festivals of india short essay

Festivals of India Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on festival of india.

Festivals are larger than life celebrations of various things. They occur at regular intervals and helping in breaking the monotony of life. Furthermore, they give you the chance to celebrate the little and big things in life. Festivals are the carriers of peace and joy in the communities. All nations of the world have certain religious and cultural festivals. However, India is one of the largest countries to celebrate numerous festivals. As India is a very cultural and diverse country , so are the festivals. They divide into three general categories of national, religious and seasonal.

Types of Indian Festivals

As we can divide the Indian festivals into national, religious and seasonal, we see how they differ from each other. In general, national festivals are celebrated in honor of reputable people and events. The religious ones follow legends of faiths and their beliefs. The seasonal ones are celebrated with each season that we experience that varies from region to region.

National Festivals

Moreover, they help in setting aside the differences of the countrymen and unite each other like never before. The capital of India, New Delhi is the seat of national festivals. For instance, it witnesses the grand parade of the Republic Day. The flag hoisting takes place in New Delhi, which is broadcasted on national television for the whole country to see.

Religious Festivals

The religious festivals are one of the most famous festivals not only throughout India but over the world. Some of the most prominent religious festivals are Diwali, Eid-Ul-Fitr, Christmas, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Holi and many more. Diwali and Holi are the most prominent festivals of the Hindu religion. They are very colorful and full of lights.

Next up, Eid-Ul-Fitr is an Islamic festival which celebrates the end of Ramadan. It is about delectable dishes and family gatherings. Christmas celebrates the birthday of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, it is about Christmas trees and Santa Claus. Guru Nanak Jayanti celebrates the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev.

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Seasonal Festivals

Finally, the particular regions of the country celebrate seasonal festivals. For instance, Bihu is a festival of Assam. Likewise, Tamil Nadu celebrates Pongal. In addition, there is Basant Panchami which people celebrate through North India and West Bengal as well.

Importance of Festivals

Festivals are very important. They make us forget our cultural and religious differences . They unite people and they come together for the sole purpose of celebration and happiness. Other than that, festivals also help us embrace our culture and religion. They are very helpful in breaking the monotony of life.

Moreover, people look forward to festivals all-round the year. Festivals spark joy and give people something to look forward to. In addition, people also repair their homes and paint them that look like brand new. It beautifies the look of the locality.

In short, festivals fill our lives with colors and enthusiasm. They bring us closer every year and eliminate any feelings of communal hatred. Further, they strengthen the bonds of the community and remove the malice from people’s hearts. Therefore, festivals are quite important and must be celebrated with passion.

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• Festivals of India Essay

Festivals in India

The world without Festivals will just become a jungle where we lead a monotonous life. Festivals in India are much larger than almost any occasion. We consider them the best part of the year and wait for them eagerly. People of all ages and economic conditions find their ways to enjoy with their families and worship the gods and goddesses.

Festivals are the oldest rituals and traditions our countrymen follow to pay tribute to the almighty gods and goddesses. In fact, these celebrations are nothing but the symbols of peace and happiness. India is a diverse country with multiple religions and cultures conglomerated in a single form. This is why our Festivals draw a unique picture for the rest of the world to follow as a brilliant example of harmony.

In India, we have three different types of Festivals. The national Festivals are those days when something remarkable happened that changed the course of history for our country. For instance, 26 th January is celebrated as Republic Day. October 2 is Gandhi Jayanti, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. These Festivals are called gazette holidays declared years back. These days, every public and private office celebrates and declares holidays for the employees.

Independence Day is celebrated on August 15, 1947. On this day, we received independence from the colonial rule of the British Empire. We celebrate and pay tribute to the revolutionaries who led their lives to make us free from the shackles of British tyranny. Republic Day is celebrated gallantly in New Delhi, our capital. Our defence forces join hands to perform tricks and showcase their power to the public. These Festivals are celebrated across the country.

The most prominent religious Festivals that we celebrate are Dussehra, Diwali, Eid-Ul-Fitr, Christmas, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Holi, etc. Dussehra and Diwali are considered to be the prime religious Festivals of India. The states celebrating these Festivals get decorated like a new bride. New colourful dresses and tasty things to eat are the prime attractions for kids. During this time of the year, people of all ages and economic stature unite at a single place to worship the gods and goddesses.

Every Indian religious festival has a story behind it. These stories carry a message for all the common men. Most of the Festivals convey the message of peace and the victory of good over evil. Every family prepares delectable preparations and invites guests, relatives and other family members. Families reunite, people enjoy for a few days and then get back with their monotonous lives. They again wait for another year eagerly for the religious Festivals to arrive with the wish to see their loved ones again.

Seasonal Festivals generally focus on cultivation or other seasonal phenomena. For example, Onam in Kerala, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Bihu in Assam, etc are the seasonal examples. India is an agricultural country and these Festivals have immense importance in our history. These Festivals generally depict the advent of new harvests. The farmers worship the Gods and Goddesses of agriculture and harvest, wishing good yield for the next year. The amazing fact is that despite the cultural differences, the seasonal Festivals related to harvests are celebrated at the same time of the year.

These Festivals make India a single entity. It is the beauty of diversified unity that no other country can display. The Festivals are the social glues that keep different communities together despite the social differences and make India stronger. This is the legacy of our country that we have been carrying from one generation to the other for ages.

FAQs on Festivals of India Essay

1. How many Types of Festivals do we Celebrate in India?

In India, we celebrate three different types of festivals. The national festivals are celebrated commemorating the sacrifices of our revolutionaries and politicians. These festivals are celebrated across the country. Religious festivals are restricted to the respected states but have immense significance across the world. The colourful religious festivals are the best time of the year when people of all religions and ages unite to worship gods and goddesses. The seasonal festivals are organized to earmark harvests and agricultural yields. These festivals have immense importance as India is an agriculture-based economy. These are the types of festivals we celebrate in India. 

2. What is the difference between National and Religious Festivals?

National festivals are the national holidays that are celebrated to commemorate the sacrifices made by the nation’s leaders. These festivals also earmark a historic event that has changed the course of India’s history. In these festivals, every office is closed and all the employees are given holidays to spend time with their families. Religious holidays, on the other hand, are celebrated in different forms following the religious rituals of respective communities. These festivals are the most awaited time of the year for all. People wear new dresses, eat sumptuous food, and enjoy with their families, friends and relatives. These festivals are celebrated by specific communities and in particular states. 

3. Why do Seasonal Festivals coincide in some cases?

Seasonal festivals are held to celebrate harvests and other natural phenomena. The time is set by checking the solar and lunar positions in the astronomical calendar. In fact, the agricultural yields also match in terms of seasons. This is why the seasonal festivals have different names in different states but are sometimes celebrated in the same month or season of the year. 

4. Why do festivals play an important role in our life?

In India, a diversity of festivals are celebrated throughout the year. The festivities bring joy and happiness to everyone’s lives. Family members and loved ones gather to share their happiness. Festivals play a crucial role in our lives. They help in reducing stress caused by the day-to-day hustle and are a way to relax and rejuvenate our minds. Festivals create memorable moments. In addition to the religious festivals, national festivals promote the unity and customs of a nation. Festivals bring people together and are extremely important in everyone’s lives. 

5. What are some of the most famous festivals celebrated in India?

India is a diversified country with a vast list of festivals that are celebrated by people of different cultures and religions. These festivals form the rich heritage of the country. The main festivals of India include Diwali, Holi, Rakhi, Navaratri, Guru Purnima, Khubh Mela, Shivratri, Ganesh Chaturthi, and so on. Being a multicultural country, India celebrated all these festivals with great zest and full-blown experiences. Even people from outside come to visit India, especially during the festival seasons. Each festival is uniquely celebrated and has a history and importance of its own. 

Essay On Indian Festivals

Table of Contents

Short Essay On Indian Festivals

India is a land of rich cultural heritage and diverse traditions. Festivals play a significant role in showcasing the country’s unique customs and beliefs. From north to south and east to west, India celebrates a plethora of festivals throughout the year. Some of the most popular festivals are:

• Diwali – The festival of lights is celebrated in October or November and marks the victory of good over evil. People light diyas (small oil lamps), decorate their homes, and burst firecrackers to celebrate the occasion.
• Holi – The festival of colors is celebrated in March and symbolizes the arrival of spring. People play with colors, sing, dance, and feast with friends and family.
• Navaratri – This nine-night festival is celebrated in honor of the Hindu goddess Durga. People fast, perform puja (prayers), and participate in dance and music performances.
• Raksha Bandhan – The festival of siblings is celebrated in August and signifies the bond between brothers and sisters. Sisters tie a rakhi (sacred thread) on their brother’s wrist and receive gifts in return.
• Dussehra – The festival is celebrated in September or October and marks the victory of Lord Rama over the demon king Ravana. People burn effigies of Ravana and celebrate with feasts and cultural programs.

These festivals not only bring people together but also reflect the country’s cultural richness and unity. Whether it’s the lighting of diyas during Diwali or the tossing of colors during Holi, each festival has a special significance and holds a special place in the hearts of Indians.

Long Essay On Indian Festivals

Indian festivals are celebrated with great pomp and show, as they are a reflection of the rich and vibrant culture that India has been blessed with. From Diwali to Holi, there are plenty of festivals that bring people together to celebrate the joys of life. In this essay, we will explore how Indian festivals have evolved over time and how they continue to shape our culture today.

Introduction: Discussing the Cultural and Religious Significance of Indian Festivals

Indian festivals are a rich and vibrant part of the country’s culture. They play an important role in the religious and social life of the people. India is a land of diversity and this is reflected in its festivals. Each region has its own unique festivals that are celebrated with great enthusiasm.

The most popular festivals in India are Diwali, Holi, Durga Puja and Navratri. These festivals are celebrated by all Indians regardless of their religion or caste. They bring people together and create a sense of unity among them.

Diwali is the festival of lights and is celebrated to mark the victory of good over evil. It is one of the most popular Hindu festivals and is celebrated by Hindus all over the world. Holi is the festival of colors and is celebrated to mark the beginning of spring. It is a time when people forget all their differences and come together to celebrate life.

Durga Puja is a nine-day festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. It is observed mainly in the eastern states of India but is also celebrated by Hindus all over the country. Navratri is a nine-day festival dedicated to the worship of Goddess Durga. It is observed mainly in the western states but is also celebrated by Hindus all across India.

These are just some of the many Indian festivals that are celebrated with great joy and enthusiasm by people of all religions and regions. They play an important role in bringing people together and creating a sense of unity in the country. They also serve to remind us of our rich and diverse cultural heritage.

Types of Indian Festivals: Holi, Diwali, Eid, etc.

There are many types of Indian festivals, each with its own unique customs and traditions. Here are some of the most popular:

Holi: Also known as the “festival of colors”, Holi is celebrated in early spring. It is a time when people let loose and have fun, playing with colored powder and water.

Diwali: The “festival of lights”, Diwali is celebrated in late autumn or early winter. It is a time of joy and celebration, when people decorate their homes with lanterns and candles.

Eid: Eid is a Muslim festival that marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. It is a time for feasting and celebration, when people exchange gifts and visit loved ones.

Symbolism Behind Each Festival

One of the most interesting things about Indian festivals is the deep symbolism behind each one. For example, take the festival of Holi. This festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil, and also symbolizes the coming of spring. The colors used during Holi represent different aspects of nature, and are thought to bring good luck and prosperity.

Similarly, the festival of Diwali has a number of different symbols associated with it. The most important is light, which represents knowledge and understanding. Diwali is also a time for giving thanks to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Candles are lit during Diwali as an offering to her, and as a way to ward off darkness and ignorance.

There are many other examples of the deep symbolism behind Indian festivals. Take some time to research them all – you’ll be amazed at the hidden meaning in each one!

Importance of Family Reunions During Indian Festivals

The Indian festival season is a time when families come together to celebrate. For many, it is the only time of year when they can be with their extended family. This is why family reunions during Indian festivals are so important.

Festivals are a time of joy and celebration. They are also a time for families to reconnect and create new memories. Family reunions during Indian festivals provide an opportunity for families to catch up with each other and reminisce about past memories. They also give families a chance to create new traditions and memories that will last a lifetime.

Indian festivals are also a time for families to bond with each other. Families can spend quality time together during the festival season by participating in activities such as cooking, singing, and dancing. These activities help families to connect with each other on a deeper level and create lasting bonds.

Family reunions during Indian festivals are an important part of the festival season. They provide an opportunity for families to reconnect with each other, create new traditions, and bond on a deeper level.

The Role of Music and Dance in Indian Festivals

Festivals in India are characterized by color, joy, enthusiasm, togetherness, and a deep sense of reverence for the divine. They are also an integral part of the country’s social and cultural fabric. And music and dance play a significant role in these festivals.

Indian music is deeply rooted in the country’s rich culture and tradition. It is an expression of the soul of the people. And it is this soul that comes alive during festivals. The music and dance at these times are not just entertainment but a means of connecting with the divine.

The traditional music of India is based on two main systems – the raga system and the tala system. The ragas are melodic structures while the talas are rhythmic patterns. These two systems combine to create beautiful and hypnotic melodies that are truly unique to India.

Indian dances also have their roots in antiquity. They were originally performed as religious rituals or as expressions of joy and celebration. Today, they are an important part of Indian festivals. The most popular dances include Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Manipuri, and Kuchipudi. Each dance has its own distinctive style and movements that tell a story or convey a particular emotion.

Dance and music are essential ingredients of Indian festivals. They add vibrancy and energy to the celebrations and help us connect with our innermost selves.

The Impact of Technology on Modern Celebrations

Technology has had a profound impact on the way we celebrate festivals. In the past, festivals were celebrated through traditional means such as singing and dancing around a bonfire. However, nowadays, people have started to use technology to enhance their festival celebrations. For example, many people now use social media to invite friends and family to their festivals. Additionally, people often use technology to create digital decorations for their homes or venues. Finally, people have also started using technology to create virtual reality experiences that allow them to feel as if they are actually at the festival.

Conclusion: How Celebrating Indian Festivals Can Bring People Together

Indian festivals are a great way to bring people together. They are a time when families and friends can get together and celebrate. They are also a time when people can learn about each other’s cultures and traditions. Indian festivals are a great way to celebrate the diversity of India.

Manisha Dubey Jha is a skilled educational content writer with 5 years of experience. Specializing in essays and paragraphs, she’s dedicated to crafting engaging and informative content that enriches learning experiences.

