Ludhiana. It is a folk festival organised as a sports meet. |
The festival calendar of Punjab Doabs — what is celebrated, when it falls and what happens. (11)