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Festivals of India Essay for School Students [Easy Words*]

February 4, 2021 by Sandeep

Festivals of India Essay: India is a diverse land with many festivals. Every Year people eagerly wait for the arrival of festivals. Indian festivals reflect the culture and religious diversity. The atmosphere is filled with zeal and happiness. Whether a person is poor, middle-class or rich, every individual celebrates festival according to its financial capability. Festivals are divided as religious, national and seasonal. Religious festivals are- Diwali, Dussehra, Durga Puja, Ganesh Chaturthi, etc. Seasonal festivals include Holi, Bihu, Pongal, Onam, Baisakhi, etc. National Festivals are-Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi Jayanti. Holi and Diwali are the famous festivals of India.

This article provides an extensive write-up on Festivals of India, helpful for school students during essay and paragraph writing competitions.

Essay on Festivals of India 250 Words in English

Below we have provided an Indian Festival Essay, usually given for class 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6.

Festivals add colour and vitality to our life. They act as an interval from the mundane tasks and fill us with bliss and happiness. It invigorates us with new spirit and liveliness. Furthermore, it allows us to celebrate small and big things in our life. They can be religious or be events which feature music, dance, poetry, movies etc. India is a diverse and cultural oriented country; it celebrates several festivals. It is further divided into religious, national and seasonal festivals.

Diwali, Raksha-Bandhan, Eid, Christmas , Dussehra, Ganesh Chaturthi , etc. are India’s religious festivals. These festivals are celebrated by different community with great pomp and splendour. The atmosphere is infused with festive energy everywhere. People wear colourful clothes and gather together to enjoy the festival.

Baisakhi, Holi , Pongal, Bihu, Onam, etc. are seasonal festivals. They are celebrated to welcome spring and harvest. It marks the advent of bright summer. The Farmers worship the Sun, cattle, and crops and offer thanks to the Almighty by providing a bountiful harvest. Holi is a festival of colours where people smear powder colours on each other.

National festivals like Independence Day, Republic Day, and Gandhi Jayanti celebrate the freedom struggle and freedom fighters that freed India from the shackles of British Raj. A flag hoisting program inaugurated followed by music, dance and parade. A feeling of patriotism pervades in every individual and fills us with pride and dignity.

In conclusion, festivals make our life enthusiastic and passionate. It brings the people of different communities together irrespective of their caste differences. They symbolize victory over evil and spreads joy and mirthful energy across. It strengthens the bond and promotes harmony among the human race.

Essay on Indian Festival 500 Words in English

Below we have provided the Festival of India Essay in English, suitable for class 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10.

India is a land known for fairs and festivals. The vast diversity of different cultures, languages, and religions makes it distinctive and unique in the world. The celebration of the various festivals brings out a new change among the individuals as it breaks the monotony of life. People come in unity and enjoy each festival with great joy and happiness. Most of the festivals have a religious origin, but there are seasonal and national festivals in India.

“The Greatness of a culture can be found in its festivals”, is rightly stated by Siddharth Katragadda, a famous writer of India. India’s diverse culture culminates varied festivals that glorify the greatness of India. People enjoy them with sheer devotion and love. Festivals in India are divided into three-religious, national and seasonal.

Religious Festivals

Diwali: It is the festival of light and victory over darkness. It is India’s most magnificent festival and falls in the winter season. People decorate their houses with lights, candles and earthen lamps and draw Rangoli outside the homes.

Dussehra: Dussehra is the festival that marks the end of the nine-day festival of Navratri. It is celebrated to acknowledge Lord Rama’s victory over Ravana. The huge effigy of Ravana is built and placed at different avenues to be burnt by an arrow of fire.

Ganesh Chaturthi: This is the festival celebrated with much grandeur and fervour. It marks the homecoming of Lord Ganesha. The festival lasts for ten days, commenced by the installation of Lord Ganesha’s idol.

Navaratri: It is celebrated to honour Goddess Durga. It is associated with the prominent battle between Goddess Durga and demon Mahishasura. These nine days represent the victory of good over evil. It is believed that Goddess Durga takes nine Avatars, hence named Navdurga or Navaratri.

Christmas: Christmas is celebrated to memorialise the birth of Jesus Christ. It falls in winter on the 25th of December each year. People decorate the Christmas tree and house and exchange gifts.

Eid-Ul-Fitr: Ramadan or Eid-Ul-Fitr is celebrated by the Muslim community and is considered the holiest month of the Islamic Calendar. People observe fast, prayers and religious contemplation. The festival ends by breaking the fast and gathering for celebration and prayers.

Seasonal Festivals

Baisakhi: One of the renowned festival of the Sikhs. It marks the harvest of Rabi crops and therefore heartily celebrated among Punjab’s farmer community.

Holi: Holi is celebrated to welcome spring and harvest. It is a festival of colours where people smear powder colours on each other. Dance, music, savouries are the highlights of the festival.

Bihu: Bihu is the three main festivals celebrated in Assam. It is divided into Rongali, Kongali and Bhogali Bihu where farmers and people offer prayers and gratitude for a good harvest. The celebration extends for a month. Bihu dance is the festival’s speciality and is performed in different styles.

National Festivals

Republic Day : Republic Day is celebrated to honour the day on which India’s Constitution came into effect. It falls on 26th January every year.

Independence Day: Independence Day is celebrated on 15th August each year to revere and commemorate the 200-year-old British Raj’s freedom.

Gandhi Jayanti: It is celebrated to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s birth annually on 2nd October. Popular activities include prayer meetings, ceremonies in schools and colleges, etc.

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• School Education /

✍️Essay on Festivals: Samples in 150, 250 Words

• Updated on  
• Nov 2, 2023

Festivals are the special occasions celebrated in every religion and country to follow their tradition . They are generally celebrated worldwide to pay tribute to God and Goddesses and to spread joy and positivity. India, known for its diversity and multiculturalism celebrates many festivals throughout the year. Festivals are the best part of the year as they contribute to the unity of the nation and add prosperity to the life of the people. India celebrates different categories of festivals such as regional festivals, seasonal festivals , annual festivals, and national festivals. Stay tuned and read the following essay on festivals!

Also Read: Speech on Dussehra in English

 Essay on Festivals of India 200 Words

Festivals in India are celebrated with great zeal. Indian festivals are worth witnessing as they are the most popular and colourful festivals. Be it Holi, the Queen Festival of Colours or Diwali the festival of crackers and rangoli, all are marked with great historical significance that tells about Indian Mythology. One of the most popular and biggest festivals in the world, Kumbh Mela, is also celebrated in India, where millions of devotees gather to offer their prayers.

Every festival has its own story and belief. People follow and respect their traditional values and do fasting on festivals like Chhath Puja , Govardhan Puja , Bhai Dooj , and Karwachauth. All these Indian festivals play an important role in uniting people belonging to different cultures in the same society. 

Apart from these festivals, Onam, Dussehra , Christmas, New Year, Raksha Bandha, etc are also celebrated in India. Republic Day , Gandhi Jayanti , and Independence Day are the National festivals of India which are government holidays in the Indian Calendar. 

Religious festivals include Eid-Ul-Fitr which ends with Ramadan celebrated by the Muslim community, Guru Nanak Jayanti held on 27 November 2023 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji celebrated by Sikhs, and Christmas celebrated on 25 December every year by Christians. 

Also Read: Why is Onam Celebrated: The Festival of Joy in Kerala 

Essay in Festivals 250 Words

India’s rich diversity and festivals unite people from different backgrounds. It joins people from different states and religions in a single thread for the celebration. Every occasion in India and different countries is celebrated with happiness and joy. Festivals bring joy and prosperity and create a sense of oneness.

The Kumbh Mela is one of the largest festivals in the world, which takes place at four pilgrimage sites in India; Ujjain, Prayagraj, Haridwar and Nashik. On this occasion, devotees take a ritual dip in the holy rivers of Shipra in Ujjain, Ganga-Yamuna-Sarasvati in Prayagraj, the Ganges in Hardwar, and Godavari in Nasik.

People follow the tradition of exchanging sweets and gifts on special occasions. National festivals are marked as Government holidays such as 2 October celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti, 26 January celebrated as Republic Day, and 15 August celebrated as Independence Day.

One thing which you find common in all festivals is cleaning the house, decorating, and worshipping God. Festivals are auspicious occasions that bring good health, wealth, joy, and prosperity into the lives of people. 

Apart from the National festivals, Pongal, Onam, Baisakhi and Bihu celebrated in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Assam respectively are the seasonal festivals celebrated with very high energy by the people of that particular state. Farmers in India worship God and Goddess of agriculture on such seasonal festivals to seek their blessings and wish for good yields for the successive years.

Thus, the festivals in the given essay on festivals tell about various cultures and diversity in a particular country and about the customs followed by the people in festivals to make them grand and happening.

Also Read: Importance of Makar Sankranti

Relevant Blogs

Festivals hold a significant role in the human life. They are important to continue the traditional culture, religion, and practices of that particular religion and region. It plays a key role in uniting people and filling up the communication gaps thereby increasing the social dependency of people.

Festivals are extraordinary events celebrated to commemorate the traditions followed by our ancestors. It holds a significant role in joining the society and passing on the traditions to the future generations. They create an ambience of positivity, joy, and prosperity all around. Every region and religion follows their own festivals worldwide. 

Festivals are the source of happiness. They are the best part of the year. Festivals are celebrated with people belonging to different cultures and religions and it helps in uniting them and enjoying the feeling of oneness and togetherness. 

Here are 10 lines on why we celebrate festivals: Festivals are a chance for everyone to unite for a cause; It is considered auspicious to conduct prayers and worship God and Goddess. ; People of different religions follow different customs and practices to celebrate festivals.; Festivals create a happy atmosphere all around; In India, people celebrate many festivals throughout the year; Holi and Diwali are the two main festivals in India; Decorating the surroundings, cleaning the house, worshipping god, wearing new clothes, and sharing good wishes, and gifts are some of the important elements of any festival; Festivals are considered incomplete without sweets; The special occasion builds friendship among the people and increases interdependency; These special days are celebrated with utmost pomp and enthusiasm. 

For more information on such interesting topics, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu .

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Essay on Indian Festival

Students are often asked to write an essay on Indian Festival in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Indian Festival

Introduction.

India, known as the land of festivals, celebrates numerous events throughout the year. These festivals, rich in culture and traditions, bring people together in celebration.

Significance

Indian festivals are significant as they act as a medium of social interaction, promoting unity and diversity. They teach moral values and respect for all.

Types of Festivals

There are religious festivals like Diwali, Eid, Christmas, and cultural ones like Pongal and Baisakhi. Each festival has its unique customs and rituals.

Festivals in India are a true reflection of its cultural wealth. They bring joy, peace, and harmony, strengthening the social fabric of the country.

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• Paragraph on Indian Festival

250 Words Essay on Indian Festival

India, a country of cultural diversity, is renowned for its myriad of colorful and vibrant festivals. These festivals, celebrated with great enthusiasm and joy, are an integral part of the Indian tradition, reflecting the country’s rich cultural heritage.

Cultural Significance

Each Indian festival carries a unique cultural significance. For instance, Diwali, the festival of lights, symbolizes the victory of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. Holi, the festival of colors, celebrates the arrival of spring, love, and end of winter. These festivals not only bring joy but also impart moral values, strengthening the social fabric.

Unity in Diversity

Despite the diverse cultural backgrounds, Indian festivals promote unity. Whether it’s Eid-ul-Fitr, Christmas, or Pongal, every festival is celebrated by people of all religions, transcending regional and religious boundaries. This unity in diversity is a testament to India’s secular ethos.

Impact on Economy

Indian festivals significantly impact the economy. They stimulate consumption, leading to a surge in demand for goods and services. From sweets and clothes to decorations and gifts, festivals drive a significant portion of economic activities.

In conclusion, Indian festivals are not just about celebrations, but they are a reflection of India’s cultural richness, unity, and economic vibrancy. They offer a unique way of seeing and understanding the diverse and complex cultural fabric of India, making them an integral part of the Indian identity.

500 Words Essay on Indian Festival

India, often referred to as the land of festivals, has a rich tapestry of culture and tradition that is vividly displayed through its numerous festivals. These festivals, celebrated with great fervor and enthusiasm, not only add color and joy to life but also have a deep-rooted significance, often reflecting the country’s diverse cultural, religious, and social facets.

Significance of Indian Festivals

Indian festivals are not merely about celebration; they also carry a profound philosophical message. They serve as a platform for communal harmony, as people from different religions, castes, and social backgrounds come together to celebrate. These festivals also act as a bridge to the past, connecting us to our ancestors and their traditions. They often revolve around the themes of victory of good over evil, harvest seasons, or commemoration of mythological events or deities.

Indian festivals can broadly be classified into religious, seasonal, and national festivals. Religious festivals like Diwali, Eid, Christmas, Navaratri, and Pongal are celebrated by different communities across the country. Seasonal festivals like Baisakhi and Makar Sankranti are centered around the agricultural cycle. National festivals like Republic Day, Independence Day, and Gandhi Jayanti are celebrated with patriotic fervor across the entire nation.

Role in Preserving Culture

Festivals play a crucial role in preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage of India. They are the custodians of the country’s folk art forms, music, dance, and cuisine. The unique rituals, customs, and traditions associated with each festival offer a glimpse into the diverse cultural fabric of the country. For instance, the dance forms of Garba during Navaratri or Bhangra during Baisakhi are integral parts of these festivals.

Social Impact

Indian festivals also have a significant social impact. They foster a sense of community and belonging, reinforcing societal bonds. They provide an opportunity for families and friends to come together and celebrate, strengthening interpersonal relationships. Moreover, they also play a role in economic stimulation as festivals like Diwali and Eid lead to increased consumer spending, benefiting businesses and the economy.

In conclusion, Indian festivals are a vibrant and integral part of the country’s cultural identity. They serve as a mirror reflecting the diversity, unity, and rich heritage of India. As we celebrate these festivals, we not only partake in joy and festivities but also contribute to preserving and promoting our invaluable cultural legacy. In the midst of rapid modernization and globalization, these festivals are a reminder of our roots and the values that define us as a nation. They instill in us a sense of pride and belonging, reinforcing our Indian identity.

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National Festivals of India Essay

India is a land of festivals. It celebrates numerous religious festivals and three national festivals. Gandhi Jayanti (2 nd October), Republic Day (26 th January) and Independence Day (15 th August) are the three national festivals celebrated in the country. The government of India has declared a national holiday on the national festivals of the country.

All the schools, colleges, offices and markets across the country are closed on these festivals. The national holidays are celebrated throughout the nation with a nationalistic and patriotic zeal. They are some of the rare festivals, which the citizens of India celebrate together beyond their divisions of caste and religion. Hindu, Muslims, Christians, rich and poor; educated and illiterate, all commemorate their freedom fighters and national heroes and reaffirm their faith in their vision and philosophy.

Long and Short Essay on National Festivals of India in English

Here we are providing short and long essays on National Festivals of India of varying lengths to help you with the topic in your exams/school assignments.

These National Festivals of India Essays have been written in simple English to let you better understand the national festivals of India and their significance.

You can select any National Festivals of India essay according to your need and requirement and present them during your school/college essay writing, speech or debate competitions.

Short Essay on National Festivals of India – Essay 1 (200 Words)

India celebrates three national festivals – Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti. National festivals in India are celebrated with as much pomp and show as the religious festivals of different states. The citizens of our country are seen immersed in the feeling of patriotism on all three festivals. Various big and small events to celebrate these festivals are organized at different places throughout the country.

Schools, colleges, offices and markets are decked up with flowers, balloons, flags and tri-colour drapes to add to the festive mood. Skits, poetry recitation, debates, fancy dress competitions and various cultural programs are organized as a part of these celebrations. The celebrations at schools, offices and other institutes are mostly held a day before these festivals as the same are closed on the festival day. Various housing societies also organize get together to celebrate these festivals. They usually celebrate these during the morning hours. Cultural activities are organized, patriotic songs are played and brunch or lunch is usually arranged for the people.

These festivals are celebrated to honour our great leaders and get inspired by their deeds. The events organized to celebrate these festivals also offer a good platform to bond with our neighbours, colleagues and other near and dear ones.

Essay on National Festivals of India and their Importance – Essay 2 (300 Words)

Introduction

Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti and Republic Day are the three national festivals of India. Each of these festivals has its own importance and relevance. These are celebrated for different reasons. Here is a brief about each of these festivals and their importance:

Independence Day

India got independence on 15 th August 1947. 15 th August every year since then is celebrated as Independence Day. The day is celebrated as a mark of respect to the freedom fighters who fought selflessly for the freedom of our country. Their heroic deeds are remembered on this day. Speeches narrating the freedom movements and the bravery of the freedom fighters are delivered to honour the great souls and inspire the youth of the country. Flag hoisting is done at various places across the country and cultural programs are organized.

Republic Day

The constitution of India came into form on 26 th January 1950. This is considered to be one of the most significant days in the history of our country. With the formation of the constitution, India became a sovereign state. 26 th January since then is celebrated at large scale in the country. The main Republic Day event is held at Rajpath in New Delhi. Parades, dances and various other cultural events are held during this event. It is a mark of respect for the constitution of India. Many small events are held across the country to celebrate this day.

Gandhi Jayanti

Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated on the 2 nd of October each year. It is the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi who was one of the most loved Indian leaders. He followed the path of truth and non-violence and was joined by numerous Indians to drive the British away. The day is celebrated to honour his ideologies and contribution towards the independence of our country.

Thus, all three national festivals of India hold special significance for its citizens. These are celebrated with great zeal across the country.

Essay on National Festivals Celebration in India – Essay 3 (400 Words)

National Festivals of our country are major events that call for major celebrations. Each of these festivals is celebrated in its own unique way. Here is how the three national festivals, Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi Jayanti are celebrated in India:

Independence Day Celebration

Independence Day is celebrated at the national level at Red Fort in Delhi. The Prime Minister of the country hoists the Indian National Flag on this historical site on the 15 th of August each year. The ritual started after the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru hoisted the flag here on 15 th August 1947 as the country attained independence from the clutches of the British rule.

21 gun shots are also fired each year as a part of the Independence Day celebration. The Prime Minister of the country then addresses the nation. Flag Hoisting is also done in various other parts of the country. Cultural programs and kite flying competitions are organized in schools, colleges, offices and residential areas across the country to celebrate the occasion.

Republic Day Celebration

The President of India who is the constitutional head of the country hoists national flag at Rajpath, New Delhi on the 26 th of January each year. This is followed by parades of National Cadet Corps and Indian Army. Vibrant and beautiful tableau demonstrating the culture of different Indian states also parade during the event. School students perform dances and give other performances on Rajpath.

The soldiers who fought bravely for the country are remembered and honoured on this day. The President awards these brave personalities with Ashoka Chakra and Kirti Chakra. The governors of different states hoist the Indian national flag in their respective states. Republic Day celebrations are also done in schools, offices and other institutions.

Gandhi Jayanti Celebration

The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi is remembered fondly on the 2 nd of October, Gandhi Jayanti. The statues of Mahatma Gandhi are decorated with flowers on this day. Educational institutions and offices organize special events on this occasion. Speeches about the achievements and contribution of Mahatma Gandhi are delivered during such events. Prayer meetings are held and Gandhi Ji’s memorial is visited by various ministers to pay homage to the departed soul. Songs are sung in his praise. Painting and essay competitions are also held as a part of the Gandhi Jayanti celebration.

The citizens of India participate wholeheartedly in the celebration of all three national festivals of the country. The citizens are socked in love and devotion for the country during these festivals.

Essay on Importance of Celebrating National Festivals in Schools – Essay 4 (500 Words)

The Indian national festivals, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti and Republic Day, are celebrated in schools across the country. Since, these are all national holidays most of the schools celebrate these festivals a day before. It is time for double celebration for the students as it means no classes for two days. Here is the importance of celebrating national festivals in schools:

Independence Day is the most loved national festivals of our country. Here is the significance of celebrating this festival in schools:

• To pay Tribute to the Freedom Fighters : The first and foremost reason for Independence Day celebration in schools is to ensure that the younger generation values the sacrifices of the freedom fighters and honours them. It is a mark of respect to the freedom fighters that fought bravely for the freedom of our country.
• To Acquaint the Young Minds with Freedom Struggle : Independence Day celebrations in schools are a way to acquaint the younger generation with the struggles and hardships people went through during the British reign. Speeches are delivered and skits are performed to narrate how the freedom fighters made protests and held various freedom movements to weaken the British Empire and push them out of the country and how the general public supported them in this endeavour.
• To Celebrate the Spirit of Freedom : Independence Day celebrations are also done to celebrate the spirit of freedom. Kite flying competitions are organized at various schools to celebrate the same.
• To Instill Feeling of Patriotism in Young Generation : The celebration is also a means to instill the feeling of patriotism in the young minds – a feeling which is missing in the younger generation these days.

Republic Day celebration in schools across the country is as grand as Independence Day celebrations. Here is the importance of celebrating Republic Day in our country:

• To Emphasize the Importance of Indian Constitution : The constitution of India was formed on the 26 th of January 1950. This day is celebrated in schools each year to emphasize the importance of Indian constitution to the students.
• To Bring the Young Generation Closer to the Country : Republic Day speeches are delivered to narrate the challenges and hardships faced during the formation of the Indian constitution and the leaders involved in the same. Republic Day celebration in schools is a way of bringing the young generation closer to its country.

Here is the importance of celebrating Gandhi Jayanti in schools:

• To Inspire the Young Minds with Bapu’s Ideologies: Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated in schools to honour the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi and inspire the young minds to follow his ideologies. Young generation is motivated to follow the path of truth and non-violence listening to the inspirational life story of Bapu.
• To Instill the Feeling of Patriotism: Bapu was a true patriot. The celebration in schools across the country on his birthday is a celebration of the feeling of patriotism. It is a way to instill the students with love for their nation.

Students participate in these celebrations with enthusiasm. The entire atmosphere is infused with the feeling of patriotism.

Long Essay on National Festivals of India – Essay 5 (600 Words)

India is known as the land of festivals. Each Indian state has its own special festivals that are celebrated with enthusiasm each year. People deck up their houses, wear new clothes and visit their near and dear ones during these festivals. Besides these numerous religious festivals, the country also celebrates three national festivals. These are Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi Jayanti. All these festivals are celebrated with immense zeal throughout the country. Here is the history behind the celebration of these festivals and their significance:

1: Independence Day

• The Freedom Struggle

India was colonized by the British for decades. The citizens of India were treated poorly during the British reign. They were made to work hard but were paid meagrely for the same. The tyranny of the British kept increasing by the day and eventually there emerged a few Indian leaders who gathered to courage to oppose their cruel means. Freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Chandra Shekhar Azaad, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Sarojini Naidu did not only fight for the country but also inspired the general public to participate in the freedom struggle.

• A Day to Honour the Freedom Fighters

The efforts of the Indian freedom fighters and those who joined them for the struggle finally paid off in the year 1947. India attained freedom on 15 th August 1947 and this day each year is celebrated as Independence Day to honour and respect the great leaders who helped us attain freedom.

• A Day to Celebrate Freedom

Independence Day is also a day to celebrate freedom and independence. Several events are organised throughout the country to celebrate this day.

2: Republic Day

• A Day to Celebrate the Formation of Indian Constitution

The Government of India Act (1935) was replaced by the Constitution of India with effect from 26 th January 1950. It became the governing document of the country. Republic Day is celebrated each year as a mark of honour to the Indian constitution.

• Major Celebration Time

There is a grand celebration on Republic Day each year. This day is celebrated like no other. A major Republic Day event takes place in the country’s capital, New Delhi. The President of India hoists the national flag of the country at Rajpath. This is followed by the Indian national anthem and a host of parades. The parades and cultural events add to the colour and flavour of this national festival. Bravery awards are also awarded as a part of this event.

3: Gandhi Jayanti

• A Day to Remember the Most Revered Freedom Fighter

Mahatma Gandhi took active part in the Indian freedom struggle. He carried out various freedom movements and challenged the British at every step. 2 nd October, his birthday is celebrated by the entire nation each year to pay tribute to him.

• An Inspiration to Follow the Path of Truth and Non-Violence

The ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi were different from that of the other leaders of his time. While most of the other freedom fighters took to aggressive means to drive the British out, Mahatma Gandhi followed the path of truth and non-violence. His ideologies were not only an inspiration for the people of his own time but also for the young generation today. Gandhi Jayanti is a way to remind us of Bapu’s great ideologies and inculcate them in our lives.

Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi Jayanti are indeed special days for the Indians. These have been declared as national holidays. People across the country celebrate these festivals with all their heart. Schools, offices, markets and housing societies are all decked up with tri-colour ribbons, balloons and flags during these festivals. Patriotic songs are played to fill the atmosphere with the feeling of patriotism on these festivals.

Long Essay on National Festivals of India – Essay 6 (800 Words)

Festivals play an important role in a country depicting its cultural and traditional values. Apart from religious festivals, each country also has some national festivals which are of national importance. These festivals play a vital role in spreading harmony, unity and patriotism in the country. It also reminds us about the struggle and sacrifices which helped the country to rise against all the odds and stand as a free and independent nation.

National festivals of India majorly revolve around the Indian independence and how it rose up against all the odds. India has three national festivals mainly Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti which are celebrated across the country with great zeal.

Why do we Celebrate National Festivals

National festivals are a way by which we pay tribute to our freedom fighters and great leaders who sacrificed their lives for the nation without a second thought. It also commemorates the great historical events of the country which has shaped the structure of the nation both politically as well as socially. It helps to keep alive the rich heritage of our country and introduce the young generation with great historical culture and values. These national festivals are also a way to spread peace, harmony and togetherness among people and make a country which is united and strong.

Republic Day in India is the national festival which is celebrated on 26 th January every year to commemorate the great historic event when Constitution of India came into force. This was the great day which made India a Sovereign Democratic Republic nation and secured the rights of Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity to all its citizens.

The Constitution of India was the result of the hard work and dedication of the members of the Drafting Committee headed by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 th November, 1949 and was implemented on 26 th January 1950. The Constitution of India gave the rights in the hands of its citizen to choose a government which is by the people, of the people and for the people and provided the basic fundamental rights to its citizen so that they can live with dignity and liberty without any fear or force.

Independence Day is the day when India got freedom from darkest era of British rule. It was 15 th August, 1947 when India fought with all the odds against British rule and rose up to become an independent nation. The path towards becoming an independent nation was not easy and was constructed with the sweat and blood of our great freedom fighters who fought against the harsh policies of the British Empire and sacrificed their lives in the course.

It was because of our young freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and others who forced to set down the inglorious empire of the British rule and made India to rise up to a new era of an independent nation. Independence Day not only helps to commemorate this great day but also reminds us about the sacrifices of our great leaders and freedom fighters.

Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated on 02 nd October to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi who is considered as the ‘Father of the Nation’. Mahatma Gandhi was the face of the non-violent Indian freedom struggle who played a vital role in the journey of free India.

The Non-Cooperation, Quit India and Salt Movement (Namak Satyagrah) shook the foundation of the British rule and that also without shedding a drop of blood or lifting a single weapon. It was because of his great contribution that India got its freedom on 15 th August, 1947. Gandhi Jayanti also instills his great teachings in the hearts of the people and makes them follow his principles of non-violence, truthfulness, and honesty.

National Festivals Celebration in India

All three national festivals of India are celebrated with great enthusiasm and patriotism throughout the country. These are the festivals which bind the nation with a single string of unity, harmony and brotherhood. The tricolor can be seen flying high in every home on the occasion of national festivals. The major celebration takes place in the national capital where President and Prime Minister of India hoist the national flag and takes the salute of the parade.

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, nation pays homage to the Father of the Nation. Dignitaries and members of all political parties pay tribute to Bapu at Rajghat, the memorial place of Mahatma Gandhi. Every school, institutions and offices celebrate the national festival with great pride and patriotism remembering the freedom fighters and their immense sacrifice for the nation.

National festivals are of supreme importance for the citizens of India. These festivals remind us the significance of freedom, democracy and peace. These festivals are celebrated by each and every community and a way of spreading unity and harmony among people. Republic Day teaches us the value of democracy whereas Independence Day makes us understand the significance of an independent nation and Gandhi Jayanti gives us the message of ‘Ahimsa’ or non-violence and peace.

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Festivals in India Essay

India is a land of fairs and festivals. Their number is very large because the followers of different faiths and religions have their own festivals. Most of the festivals are religious in their origin.

The Hindus celebrate Janmashtami (the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna), Dussehra (the conquest of Good over Evil), Diwali (marking the return of Shri Ram Chandra after 14 years’ exile), Holi (height of winter), Baisakhi (the end of the harvest season), Basant (the advent of spring) and many other religious and seasonal festivals.

The Muslims celebrate a number of Ids and Muharram. The Sikhs celebrate Gurpurab, Baisakhi, etc. Most of the festivals are thus religious in character. They are associated with the memory of great saints Prophets and heroes. As said above we have seasonal festivals like Holi and Lohri. In the same way, Onam and Pongal, the harvest festivals, are celebrated in Southern India.

Dussehra and Diwali are famous Hindu festivals. Dussehra marks the victory of Good over Evil. Ram Lila is staged ten days before Dussehra On the last day, effigies of the wicked king Ravana, his brother Kumbhkaran and his son Meghnad are burnt in all the cities and towns of Northern India.

Diwali is celebrated in the memory of Shri Rama’s return to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. On this day there are merry making and happy festival all around. People take sweets and explode crackers, etc. They send the Diwali gifts and greetings to friends and relatives.

Holi is the festival of colours. People throw coloured water on one another. Basant marks the end of winter and setting in of spring. People wear yellow turbans and take yellow Halwa and rice.

Onam is also a seasonal festival which is celebrated mainly in Kerala. It marks the harvesting of the first paddy. Pongal is celebrated mainly in Madras and Andhra. Cows and bullocks are offered rice cooked with dal The chief Christian festivals are Easter and Christmas. Baisakhi marks the birthday of the Khalsa Panth.

In Addition to the above, we have cattle shows, trade and business melas , industrial fairs, etc., which are celebrated with as much pomp and show as any other festival.

Festivals are an occasion of joy and fun. The rich and the poor, the young and the old, men, women and children, particularly, eagerly look forward to them. Preparations are made in advance to celebrate them. Students await them because they have holidays on festival days.

Festivals come to break the dullness of our routine life. We have a welcome change from the daily routine. Many days before a festival, people give orders for sweets, new clothes, etc.

On festivals, people give charity to the poor. Beggars receive alms in cash and in kind. They get money, clothes, rations, sweets and what not. The houses are cleaned and white-washed on the occasion.

The streets and bazaars are decorated with lights, flags, buntings, pictures, etc. Huge processions with singing dancing, the beating of drums, merry-making etc., are taken out on the eve of a festival.

In short, India is noted for her numberless fairs and festivals. They bring about a change our dull daily routine and make life pleasant, bright and cheerful. But, even on such happy occasions some people drink and gamble. Eve-teasing becomes common. The police should deal severely with the Goondas.

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Essay On Festivals Of India – 10 Lines, Short And Long Essay For Children

Key Points To Remember When Writing An Essay On Festivals Of India For Lower Primary Classes

10 lines on indian festivals for kids, short essay on festivals of india in english for children, long essay on festivals of india for kids, what will your child learn from the essay on festivals of india.

Festivals are a great time to celebrate life and break its monotony. Kids can gain a great amount of knowledge by writing a festival of India essay for classes 1, 2 and 3. Festivals bring families and people together to celebrate the unique traditions of cultures. India is one such place that is rich with many cultures and religions. It is the land of festivals and fairs, and every occasion is celebrated with lots of zeal and enthusiasm. India is culturally diverse, which means it homes many different cultures.

There are lots of festivals across religions, states, and communities. So, you will find celebrations happening around the country every few days. Let us write an Indian festival essay in English to make kids understand the value of festivals.

Our kids need to understand the significance of festivals as it will make them respect our country’s rich culture and heritage. Check out some key points to keep in mind while understanding how to write an essay on festivals of India for children.

• Divide the essay into three parts- introduction, body, and conclusion.
• The introduction should talk about the importance of festivals in our country.
• The body should include different types of festivals and their significance.
• The conclusion should include the beauty of festivals and the joy they bring to our lives.
• You can include quotes and lines about festivals.

Festivals are joyous occasions that all kids love as it is a time when they get lots of gifts and sweets. But let us also make them understand the importance of festivals in simple words by making them write a short essay for class 1 and 2.

• Festivals are an integral part of India’s culture.
• Each festival has its significance.
• Every festival has great legends or stories behind them.
• People of all communities celebrate these auspicious days.
• Festivals bring happiness and unity among families and communities.
• Everyone distributes sweets and wishes for the growth and success of all.
• Every religion respects each other’s festivals and celebrates together in harmony.
• There are various types of festivals like national, religious, and seasonal.
• Most of the festivals are declared as a holiday in the country.
• Festivals are a celebration of faith, goodness, and a bright future.

Writing essays is a fun way of learning for kids. It improves their writing skills while giving them appropriate knowledge about a topic.

Festivals are a happy time for families and people of the country. India is a country that celebrates many festivals every year. Every festival has an important significance in the culture and history. Festivals are a way to bring people together and celebrate goodness and unity. It is a way for us to show gratitude for everything we have. It gives a feeling of satisfaction and love towards everything.

There are many different festivals in India, and they can be categorised as national, religious, and seasonal festivals. National festivals are Independence Day, Republic Day, and Gandhi Jayanti. They make us celebrate our pride for our nation. Religious festivals are celebrated by people following different faiths. Hindus celebrate Diwali, Muslims celebrate Eid, Christians celebrate Christmas, Sikhs celebrate Guru Nanak Jayanti, etc. These festivals restore our faith in one supreme power. Seasonal festivals are celebrated to mark the onset of different seasons, like Basant Panchami in spring, Teej in monsoon, etc.

Every festival is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm and happiness, and it brings positivity and unity among people of different religions and ethnicities. Celebrating festivals together promotes peace and harmony in society, bringing people closer to each other.

Kids are familiar with the perks of festivals like gifts and sweets. But they should also realise the significance of all the religions as it will make them grow closer to their family and friends too. Here is an essay that simplifies the composition on festivals for them.

India is a land of different religions, and there are various festivals all around the world to celebrate. Each festival has its significance, but the best thing about festivals is that they bring people together. They promote peace and harmony among people from different religions. They bring happiness and joy to people. Festivals are the most happening time in the country. People go out with family and friends. They clean their houses, go shopping, lighten up their homes and pray to God for immense happiness. Festivals are a way to thank the Almighty for everything He has given to us.

Different Types Of Indian Festivals

There are many different types of festivals celebrated in India. Some are celebrated in regions, while some are nationwide. But all the festivals are enjoyed with the same zeal and enthusiasm by people from different backgrounds.

Religious Festivals 

Religious festivals are those festivals that are celebrated by people of a particular religion. People from all over the world celebrate these festivals. These festivals have some religious legends behind their celebration. For example, the Hindu festival Diwali is celebrated to commemorate the homecoming of Lord Ram after 14 years of exile in forests, and it is also hailed as the victory of good over evil. Muslims celebrate Eid after completing fasts during the holy month called Ramzan. Christians celebrate Christmas every year to celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus. Sikhs celebrate Guru Nanak Jayanti every year to commemorate the birth of the first Sikh Guru.

National Festivals 

National festivals are those festivals that have great significance in the history of the country. These are national holidays. On 15th August, we celebrate Independence Day to pay tribute to our freedom fighters. Republic Day is celebrated to honour our constitution and the spirit of free India. On both these occasions, our National Flag is hoisted at every government building, school, college, and many more places. They inculcate a sense of responsibility and patriotism.

Seasonal Festivals 

Seasonal festivals are celebrated by people of different regions of our country to mark an important day. For example, Basant Panchami is celebrated in the northern part of India to celebrate the arrival of the spring season. Teej and Gangaur are celebrated by the people of Rajasthan in the monsoon. Bihu is celebrated by the people of Assam to celebrate a good harvest. Pongal is celebrated in the southern states of the country for the good yield of paddy fields.

Festivals mark a new beginning in our lives. They bring happiness and joy to our lives. It gives us opportunity to enjoy with our families, friends, and loved ones. India has a myriad of beautiful cultures, traditions, and heritage. This is what makes our beautiful country different from others. People from different religions and ethnicities coexist together in peace and harmony.

As they say, “Kids learn everything from their elders”. It is important for us to show our kids how festivals are important. It keeps them rooted in the values and traditions of their country and religion, and it brings a sense of responsibility and happiness to kids. Teaching your kids about respecting each other’s festivals and culture helps them grow closer to people of different ethnicities and religions. By writing Indian festival composition, your kid will feel more connected to these celebrations and enjoy them fully when they come every year.

It is not only important for kids to learn about festivals in our country, but it is also important for us to celebrate every festival with the same enthusiasm. India is a beautiful country with so much enriched culture. We are one of the countries with the most religious diversity; we are home to many religions. This fact should bring a feeling of pride in ourselves.

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• Paragraph Writing
• Paragraph On Festival

Paragraph on Festival - Check Samples for 100, 150, 200, 250 Words

India is known to be a beautiful country with various religions and cultures. India celebrates various types of festivals throughout the year. These festivals fall at regular intervals on the calendar, breaking the monotony of life. From these busy lives, they give us some time to live and enjoy the moments of our life. Celebrating festivals brings us joy and happiness. We create memories and life with those throughout our lives.

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Paragraph on festival in 100 words, paragraph on festival in 150 words, paragraph on festival in 200 words, paragraph on festival in 250 words, frequently asked questions on festivals paragraph.

Writing a paragraph on festivals? Refer to the samples provided below to get an idea about the same.

India is a vast country with various religions and various cultural practices. People with different cultural beliefs stay together in harmony. They celebrate festivals together and share love and respect with each other. Some major festivals celebrated in India are Holi, Diwali, Dussehra, Eid, Christmas, etc. The festivals can be national or religious. Some national festivals are Independence day, Republic day, Gandhi Jayanti, etc. The national festivals are celebrated together as a nation. These festivals reflect the love for the nation and share love and respect for each other. We also pay tribute to the nation and the heroes of our nation.

India is a vast country with people of various religions and cultures. Therefore, India celebrates many festivals throughout the year. The people of India celebrate all the festivals with love, care and dedication and enjoy each moment of the festival with enthusiasm.

Festivals are of two types – national festivals and regional festivals. National festivals may include Independence Day, Republic Day, Gandhi Jayanti, etc., and religious festivals include Holi, Diwali, Dussehra, Christmas, Easter, Eid, Pongal, Onam, Guru Nanak Jayanti, etc. This culture of celebrating various festivals shows the unity that underlies the rich cultural and religious diversity of India. Celebrating festivals with family and friends brings us happiness and joy. Children wait with a lot of eagerness for the festivals so that they get new clothes, eat various kinds of food, etc. Each festival is celebrated as per their ritual and with a lot of dedication. Festivals bring us together to share love, respect and care for each other.

India is a land of various religions and cultures, which teach us to live in harmony with everyone. Every festival celebrates brotherhood. Every religion has its own culture and religious beliefs. Celebrating festivals together with family and friends is a moment of joy and happiness. We forget the enmity and hatred and only remember the love and respect we have for each other. India celebrates more than thirty festivals every year. There are various national and religious festivals throughout the year, like Onam, Pongal, Holi, Dussehra, Rath Yatra, Christmas, Eid, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Gandhi Jayanti, Independence Day, Republic Day, etc. Every festival is celebrated as per its culture and religious practices with a lot of enthusiasm. Celebrating these festivals shows the unity that binds the people of India together. These celebrations commemorate our forefathers’ noble actions as well as the triumph of virtue over evil. Children wait for the festivals with a lot of eagerness and enthusiasm. People share various kinds of food and wear new dresses to celebrate the festivals. National festivals are celebrated among the people of the country, irrespective of any social denomination. These festivals are celebrated to pay tribute to the heroes of the country and to remind us of the rich and exceptional history of our country.

India is known for its rich cultural heritage. It is a diverse country with people of various religions and various cultural beliefs. People of different religions practise different cultures and traditions. Every event is dedicated to the celebration of brotherhood. Every religion has its own religious beliefs and customs. Celebrating festivals with family and friends is a joyous occasion that brings us all closer together. We forget about the hatred and enmity and just remember the love and respect we have for one other. Every year, India celebrates over thirty festivals to spread love and pleasure. Before every festival, people start their preparations a few days earlier. They go shopping, buy new dresses, various ingredients for making various food items, etc. In various cultures, people draw rangolis, decorate their houses with flowers and also whitewash their houses to bring peace and positivity. We celebrate Onam, Pongal, Holi, Dussehra, Rath Yatra, Christmas, Eid, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Gandhi Jayanti, Independence Day, Republic Day, and other national and religious festivals throughout the year. Every holiday is enthusiastically celebrated in accordance with its culture and religious beliefs. The celebration of these festivals demonstrates the solidarity of the people. Our forebears’ achievements, as well as the triumph of virtue over evil, are commemorated in these ceremonies. Festivals elicit a great deal of excitement and anticipation among children. To commemorate the festivities, people share a variety of dishes and don new outfits. National festivals are observed by all citizens of the country, regardless of religion or caste. These are commemorated to honour the country’s heroes and to pay tribute to the nation.

Why are festivals important to us?

Festivals are celebrated to break the monotony of life. We celebrate festivals to maintain our culture and religious beliefs. they are also a chance for family and friends to get together and share love and joy.

How to write a paragraph on festivals?

To write a paragraph on festivals, you can write about the major role that festivals play in everyone’s life. You can also write about the various types of festivals celebrated in the country.

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Essay on Religious Festivals of India

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Since religion dominates the life of individuals, religious festivals have dominated the cultural life of the people. We can draw a long list of religious festivals associated with various gods and goddesses, regions and traditions. These include festivals such as Holi, Dashehra, Diwali, Christmas, Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Zuha, Gur Parab, etc .

Holi, the festival of colours, is celebrated in the Phalguna (February/March) month of the Indian calendar. It marks the end of the Lunar year’s end. This is the end of the cold season and the start of the hot season.

Dashehra or Vijayadashami is one of India largest festivals. This marks the culmination of the Navaratra (nine nights) and is observed on the tenth day. Depending on where one lives in India, Navaratra emphasizes Durga Puja or Ramalila, and sometimes the celebration of both. Durga Puja focuses on the worship of the goddess Durga and her victory of the buffalo demon Mahishasura. Ramalila is presented as the drama celebrating Rama’s exploits in the epic Ramayana. The climax on Dashehra depicts Rama’s victory over Ravana. This symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. Dashehra often ends with the torching of huge Ravana effigies. Ramalila is very fast emerging as the national drama of India.

Diwali, the festival of light, comes in the month of Kartik (October/November). This is celebrated on the new moon day (amavasya). Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is worshipped on this day. This festival is associated with the cleanliness and lightening of homes, and fireworks.

Ramzan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Muharram, Bakr-Eid, Urs

The festivals of Muslims such as Ramzan (Ramadan), Eid-ul-Fitr, Muharram, Bakr-Eid (the Feast of Sacrifice), etc. are celebrated according to Muslim calendar. The ritual year begins with the month of Muharram. This marks the practice of Muharram festival that commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein venerated by Shia Muslims, as the third Imam (leader) of Islam after the Prophet Muhammad. On this occasion, a large procession with Tazia is taken out. The participants cry out Hussein’s name. Some devotees even torture themselves with knives, leashes and chains etc. to feel Hussein’s travail. A small fair is organised. In late afternoon, the Tazia is buried.

The Prophet’s birthday is celebrated in the month of Ramzan (Ramadan). The fast of Ramzan lasts the entire month. Everyone except the very young or infirm observe fast between dawn and sunset. The last day of the fast ends with the sighting of the moon, which marks Eid- ul-Fitr. On this day, besides observing the fast, alms is given to poor and sweets are distributed. The end of Ramzan is also the time of departure for Muslims for the Haj or the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Bakr-Eid or the Feast of sacrifice celebrates Abraham’s sacrifice of his son. The goats (bakr or bakra) are sacrificed on this day and meat is shared with friends and the poor.

Urs or the “death anniversary” is an important aspect of the religious faith of the Muslims. These are organised as festivals and pilgrims visit the tombs of saints. Committees are formed to organise Urs. On the anniversary day, the shrine is bathed and the tomb of the saint is decorated. The committee plans readings from the Quran, traditional song sessions, food distributions, and poetry readings. The biggest Urs in India is at the Ajmer shrine of the saint Muin-ud-din Chisti. It is visited by thousand of pilgrims and a big fair is organised.

In Christianity too we have many religious festivals and ceremonies. The popular Christian celebration is that of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Christmas. The name is English in origin, which means “Christ’s Mass” or the mass celebrating the feast of Christ’s nativity. It is observed every year on 25th December. In this, the children wait for the legendary Santa Claus, the popular gift bringer. Other customs of the Christmas season includes the baking of special foods and singing of special songs called carols, which have mass appeal.

Easter is the most important of all Christian feasts. It celebrates the passion, the death, and especially the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. Easter was fundamentally a nocturnal feast preceded by a fast of at least one day. The celebration took place from Saturday evening until the early morning hours of Sunday. The symbolism of light became a significant feature of this festival. In Northern Europe the use of special lights at Easter coincided with the custom of lighting bonfires on hilltops to celebrate the coming of spring. The main Easter foods include the Easter lamb, which is in many places the main dish of the Easter Sunday meal. Ham is also popular among the Europeans and Americans on the occasion of Easter. This is because the pig was considered a symbol of luck in pre-Christian European culture.

The Parsis (Zoroastrians) of India celebrate Nauroz (Nawruz) as their most popular festival. It is a festival of renewal, hope and happiness. The origins of Nauroz are obscure. According to legends, its institution is associated mostly with Jamshed, the mythical Iranian king. Nevertheless, till today it is observed as the Iranian national festival celebrating the arrival of spring. Zoroaster, the ancient prophet of Iran, probably reconsecrated Nauroz to his religion. Nauroz survived the advent of Islam and continued as the Iranian national festival. The Shia Muslims of Iran came to associate important religious events with Nauroz such as that the prophet Muhammad took his young son-in-law Ali on his shoulders to smash the idols at Mecca and he chose Ali as his rightful successor. The Muslim rulers of Iran, continuing the Sasanid tradition, celebrated this festival with pomp and show. The Parsis of India who left Iran in the 10th century in order to preserve their Zoroastrian faith also continue to celebrate Nauroz (Jamashedi Nauroz) as a major feast. The ceremonies include recitation of religious verses, visiting of relatives and friends, the exchange of gifts, organising music and dance, etc.

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Essay on Indian Festivals in English for Children and Students

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Essay on Indian Festivals: Festivals are significant days of celebration and excitement. They are commemorated by each religion to mark the most important occasions. India is a land of festivals. There are many national, religious and seasonal festivals celebrated throughout the year.

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Target Exam ---

There are festivals for every season and every occasion. The festivals are an expression of the joy of the people of India. They are a part of the rich cultural heritage of India. They bring people together and bind them in a common bond of brotherhood and sisterhood. They create a sense of unity and solidarity among the people.

People of India love their festivals and celebrate even the less significant ones with enthusiasm. India is a land of different religions and cultures; hence, every religion has its own festivals and customs. Despite the diversity, every festival is celebrated together by the people of various faiths and beliefs. Festivals of India reflect the rich cultural heritage of its people; their faith in each other’s religious beliefs; mutual harmony among the people of India and their love for the nation and its heritage.

Long and Short Essay on Indian Festivals in English

Here we are giving essay on Indian Festivals of varying lengths to help you with the topic in your exam.

You can select any essay on Indian Festivals as per your need in your school’s essay writing competition, debate or speech giving.

After reading the essay on Indian Festivals you will get a close idea of the festivals of India and their significance for the people of India.

You will also know that how the festivals are a way of keeping centuries old traditions and beliefs alive among the masses.

Short Essay on Indian Festivals 200 words

Indians give special importance to their festivals. Special arrangements are made for the celebration of various festivals each year. Be it the villages or the big cities there is joy all around. All the places are decked up during the festival season. Some of the main Indian festivals include Diwali, Holi, Raksha Bandhan, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja, Dussehra, Pongal and Bhai Duj.

Festivals hold a special place in our country’s customs and traditions. They serve as a way to show respect to the gods and goddesses and bring about a sense of peace and joy. India is a diverse nation, with people from various religions and cultures coming together as one.

People in our country love celebrating the festivals with their near and dear ones. Each Indian festival has its own unique way of celebration and people follow the tradition while celebrating the same. However, some things remain common for instance people decorate their houses with flowers and lights during the festivals and wear new clothes. They visit each other and exchange gifts. Special sweets are prepared at home to treat the guests.

People of India also hold great regard for the National festivals of the country. Gandhi Jayanti, Independence Day and Republic Day are the three national festivals of our country. These festivals are a symbol of unity and progress. They remind us of our patriotic leaders who served the country selflessly. National festivals are celebrated with equal zeal. The entire atmosphere is filled with the feeling of patriotism during these festivals.

All in all, Indians celebrate both religious and National festivals with great enthusiasm. Children as well as elders look forward to the festive celebrations.

Essay on Indian Festivals 300 words

In India festival time is awaited all year round particularly by the students. They look forward to the festivals owing to various reasons. One of the main reasons for this is that the schools and colleges are closed during the festivals and this offers a respite from the mundane routine and strict study schedule. Students also love festivals as it is time to meet their cousins and relatives who bestow them with gifts. Besides, they get to eat a lot of delicious sweets and wear new dresses.

Celebrations in Schools/Colleges

Festivals in India are not only celebrated at home with family but are also celebrated in schools and colleges. The educational institutes are decked up with flowers, lights, beautiful posters and colourful drapes during festivals. Students are asked to come in ethnic wear to add to the colour of the festivals.

The usual classroom sessions are replaced by fun activities on these days. Cultural programs and other interesting activities form a part of the festive celebrations in schools and colleges. Students as well as teachers participate in these activities whole heartedly and the entire atmosphere is filled with joy and laughter.

These celebrations are usually done a day before the festival as it is a holiday on the day of the festival.

Understanding the Cultural Roots

Indian festivals are a reflection of the culture of the country. The celebrations held on the festivals acquaint the students with the culture and tradition of our country. Each festival has a religious connotation and a tradition attached to it. Festival time is a great opportunity to make the students understand about the cultural roots of our country and help them connect with it.

Indian festivals are thus important for the students in more than one way. These are a great way to bond with the near and dear ones and also to know about the country’s rich cultural past.

Long Essay on Indian Festivals 400 words

Indians give special importance to their festivals. Be it regional festivals or national festivals – all the festivals in our country are celebrated with love and joy. There is holiday in schools, colleges and offices on most of these festivals.

Religious Connotation Renders Importance to Festivals

The importance of festivals in India can very well be seen in the way these are celebrated. People do not only celebrate festivals at home but also visit their near and dear ones to celebrate them together. The celebrations are also done in schools and workplaces. Our culture holds high regard for religious practices. People in India are mostly God fearing.

Since, the Indian festivals have certain religious connotations attached to them, Indians celebrate these with all their heart to please their deities and bring in positivity and happiness in their life. For instance, Diwali is celebrated to celebrate Lord Rama’s return to his home town, Ayodhya. Janamashtmi celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, Durga Puja is celebrated to offer prayers to Goddess Durga and her various avtars and Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated to offer prayers to Lord Ganesh.

Festival Time is Considered Auspicious

Festival time is considered to be auspicious as per the Hindu religion. This is another reason why people give so much importance to this time. They wait for this time to start anything new in life so as to begin on a good note. For instance, people believe moving to new house during Navratri or on the occasion of Diwali brings in good luck, similarly joining a new job during the Ganesh festival or on Makar Sankranti can prove to be good for them.

Similarly, many other festivals such as Baisakhi, Guru Purnima, Pongal, Maha Shivratri, Rama Navami, Basant Panchami and Akshaya Tritiya are considered highly auspicious and are specially awaited to begin with something new such as buying a new shop, starting a business, signing a big business deal, fixing wedding date, etc.

National Festivals are Equally Important

Our national festivals especially Independence Day reminds us of the struggle and sacrifice that our people went through to gain independence. All three national festivals of India are given special importance. The whole country gets immersed in patriotism during this time. These festivals are celebrated in full swing across the country. These are a way to pay respect to our brave patriotic leaders.

Thus, festivals hold high importance for Indians. Whether they live in India or abroad, Indians give special importance to their festivals and celebrate them with joy and happiness.

Essay on Indian Festivals 500 words

India is often called the land of festivals because of the numerous colourful and joyous festivals celebrated here. People belonging to different castes, culture and tradition reside in different parts of our country. Each religion has its set of festivals based on its religious beliefs.

The people belonging to the south have their own festivals; people from the north give importance to some other festivals while those living in the East celebrate some other festivals. However, there are certain festivals that are celebrated throughout the country with equal enthusiasm. Some such festivals include Diwali, Holi and Raksha Bandhan.

Main Festivals of India

The main festivals of India are the ones that people belonging to all the religions and regions in our country look forward to and celebrate with great fervour. Here are some of these festivals:

Diwali is one of the main festivals of our country. People celebrate it with great joy and enthusiasm. The preparation for its celebration begins almost a month before the festival. People clean their houses and shop for decorative items to deck up their place. The houses are decorated with lights, candles and diyas. People make rangolis, worship Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha and burn fire crackers to celebrate this festival. The entire country lights up on this day.

Holi is the festival of colour. It is one of the most fun-filled Indian festivals. Though it has a religious connotation to it, the whole purpose on this day is to have fun and let lose. People apply colour on each other and eat sweets. This festival is celebrated collectively in housing societies and residential colonies.

People gather around to colour each other and throw water on one another as a part of Holi celebration. Loud music is played at most places and people groove to the beats of foot tapping songs as they enjoy this festival. At some places, people even beat each other with sticks and throw mud on each other as a tradition.

• Raksha Bandhan

Raksha Bandhan is yet another Indian festival which is celebrated all across the country. This festival is celebrated to strengthen the brother-sister bond. Sisters visit their brothers on this day and tie rakhi on their wrist. The brothers in turn promise to protect their sisters and be there for them in the hour of need. This is followed by exchange of sweets. The brothers also bring special gifts for their sisters on this day. Those who cannot visit each other send rakhi and gifts via post.

This is indeed a beautiful tradition which is being followed since ages. There are many mythological stories behind the celebration of Raksha Bandhan. This is not only a time for the brothers and sisters to bond but is also a time to strengthen the familial ties. The celebration takes place early in the morning and it is followed by family brunch.

Ganesh Chaturthi, Janamashtmi, Navratri, Eid Ul Fitr, Baisakhi, Onam, Pongal, Bihu, Gurupurab, Navratri, Guru Purnima, Ram Navami, Vasant Panchami, Durga Puja, Chhath and Dussehra are among some of the other festivals that are celebrated with immense zeal in different parts of India with some of these being specific to a particular region. No wonder, our country is called a land of festivals.

Long Essay on Indian Festivals 600 words

Indian festivals are based on religious beliefs. Indians worship various Gods and Goddesses and the various festivals they celebrate are dedicated to one deity or the other. These festivals are a way to offer prayers to the deities and seek their blessings to bring in happiness, prosperity and love.

Indian Festivals Based on Religious Beliefs

Here are some of the Indian festivals and the religious beliefs attached to them:

It is believed that it was the day when Lord Rama killed Ravana to free Sita from his clutches. It marks the victory of the good over the evil. Huge effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkaran and Meghnath are burned in different parts of the country on this day to celebrate the occasion.

Diwali or Deepawali is said to be the day when Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman after an exile of 14 years. The entire town was lit with diyas to welcome them. The occasion is celebrated until today. Each year, people clean their houses and deck them up with lights, diyas and candles to celebrate the return of Lord Rama.

Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi are worshipped during the evening hours on this day as it is believed that this brings in prosperity and good luck.

The auspicious nine days of Navratras are dedicated to Goddess Durga. It is said that Goddess Durga was created jointly by Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and was bestowed with power by all these Gods to render strength to her. She was created to kill demon Mahishasura who had been killing innocent people. Goddess Durga fought with him for nine days and beheaded him on the tenth day. This again was the battle between the good and evil and it was the good that emerged victorious.

People observe fast during navratras and worship different avatars of Goddess Durga each day to seek her blessings.

• Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated to rejoice the birth day of Lord Ganesha. The festivities continue for ten days. It is believed that Lord Ganesha comes to Earth during these days every year and spreads joy everywhere. His devotees believe that whoever worships Lord Ganesha during these days is freed from all the problems and negativity in life.

Idols of Lord Ganesha are brought home and prayers are sung in his praise every day. These idols are then immersed in river on the last day of the pooja.

• Makar Sankranti

Makar Sankranti is another major Hindu festival. It is known by different names in different parts of the country. In Assam it is known by the name Bihu, in Tamil Nadu it is referred to as Pongal, in Gujarat it is called Uttarayan and in Bengal it is known as Poush Parbon. The day is extremely auspicious for the Hindus. It is believed that taking holy dip in the sacred river Ganga on this day can help get rid of all the bad deeds and cleanses ones aura.

• Karva Chauth

This is mostly celebrated in North India. On this day, women observe fast for the long life of their husbands. It is believed that fasting on this day pleases God who renders good health and long life to the husbands. Women don’t eat or drink anything during the day. They dress up traditionally during the evening and perform pooja. They have food and water only after seeing the moon at night.

Similarly, Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated to commemorate the birthday of Lord Krishna, Maha Shivratri is celebrated to offer prayers to Lord Shiva and Gurpurab is celebrated to rejoice the birth of Guru Nanak Dev, the first Sikh guru.

Apart from the National festivals of India, all the other festivals have some religious beliefs tied to them. On these festivals, people offer prayers to their deities, wear ethnic clothes and make merry with their near and dear ones.

Essay on Indian Festivals FAQs

How can i write an essay on festivals of india.

To write an essay on festivals of India, begin by choosing a specific festival, research its significance, traditions, and cultural impact, then organize your thoughts into an introduction, body, and conclusion.

What is a festival essay?

A festival essay is a written piece that discusses the importance, customs, and celebrations of a particular festival, often focusing on cultural and social aspects.

What is festival in 50 words?

A festival is a special occasion or event celebrated by a group of people, often characterized by joy, rituals, and a sense of togetherness.

What is festival essay in English?

A festival essay in English is a composition that explores the customs, significance, and celebrations of a particular festival in the English language.

What is festival in simple words?

In simple words, a festival is a special, happy occasion when people come together to celebrate and enjoy traditions, often involving feasting, music, and cultural activities.

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Essay on Indian Festivals

A diverse range of festivals is celebrated in India. Every festival has its own importance and is filled with a lot of fun and entertainment. People who are busy most of the time in working or businesses find the festivals as a break to spend a beautiful time with their family members. The females and children are most excited before the arrival of the festivals. They indulge themselves mostly in shopping activities and are busy buying new clothes and other essentials for the festival.

Short and Long Essay on Indian Festivals in English

The long essay provided below will enlighten you in detail about the topic. It might be helpful to the students of classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10,11,12, and graduates to write essays, projects, or assignments.

Indian Festivals Essay 10 Lines (100 – 150 Words)

1) People in India celebrate many festivals together with great joy and happiness.

2) Each festival has a different significance and varies in the method of celebration.

3) National, Religious, and seasonal are the three main categories of festivals in India.

4) The national festivals celebrated in India are Independence Day, Republic Day, and Gandhi Jayanti.

5) Holi, Diwali, Dussehra, etc are religious festivals mainly celebrated by Hindus.

6) Some famous religious festivals celebrated by Muslims are Eid-ul-Fitr, Muharram, etc.

7) Christians celebrate Christmas, Easter, etc as their main festival.

8) People of different regions celebrate seasonal festivals like Chhath, Vasant Panchami, etc.

9) As agriculture is the main occupation in India, people also observe different harvest festivals.

10) Other festivals of India include Pongal, Bihu, Shivratri, Janmashtami, Gurpurab, Lohri, etc.

Short Essay on Indian Festivals (250 words)

Festivals are the major source of enjoyment and relaxation for people in any of the nations in the world. This is the prime time when people love to celebrate with their family and close ones. Every country in the world celebrates different types of festivals according to its culture and beliefs.

India is a nation that is populated by people following different cultures and customs. There are a variety of Indian festivals that is celebrated by the people in different parts of the nation. Every festival celebrated by the people has a significant reason behind its celebration.

The Diversity of Indian Festivals

India is a country where people celebrate a large number of festivals. There might be no month in a year in which there is no festival. It is not surprising that there are hundreds of festivals celebrated in this nation. It is because of the rich diversity of people living in the nation.

Indian festivals celebrated by the people in the nation have been divided into three categories.

• National Festivals – These are the festivals that are celebrated to memorize the national events, our great leaders, and the contribution of freedom fighters to the nation. It fills the people of the nation with patriotism and love. Example – Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti, and Republic day.

• Religious Festivals – These festivals are celebrated by the people of different religions. These festivals have a religious significance behind its celebration. Example – Diwali, Holi, Eid, Christmas, etc.

• Seasonal Festivals – These festivals are celebrated according to different seasons in India. Example – Pongal, Bihu, Basant Panchami, etc.

Festivals are celebrated by the people of India with great enthusiasm and joy. It brings happiness and love among the people in the nation. Festivals also promote unity and peace among the people in the society. It teaches us to live and celebrate together.

Long Essay on What are Different Types of Indian Festivals (500 – 600 Words)

Introduction

India is the country of festivals. There are different types of festivals celebrated throughout the nation during the whole year. The country harvests a rich religious diversity. The people of different religions have different festivals. They celebrate these festivals in their own way.

Categories of Indian Festivals

In India, we observe the celebration of different types of festivals. There are many festivals that are confined to an area whereas some are celebrated nationally. Therefore it can be grouped under three categories which are enlisted below.

Religious Festivals – As the name itself sounds, it is related to a particular region. Examples are: Holi Diwali, Dussehra, Raksha Bandhan, and Janmashtami are the biggest festivals of Hindus. Eid-ul-Fitr, Barawafat, Muharram, etc are some of the festivals of Muslims. Christmas, Easter, Good Friday are festivals of Christians. Some of the religious festivals are explained below:

• Diwali – It is also known as the festival of lights. It is one of the greatest festivals of Hindus. The festival is said to be celebrated as on this day Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman after completing the exile period of 14 years. He also killed Ravana and freed Sita from his clutches. This festival is celebrated to welcome Lord Ram back to his kingdom. Diyas and candles are lighted to remove darkness and ignorance. People of all religions celebrate this festival with great excitement and joy.
• Christmas – This is one of the biggest festivals of Christians celebrated to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. People decorate Christmas trees and offer prayers in churches and exchange gifts and wishes with each other. The Santa clause gives gifts to the children on the occasion of this festival.
• Eid-ul-Fitr – This is one of the biggest festivals of Muslims. it is celebrated after completing the fasting of the holy month of Ramzaan. People offer prayers and exchange wishes and greetings. Different kinds of lavish dishes are prepared on this occasion.

National Festivals – The national festivals are celebrated to owe our gratitude and respect to the great personalities and freedom fighters of the nation.

• Gandhi Jayanti – It is celebrated on2nd October each year to celebrate the birth ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi. There are speeches and programs organized in different institutions and colleges in the memory of our father of the nation.
• Independence Day – The day is celebrated to pay our tribute and honour to our great freedom fighters. The national flag is hoisted in New Delhi by our Prime minister every year. There are different programs conducted to mark the significance of the day.
• Republic Day – This day is also celebrated by hoisting our national flag. The constitution of India came into effect on this day only i.e. 26 th of January 1950.

Seasonal Festivals – These festivals are celebrated by the people of different regions of the nation. Some of them are enlisted below:

• Vasant Panchmi – This festival is celebrated in the northern parts of India which marks the onset of spring season. Goddess Saraswati considered being the goddess of knowledge and wisdom is worshiped on this day. People wear yellow colored clothes and yellow dishes are prepared.
• Bihu – It is celebrated by the people of Assam. They offer prayer to god for the good harvest of the crops and therefore a good yield. The dance Bihu is of major concern and it is performed in different ways.
• Pongal – This festival is celebrated by the south-Indian people on the 14th of January. The festival is celebrated on the harvest of the rice crop and therefore a sweet dish with rice, sugar, and milk is prepared and offered to god.
• Chhath – This is the festival which is celebrated by the people of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh. The most fascinating facet of this festival is that along with saluting the rising sun people salute the setting sun. People worship God Surya and his wife Usha on this day.

The enriched culture of India is shown by the festivals. The number of festivals celebrated in India is the largest in the whole world. Every festival is celebrated with great excitement and joy.

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

Ans . It is the celebration of an event by the community or people with great happiness and joy.

Ans . Festival teaches us to love everyone and live with peace and harmony. It keeps us connected with our culture and traditions.

Ans . The rich diversity of India with people belonging to different religious backgrounds, sentiments, and cultures celebrate a variety of festivals which make India a land of festivals.

Ans . Yes, most of them represent the rich culture and tradition of India.

Ans . There are numerous religious, national, and seasonal festivals celebrated in India.

Ans . The regional festival Onam celebrated in Kerala is famous for boat racing events.

Related information:

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Tips to answer multiple-choice, short-answer, and essay-type questions in exams

E xams are a stressful affair and they require smart strategies and techniques to excel. While in-depth learning is crucial, different types of questions demand specific strategies and approaches for solving.

Exams may appear in several formats including multiple choice questions, short answers and essays, each requiring different techniques of answering.

Below is a comprehensive guide to solving exams with different types of question patterns:

TIPS TO ANSWER MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

• The first and foremost thing to do is to read the questions properly. Often, students miss out on important details due to a lack of focus. Paying attention to each and every piece of information and reading with attention is crucial.
• After reading the question, try to predict the answer without referring to the given options. This increases your chances of selecting the correct answer through educated guessing.
• Using the process of elimination can do wonders. In this method, you eliminate the options you believe are incorrect. This narrows down your choices and aids in identifying the correct response.
• Paying attention to words such as 'always,' 'never,' 'sometimes,' 'most,' 'only,' 'many,' 'but,' and 'often' can help us better understand the sentence. These words tend to alter the meaning of the sentence and hence should be paid attention to and read properly.
•  Understanding concepts thoroughly enables you to grasp the context of questions accurately and answer them correctly.

TIPS TO ANSWER SHORT QUESTIONS

• Read the question properly and comprehend it well. Understand whether you need to give a definition, provide examples, write a brief summary or offer comparisons.
• Write the answer to the point, avoiding unnecessary explanations and using keywords. This increases your chances of scoring higher.
• Use simple language and avoid complex terms, as they can confuse the examiner. The simpler your answer, the higher your score.
• Write your answers in a logical and organised manner. Structure your answers with separate paragraphs, bullet points, flowcharts, tables, etc., as this makes it easier for the examiner to read and understand your answer.
• During the preparatory phase, use colourful pens, flashcards, charts, and drawings to learn concepts well. This method helps in recollecting the answers during exams.
• Indulge in self-testing methods by practicing sample question papers, demo tests, and solving previous year question papers to understand the probable questions and the exam pattern.
• Having a time management strategy in place is important. Allocate time for different types of questions and try to solve them within the given time frame.

TIPS TO WRITE ESSAYS

• Understand the topic well and follow the instructions.
• Brainstorm ideas on the topic and plan the points you intend to include.
• Begin with an informative yet concise introduction, followed by a detailed body and a conclusion that summarizes your essay.
• Ensure the essay is well-structured and divided into a minimum of 3-4 paragraphs.
• Use quotations and examples to support the information you have written.
• Adhere to the specified time and word limits.
• Ensure your essay is written in simple and clear language.
• Always remember to proofread the essay to eliminate grammatical and spelling errors.
• Make reading a regular practice to enhance language proficiency and facilitate a smoother flow of thoughts.

By implementing such strategic approaches, you can efficiently answer your questions. It is important to study diligently and practice with sample papers.

During the exam, take the time to read the question paper properly during the allocated reading time and manage your time effectively.

- Article by Nischal Narayanam, mathematical child prodigy, winner of the National Child Award (Gold Medal), youngest double Guinness World Record holder in memory power, first Indian to win the World Memory Championship title, youngest CA, and Founder and Mentor at Nischals

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‘How to Have Sex,’ ‘Miller’s Girl’ and More Streaming Gems

Provocative debuts from two exciting new female filmmakers lead off this month’s roundup of recommendations from your subscription streaming services.

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By Jason Bailey

‘How to Have Sex’ (2024)

Stream it on Mubi.

The title is provocative, but this is no how-to manual; instead, the writer and director Molly Manning Walker tells a contemporary coming-of-age story that will reverberate with viewers of all ages and sexes. Her focus is on Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), a 16-year-old British girl on a post-exams holiday in Crete with her friends. They plan to party, drink and hook up, and the latter is of particular import to Tara, who is keen to lose her virginity — less out of desire or romanticism than to simply get it over with. Manning is a cinematographer making her feature directing debut, and she deftly uses compositions, color and sound to convey Tara’s isolation, desperation and disappointment. She gets a big assist from McKenna-Bruce, a charismatic and empathetic lead who can whisper, in a throwaway line or discreet gesture, everything you need to know about this young woman’s past and present.

‘Miller’s Girl’ (2024)

Stream it on Netflix .

The first-time writer and director Jade Halley Bartlett makes occasional rookie errors in this psychosexual drama. But she has a knack with actors, particularly Jenna Ortega, who plays the lead role of a brainy teen seductress with wit and verve. Bartlett photographs Ortega like a movie star, and she comes off like one; she has a particular way of chewing on a line of loaded dialogue, and she and Martin Freeman (as the creative writing professor whose professional interest becomes personal) create a specific, uneasy but undeniable chemistry that smooths over the script’s rougher stretches. The third-act turn into a 21st century “Oleanna” is effective, with Bartlett inventively intermingling her levels of fiction and cleanly visualizing the inevitable he said/she said conflicts. The moment when Ortega decisively takes the upper hand is screen acting of the highest order.

‘Men’ (2022)

Stream it on Max .

Alex Garland’s latest, “Civil War,” has struck up a fair amount of conversation for its provocative ideas. This is his bread and butter; he delights in using the conventions of genre filmmaking to reflect on the complexities and difficulties of the human condition. His previous film falls along the same lines, taking up the forever-topical subject of the power dynamic between men and women. Jessie Buckley (excellent as ever) stars as a young woman whose peaceful getaway at a country cottage turns into an unsettling exploration of misogyny; Rory Kinnear co-stars, in a clever bit of casting, as every man she encounters. It’s a rather unsubtle method of underscoring the ever-present threat of gendered violence, but these are not subtle themes — or times.

‘A Most Wanted Man’ (2014)

Stream it on Amazon Prime Video .

In one of his final performances, great Philip Seymour Hoffman is Günther Bachmann, the German intelligence officer at the center of this modest but affecting adaptation of John le Carré’s post-9/11 novel. The director Anton Corbijn, his visual style sharpened by years as an in-demand photographer, finds the right look and feel for this story of weary bureaucrats trying (and often failing) to navigate a shifting geopolitical landscape. The supporting cast (which includes Willem Dafoe, Rachel McAdams and Robin Wright) is first rate, but this is Hoffman’s aria, and he performs it with the grace and nuance that made him such a special actor.

‘Mr. Turner’ (2014)

Stream it on Hulu .

The biographical drama of the tortured artistic genius has become one of the most tiresome touchstones of contemporary cinema, but Mike Leigh does not make check-the-box movies, and this dramatization of the life of the British painter J.M.W. Turner eschews the shopworn biopic tropes. Instead, Leigh sees Turner as a pragmatic painter, blunt in his personal interactions but inspired in his work, and Leigh’s regular collaborator Timothy Spall plays his complexities and contradictions adroitly, while the cinematographer Dick Pope gives his process a breathtaking pulse.

‘The Dead Don’t Die’ (2019)

‘the dead don’t die’ | anatomy of a scene, jim jarmusch narrates a scene from his zombie comedy featuring bill murray, adam driver, chloë sevigny and carol kane..

This is Jim Jarmusch. I’m the writer and director of “The Dead Don’t Die.” This is a scene that takes place in the Centerville police station. It’s a three-cop town, Centerville. Bill Murray, the chief. Adam Driver and Chloë Sevigny play the other two officers. There are two parts to this scene. The first is Officer Peterson — Adam Driver — explaining to Chloë Sevigny’s character that there is, in fact, a zombie apocalypse. “It’s zombies.” “What are you saying?” “Well, it’s the undead. They’ve been reanimated, caused by the Earth having been pulled off its axis, caused by the polar fracking.” And the second part of the scene is dealing with one of the undead who comes to life, played by Carol Kane. Her name is Mallory O’Brien and was known as the town drunk. - [screams] These undead in our film have a kind of vestigial memory for one thing that they were sort of obsessed with when they were alive. And in this case, being the town drunk, her obsession was chardonnay. “Look out, kids.” I’m not a big splatter film guy, so all the zombies in our film are dried up and dust inside. “Chardonnay.” “I got this, Cliff.” The visual effect is quite stunning and was done by a wonderful company, Chimney. It was quite daunting. We had to have a stand-in for Carol Kane for the actual swinging of the machete. The machete itself was only a very short blade so that it actually didn’t touch the stunt person. “Chardonnay.” - [screams] [gunshot] Bill Murray’s last shot to the severed head was improvised. In each of the other takes, he didn’t do that. But I found that very funny. Chloë Sevigny, as an actor, she is a real master of small reactions. And she is our kind of scream queen in the film because she screams maybe six times throughout the entire film.

The eternally hip writer-director Jim Jarmusch summons up a cast of his go-to actors (including Steve Buscemi, Adam Driver, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton) for this delightfully unpredictable zombie apocalypse comedy. Driver, Murray and Chloë Sevigny are police officers in the small town of Centerville, a tiny world turned upside down by the rise of the undead, and what begins as a fairly standard “Night of the Living Dead” riff becomes a pointed commentary on Trump’s America — and then a clever meta-textual riff on filmmaking itself.

‘The Witness’ (2016)

Stream it on Amazon Prime Video and on Peacock .

After her violent 1964 death, the name Kitty Genovese became a kind of shorthand for urban indifference, after the Times reported that her stabbing had been witnessed by 38 neighbors who failed to act. In later years, The Times reconsidered its account ; this powerful documentary also attempts to set the record straight, following Ms. Genovese’s younger brother Bill as he attempts to not only clarify the circumstances of her death, but highlight the joy and bravery of her life. Kitty Genovese was a person, not a symbol, and the director James Solomon admirably and poignantly corrects that error.

‘Riotsville, USA’ (2022)

As news outlets have recently reported on police clashing with protesters on college campuses, some necessary historical context is available via this documentary account of how our government addressed similar civil unrest in the late 1960s. The title comes from a government training facility, a fake town built for urban riot training exercises, and the director Sierra Pettengill uncovers shocking (and occasionally amusing) archival footage of those exercises and contemporaneous images of police and soldiers violently stifling peaceful protesters. This is a fierce, angry film — the kind of documentary where historical overview blurs uncomfortably into contemporary commentary.

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Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

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June 6, 2024

Current Issue

Meloni’s Cultural Revolution

June 6, 2024 issue

Paolo Ventura: Rome No. 3 , 2024

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For months now an enormous excavating machine has been drilling deep into central Rome beneath Piazza Venezia, at the foot of the looming Victor Emmanuel II National Monument—a white marble pile of steps and columns that is probably the closest we will ever get to experiencing the grandeur of ancient Rome. Also known as the Altar of the Fatherland, and with an eternal flame for the unknown soldier flanked by a solemn honor guard, the monument is nicknamed “The Typewriter.” Romans have been deflating pomposity for millennia. On another side of the piazza is Palazzo Venezia, where Mussolini had his headquarters and from whose balcony he delivered speeches to adoring throngs.

Piazza Venezia is one of Rome’s busiest traffic circles—a whirl of cars, buses, taxis, and mopeds with no stoplights or discernible lanes. The excavating machine is working on a third line for the Rome metro, which is expected to take years and is causing endless maddening traffic delays. The drillers constantly encounter the remnants of the ancient city, and the new metro station under the piazza will include a museum with objects unearthed in its construction, which will no doubt rival some of the world’s best archaeological collections.

How can Rome—or Italy for that matter—possibly move forward or adapt to the exigencies of the contemporary world when at every turn the sheer enormity of the past hits with full force? How can one build or do anything new here without being encumbered by the literal and metaphorical weight of history, empire, tradition? It is no wonder that the Futurists wanted a radical break with everything that came before in order to forge something new. The more one engages with Italy, the more one understands why so many political innovations here have been right-wing: Futurism, fascism, Silvio Berlusconi’s postideological, personality-driven politics, the technopopulism and online rage that in the past decade brought antiestablishment and right-wing parties to power. Italy may share political weather patterns with the rest of the West, but what sets it apart is the utter inescapability of these layers of history.

I had come to Rome to try to understand the new cultural priorities of the government of Giorgia Meloni. When she became prime minister in the fall of 2022—the first woman to govern Italy and the first far-right leader to govern in the heart of the European Union—there was widespread international concern. Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party, which she cofounded in 2012, is a grandchild of the neofascist Italian Social Movement, a party formed in 1946 by supporters of Mussolini nursing their defeat. Was fascism back? Was Italy drifting away from France and Germany and closer to Poland and Hungary? Was Meloni’s us-versus-them rhetoric hot air or did it have a real impact? Was Italy a harbinger of the future or a throwback to the past? How worried should we be?

Responses, especially in world-weary Rome, tended to range from boh —the verbal equivalent of shrugging one’s shoulders—to insomma , which loosely translates as “Are you kidding? Nothing changes here.” Giuliano Ferrara, the founder of the erudite and witty conservative daily Il Foglio and one of Italy’s sharpest political commentators, told me over lunch, “The only thing we can fear is to become a serious country.” But if we burn through the fog of Italian cynicism and the mixed messages of the government, a clearer picture begins to emerge. It is of a scrappy opposition party in power for the first time, eager to exact some comeuppance and hungry to put its loyalists in important positions yet lacking a deep bench of experienced officials and presentable right-wing intellectuals. It is a picture of the mainstreaming of a postfascist right seeking changes in Italian historical memory—what is emphasized, what is downplayed—and attempting, often ham-handedly and with a dearth of fresh ideas, to forge a modern right in a country that lacks a conservative tradition (comparable to, for example, the UK’s Tories) apart from fascism. Above all, it is an image of an aging country worried about its future and holding on to an idea of its past.

That idea does not reflect the reality of an economically precarious and increasingly multiethnic polity, but it was an electorate driven by fear and resignation, not hope, that brought Meloni to power. This does mark a shift from the past. For decades Berlusconi—eternal optimist, free marketeer, and consummate salesman—promised Italians a bright future. It didn’t happen. Economically the country stagnated. Populism bloomed, feeding on discontent. After a series of strange and often angry coalitions between 2018 and 2021 that scrambled the traditional lines between government and opposition, and a brief technocratic government led by Mario Draghi, a former European Central Bank president who deftly steered the country out of the pandemic, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy appealed to middle-class anxieties. She campaigned on protecting borders, cracking down on immigration, eliminating a “citizen’s income” subsidy for the poor, and upholding traditional family values. With the support of Italy’s public school teachers, public sector workers, factory workers, and shopkeepers, disillusioned constituencies that had once voted left and now drifted rightward, her party won 26 percent of the vote, not a majority, in a national election with the lowest turnout in Italian history.

The far right has been more normalized than defanged, a tendency well underway across the West, but fascism has not returned to Italy. In spite of her party’s postfascist roots—and a small but notable core of supporters with a penchant for Roman salutes—Meloni’s coalition government falls solidly within the mainstream European right. She shares power with Forza Italia, the center-right party founded by Berlusconi, and with the right-wing League party, formerly the Northern League, whose excitable leader, Matteo Salvini, she has kept in check. Her government is probably to the left of the US Republican Party in its belief in a social welfare state. Although she made noises to the contrary before coming to power, she supports the euro (crucial for an economy based on exports), the European Union (whose infusion of more than €100 billion in Covid-19 recovery funds—including for the new Rome metro line—it desperately needs), and NATO . Italy has eight US military bases, and Meloni has been a staunch ally of the United States in its support for Ukraine. Though she does not have a college degree, she is savvy and capable and seeks respect on the world stage. With a solid majority in Parliament, this spring she announced she wanted to change the constitution so that prime ministers would effectively be directly elected. This would weaken the institution of the presidency, which is supposed to stand above partisan politics. It is unclear if she will win this battle—or whether such a change would lead to political stability or autocracy. For now, Meloni has far more room to maneuver in the cultural realm.

Changes to Cultural Institutions

In many ways the cultural dynamics of Italy under Meloni are not greatly changed from those under previous governments. The state still struggles to contend with an enormous patrimony that it does not always have the resources to manage. Tourists come in droves, more than 445 million last year alone. Meloni has appointed her people to important cultural positions All are men and solidly of the right.

As the new general manager of RAI , the state broadcaster—a position with great power in shaping the national conversation—Meloni chose Giampaolo Rossi, a longtime member of far-right parties who on his personal blog has expressed great admiration for Putin and disdain for George Soros. Since he began, viewership numbers have dropped and RAI has faced accusations of censorship for canceling a monologue by a prominent novelist critical of Meloni.

As culture minister, Meloni appointed Gennaro Sangiuliano, a journalist who has also written books on Putin, Xi Jinping, and Hillary Clinton. When he was the director of the TG 2 news channel from 2018 to 2022, it offered a stream of images of dark-skinned people arriving on boats, which created the perception of an immigration crisis that helped keep the populists in power. Since taking office Sangiuliano has repeatedly expressed bold plans to overturn the “cultural hegemony of the left.” In the postwar era the Christian Democrats governed, and the Communist Party, once the largest in the West, eventually had influence over one channel of RAI , while the heads of most cultural institutions, as well as intellectuals, writers, artists, and filmmakers—then and now—leaned left. When I asked Sangiuliano what overturning that “cultural hegemony” meant, he said, “The radical-chic spirit of certain Roman salons tried to transform culture in Italy into something that spoke only to a small circle.” In response, he wanted to give “the national cultural panorama a wider horizon,” and also the international one, where “Anglo-Saxon cancel culture and a dictatorship of wokeness dominate.” In practice, the government is mostly replacing people installed by previous center-left governments.

Sangiuliano notably championed an exhibition at Rome’s National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien: “Tolkien: Man, Professor, Author.” Meloni attended the opening last fall, and the exhibition has now moved to the Palazzo Reale in Sangiuliano’s native Naples. Meloni’s postfascist right has often looked to fantasy literature for heroes. For years she hosted an annual far-right festival called Atreju, after the warrior-boy hero of the The Neverending Story , who fights a dark force. The Tolkien exhibition’s run in Rome coincided with an exhibition for the centenary of the birth of Italo Calvino, who represents the left-wing cultural elite that Meloni’s government is so eager to supersede. Sangiuliano’s intellectual hero is Giuseppe Prezzolini, who died at the age of one hundred in 1982 and once directed Columbia University’s Italian Academy. Sangiuliano just published a biography of him and has said he admires Prezzolini as a conservative and antifascist. He often cites a favorite Prezzolini saying: “The progressive is the person of tomorrow. The conservative is the person of the day after tomorrow.” Italy’s satirists keep a running tab on Sangiuliano’s gaffes. He recently said that Times Square is in London.

In 2014 a center-left culture minister, Dario Franceschini, opened up the directorships of Italy’s top museums to non-Italians in a reform that also gave these museums more autonomy over their budgets. Sangiuliano told me one of his priorities was to extend that autonomy to more museums, for a total of sixty. This also puts more pressure on them to be financially self-sustaining. And while the posts remain open to non-Italians, all the directors appointed under Sangiuliano have been Italian.

After two terms as director of the Uffizi, Eike Schmidt, a German who recently became an Italian citizen, was named director of the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, where he succeeded Sylvain Bellenger, who is French. When I went to see him at the Capodimonte, high on a hill overlooking the spectacular Bay of Naples, Schmidt told me his plans for the museum, but he seemed more animated at the prospect of running for mayor of Florence, a step he took soon after we met. In Florence, a city overrun by tourists, Schmidt had been hailed for cracking down on ticket scalpers. (This, too, plays into Meloni’s emphasis on law and order.) Schmidt is running as an independent with the support of the Brothers of Italy and other center and right-wing parties.

Opera directorships have also been caught up in a game of musical chairs and national sentiment. Stéphane Lissner, who is French, sued to keep his post as director of Naples’s San Carlo after the government passed a law saying directors of opera theaters could not serve beyond the age of seventy. In April Sangiuliano named Fortunato Ortombina, the director of Venice’s La Fenice, as the new head of Milan’s La Scala, trumpeting that “after three foreign general directors”—Lissner, Alexander Pereira, and Dominique Meyer—“an Italian” had returned to the position.

An important test case of how Meloni is putting her stamp on culture is the Venice Biennale, one of Italy’s most prominent international stages. As its new president, she picked her friend Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, an erudite novelist, journalist, and intellectual who is a former member of the Italian Social Movement. Buttafuoco has not given any interviews about his vision for the Biennale. He is expected to name the next curator of the Art Biennale and a new artistic director of the Venice Film Festival to succeed Alberto Barbera, an appointee of the left who is widely respected for having made the festival more competitive with the Cannes Film Festival.

Buttafuoco, a Sicilian, is nondoctrinaire and unpredictable. He is a convert to Islam and now a practicing Muslim. One of his novels recounts the Allied liberation of Sicily in 1943 from the sympathetic perspective of the Germans. He has been a regular guest on mainstream television talk shows and has written an affectionate introduction to an autobiographical novel by Paolo Signorelli, a militant in the hard-right Ordine Nuovo group who served a prison sentence for his involvement in the 1980 bombing of the Bologna train station, in which eighty-five people were killed, but who was later acquitted. Buttafuoco has also been artistic director of several theaters and has a perch at the Leonardo Foundation in Rome, a nonpartisan think tank funded by Leonardo, Italy’s largest aerospace and defense company.

He seems to see himself in the mold of Gabriele D’Annunzio—a man of intellect, a man of action. The poet, journalist, and politician is something of a hero for the new Meloni right. Buttafuoco has addressed friendly audiences at CasaPound, the radical neofascist social center in Rome. In one speech there in 2012, he defended the idea of a deeper right-wing “tradition” and was critical of “the global right”—presumably the Atlanticist world order—which he called the opposite of the right as espoused by Ezra Pound, D’Annunzio, and the Futurist poet Filippo Marinetti. “I love CasaPound because it operates outside a logic in which souls and existences are turned into a market, in which youth are instrumentalized and deluded. Instead, it offers a laboratory,” Buttafuoco told the audience. He also urged it to “throw out the racists” and “kick them in the ass.”

This year’s Art Biennale, which opened in April, was curated by Adriano Pedrosa, a Brazilian appointed under the previous president, Roberto Cicutto. The theme is “Foreigners Everywhere,” an on-the-nose response to nationalism, with a focus on queer, folk, indigenous, and outsider artists. Pedrosa has said the title has several valences:

First of all, that wherever you go and wherever you are you will always encounter foreigners—they/we are everywhere. Secondly, that no matter where you find yourself, you are always truly, and deep down inside, a foreigner.

In remarks at the Biennale opening, Buttafuoco was fairly respectful of Pedrosa’s vision. He said that for Venice, “diversity has stood from the outset as a basic condition of normality. A process of mirroring and confrontation with the Other, never perceived in terms of denial or rejection.” It’s hard to know how Buttafuoco will handle his new position’s complex institutional and diplomatic demands. This year Sangiuliano defended Israel’s right to have a national pavilion at the Biennale in the face of opposition; ultimately, the artist representing Israel, Ruth Patir, said she would not open the pavilion until there was a cease-fire in Gaza and release of the Israeli hostages.

Alessandro Giuli, a journalist and author, was appointed the new head of MAXXI , the contemporary art and architecture museum in Rome designed by Zaha Hadid. Giuli hired two well-respected figures: as head of the artistic program Francesco Stocchi, previously a curator at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and as head of the architecture and design program Lorenza Baroncelli, a former artistic director of the Triennale in Milan. “Ambienti 1956–2010: Environments by Women Artists II,” organized by the Haus der Kunst in Munich, just opened. Upcoming exhibitions include one curated by the American architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro and a retrospective of the Arte Povera artist Giovanni Anselmo, organized with the Guggenheim Bilbao.

Giuli, who is close to Meloni, has given considerable thought to how the postfascist right can and should evolve. His book Il passo delle oche (The Goose Step, 2007) criticized the National Alliance party, which was created in 1994 after the neofascist Italian Social Movement disbanded, for not having fully broken with its fascist past. Meloni rose through the ranks of the National Alliance and represented it as youth minister in a Berlusconi government. Giuli’s book was published by Einaudi, a historic left-wing publisher. I met Giuli in his office at MAXXI , and above his desk there was a work of art by the Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar based on the front page of the antifascist newspaper Giustizia e libertà announcing the death of Antonio Gramsci in 1937. Giuli said Meloni marked a new chapter, and that after some years of rabid populism Italy had returned to “the normal dialectic between conservatives and progressives” and had moved beyond “the dialectic of the people versus the establishment.”

He said MAXXI would fit into the government’s larger geopolitical strategies, including its Mattei Plan for Africa, a €5.5 billion commercial agreement largely focused on energy and preventing immigration. There is already a MAXXI in L’Aquila, the Abruzzo city devastated by an earthquake in 2009, and now there are plans for a MAXXI Med in Messina, which will provide exhibition space and museum-studies training, including for people from the Maghreb. I suggested it sounded like a neocolonial project. Giuli said it was “the exact opposite.” He spoke of the Etruscan kings who turned ancient Rome into a colony and said the African countries that Italy had brutally colonized in the twentieth century later made use of fascist-era architecture. “We realize that Italy committed tragic and violent errors and also that the African world is capable of using, even reappropriating, whatever remains of the colonial presence,” he added.

Buttafuoco and Giuli, along with Annalena Benini, whom Meloni named as the new head of the Turin International Book Fair, are all journalists and contributors to Il Foglio , a center-right daily with sophisticated culture coverage and stylish writing. It is philo-American, Atlanticist, Zionist, pro-Ukraine, anti-Trump, antiabortion, and critical of what it sees as the overreach of the Italian justice system. Before Meloni was elected, the paper’s editor-in-chief, Claudio Cerasa, told me he saw her as Trump-like and inclined to conspiracy theories, but now he sees a normalization. “It’s not fascism—on the contrary, there’s a great spirit of freedom here,” he told me. As evidence, he said Woody Allen was still popular in Italy, and Roman Polanski, too. I asked if that was a good thing. Of course, Cerasa said. The Meloni-era vibe is anti–cancel culture, even though no one has been canceled in Italy, as far as I can tell. For the most part, Italy seems to have skipped the backlash and gone straight to the backlash to the backlash.

Italianità and Its Critics

Beyond the government’s rush to fill positions, there is a battle of ideas underway about nationhood, about what it means to be Italian. Meloni and her government talk frequently about patria , or fatherland. More tellingly, the fascist-era term Italianità —Italianness—has reentered political discourse. Sangiuliano wants to develop a Museum of Italianità in the Emilia-Romagna region. When I asked him to define Italianità , he told me, rather enigmatically, that it was “that special condition unique to our people in which being accustomed to beauty creates an almost innate propensity for the well made.” Giuli, too, used the word. The right, he said, should “recover what it is intellectually” by looking to the Italian constitution, “which introduced themes of social protection, and even by taking pride in Italianità without falling into aggressive chauvinism.”

But the government often pushes exclusion over inclusion. Meloni has a fierce penchant for singling out perceived enemies—migrants, same-sex parents, intellectuals who have criticized her—as a way of building consensus. For years in her campaigns she said that a family should have a mother and a father, not “parent one and parent two.” Italy legalized same-sex civil unions in 2016 under a center-left government, and Meloni is trying to make it illegal for children born to gay couples via surrogacy abroad to have their birth certificates registered in Italy. Surrogacy is illegal in Italy and across most of Western Europe, a position shared by Catholic traditionalists and leftists opposed to what they see as the commodification of women’s bodies, but this push has spooked gay couples and supporters of gay rights in Italy. Meloni has said she will not overturn Italy’s 1978 abortion law, but she just passed a law allowing nonprofits into public clinics to dissuade women from having them. (A majority of Italian doctors are conscientious objectors who won’t perform the procedure.) Meanwhile she has been encouraging Italians to have more babies and has appeared with Pope Francis to deliver that message. The country just reported its lowest birth rate since the state was founded in 1861.

Beyond simple demographics, there is also a question of culture. “When Giorgia Meloni says, ‘Have kids,’ she is not talking to me,” Djarah Kan, an Italian writer and journalist whose parents are from Ghana, told me. We were sitting in a café in San Lorenzo, a formerly working-class neighborhood that like so much of Rome has been increasingly gentrified. If she had a baby with another black Italian, she continued, “it would not be considered a real Italian by the Italian state.” This feeling of exclusion in her own country infuriated her.

I feel offended, I feel mocked…. They are trying to invent out of whole cloth a model of Italianità that doesn’t match the reality of the country. They want to impose their idea of society on a society that is changing, however slowly. Because Italian society is changing and there are so many people in their thirties like me, of Chinese origin or African origin or Indian origin, who reside and live in this country. And every time we hear talk of Italianità or “Made in Italy” and of who has the right to be considered Italian or not, we laugh, but it also makes us sick to our stomachs.

Kan was born and grew up in Castel Volturno, outside Naples. We talked about how hard it is for immigrants to get a foothold in Italy. Many Italians inherit family real estate; without that inheritance, the social order would collapse. In a sign of the spirit of the times, Italy’s leading daily, Corriere della Sera , has a new podcast about the last wills of famous Italians, all men. “It’s all so stagnant,” Kan said. She said many of her high school classmates, also children of African immigrants, were sent abroad for better opportunities after graduating. It’s the same at Italy’s poshest private schools, many of which are Anglophone. Italy is unique among core EU countries in that its ruling class now prepares its children to leave. The brain drain has gotten worse over the years. Meloni reduced a tax incentive designed to lure Italians back home. It is against this backdrop of resignation that she came to power.

Meloni’s government is fighting rearguard wars over the past. It approved the creation of a memorial museum in Rome dedicated to victims of the Foibe massacres—reprisal killings in Italian territories in what are now Croatia and Slovenia during the immediate postwar period when Tito’s Communists murdered fascists and civilians. Sangiuliano and the government have been promoting the initiative, saying the murders had been downplayed by past center-left governments.

There have also been heated polemics over Liberation Day, a national holiday on April 25 when Italy celebrates its liberation from fascism by the Allies. In April RAI canceled a Liberation Day monologue by Antonio Scurati, the author of the global best-selling novel M (2018), about Italy under Mussolini, prompting cries of censorship. In his monologue, the text of which later appeared online, Scurati said, “After winning the elections in October 2022, the postfascist leadership had two possible paths: to repudiate its neofascist past or to try to rewrite history. It undoubtedly chose the second.” Scurati has in the past criticized Meloni for not directly acknowledging the contribution of the Resistance to ending fascism, or that Italy’s constitution was born of antifascism. In his monologue he said that she had denounced the Nazis “without repudiating the fascist experience in its entirety.” Meloni said the cancellation was an economic choice, but a leak from RAI indicated it had been editorial. She then published his monologue on her own Facebook page, a move indicative of the unpredictability and confusion fomented by the government, making it hard to pin down.

Italy, which began the war with the Axis and ended it with the Allies, never underwent a deep examination of conscience the way Germany did. Meloni’s government could present an opportunity to do this. Instead she is attacking her critics and shifting the narrative to redress issues like the Foibe that have long been an obsession of the right. At the same time the government has been attentive to honoring Jewish victims of the Holocaust. In March Sangiuliano went with Germany’s culture minister to commemorate one of the country’s worst wartime massacres: the Nazis’ execution of 335 Italian civilians in 1944 at the Ardeatine Caves outside Rome.

Meloni’s government has found it harder to address contemporary violence. In January she turned a blind eye when a group of far-right militants made Roman salutes at a memorial gathering for one of their members killed in clashes with left-wing groups and police in the 1970s. The legacy of the Years of Lead, from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, when the battle between left and right moved beyond ideas to violence, is still palpable in Italy, and many consider it a civil war. Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled that the Roman salute is a crime if done out of a desire to reconstruct the Fascist Party, but not if done as a commemorative act. In February videos circulated showing police in Pisa and Florence beating unarmed teenagers who were demonstrating in support of Palestine. President Sergio Mattarella, an institutional figure who normally does not weigh in on such matters, took the interior minister to task:

The authority of law enforcement is not measured by truncheons but by the capacity to safeguard security while at the same time guaranteeing the right to express one’s opinion in public. The use of truncheons against youth is an expression of failure.

The police beatings drew widespread concern. “The thing that worries me, frankly, is the censoring of the youngest voices, of the voices of dissidents, of the voices of the counterculture,” the writer Nadeesha Uyangoda told me at a book fair of independent presses on the foggy outskirts of Milan. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Milan, she is the author of L’unica persona nera nella stanza (The Only Black Person in the Room, 2021) and a columnist for the magazine Internazionale .

It is something intrinsic in Italian culture to go out into the piazza and demonstrate…. It’s a cultural act because you occupy a public space with your body. And if the state prevents this by beating you, what is it? It means there isn’t space for a different idea that doesn’t conform to that of the government.

Uyangoda told me she found the government’s talk of Italianità silly but troubling. Italy is, after all, a country of campanilismo , of people sticking to the traditions and dialect of their own towns beneath their local campanile , or church tower. “Only a group of far-right politicians could think they could bring back to life a concept of nationality, of Italianità , that doesn’t exist in Italy anymore,” she said. I asked if she took the government’s fusty rhetoric seriously. She paused. “When I hear them say some things, I can’t take them seriously,” she said. “But then I think of how we didn’t take them seriously six years ago, and look what happened. And so maybe it’s worth taking them seriously this time because they evidently have an impact on the country.”

Even before the Liberation Day polemics, Scurati was growing concerned. “I never thought that the potential victory of the far right would compromise democracy,” he told me.

I was afraid that a victory by the far right could represent a threat for the quality of democratic life, not for the survival of democratic life. And it’s getting worse. One of the signs of this worsening is in the world of culture. The few, the very few intellectuals who criticize the government become the object of violent and offensive attacks.

Indeed, Meloni has sued the historian and philologist Luciano Canfora for aggravated defamation, after he called her “a neo-Nazi in her soul.” * (Italy lacks the equivalent of First Amendment protections for press coverage of public figures, and Italian politicians often sue for defamation.) Members of the government have lashed out at the writer Roberto Saviano, a vocal critic who has been under police protection for years for his writing about the Neapolitan Mafia.

After Scurati was attacked by the right-wing, progovernment daily newspaper Libero , someone left dried feces in his building in Milan and the words Scurati merda appeared on the wall. He reported the incident. “When the police chief asked if I wanted police protection, I thought, ‘Now we have a problem,’” Scurati told me. “It’s very heavy for people who want to express their feelings,” he continued. “Almost none of my writer colleagues, most of whom are on the left, are speaking out. Most are just tending their own orticello ,” or little garden.

The Orticello

While a few public figures express dissent, such as Saviano, or defend gay rights, such as the social media influencer Chiara Ferragni, most cultural figures, to say nothing of the establishment, seem to be keeping their heads down or finding ways to turn the new regime to their own advantage. Loredana Lipperini, a longtime host of Fahrenheit , a program about books on RAI Radio3, a station popular with the left wing, used the same term as Scurati—the orticello . “I see on the one hand a great turning inward, and with some notable exceptions, what strikes me is that the majority of novels coming out now are intimate novels, autofiction, inward-facing and focused on themselves,” she told me. “I’m worried about this tendency in which everyone, with some exceptions…tends his or her own orticello .” For Lipperini it’s a sign that cultural figures aren’t fully engaging with the issues of the day. Institutionally and culturally, the left has not offered a clear response to the far right, with its well-defined positions on immigration, borders, and national identity.

A hit film in Italy since it came out last year is C’è ancora domani ( There’s Still Tomorrow ), directed by and starring Paola Cortellesi. Filmed in black and white and set in 1946, it tells the story of a scrappy Roman matriarch who maintains her dignity in the face of an abusive husband and an ogre of a father-in-law. In Italy the film sold more tickets than Barbie . It clearly hit a nerve, not only because it appeared when a case of a woman murdered by her boyfriend was calling attention to Italy’s high rates of violence against women. Cortellesi’s performance was strong, but I found the film reductive. Did we really need to be reminded that women in Italy got the vote? And yet I was struck by how many women in Italy told me how much the film had meant to them, had empowered them and given them a sense of solidarity. It showed the power of collective action—an alternative to the orticello .

In February 1948 Partisan Review published an essay by the antifascist and anti-Stalinist writer Nicola Chiaromonte, who captured the mood two months before the first national elections of the nascent Italian republic that the heroine of C’è ancora domani votes to create. “Italy has not changed,” Chiaromonte wrote of that tenuous transitional period, just two years after the 1946 plebiscite in which Italians chose to become a democratic republic, not a monarchy.

In the collapse of Fascism, only Fascism has been refuted. Fascist authority and state structure are not there any longer. But, if the façade has crumbled, everything that was behind the façade before is still there, very much the same. Except that everything looks like the scattered fragments of a scattered society. Everything is in a state of suspension: conservatism together with the need for change; authoritarian habits along with libertarian impulses; nationalism and the natural cosmopolitanism of the Italians. Political freedom, as it exists today in Italy, is a state of suspension. But it still makes a difference. The simple fact of free speech has given the country an animation which looks like a new life. Misfortune has made the Italians feel united as they never felt before. The country is far from inert. Yet the apparent immutability of Italian society weighs everybody down.

In trying to make sense of Italy today, I thought back to Chiaromonte’s essay, still so illuminating on the country’s infinite complexities. Just off Piazza Venezia I had sat for ages in traffic on Via del Plebiscito, named after the 1946 plebiscite. Italian society has indeed changed since then. Italy remains a free country. But its apparent immutability still weighs everybody down. I thought of Djarah Kan, her dynamism and energy like that of so many young Italians constantly running up against the muro di gomma —the rubber wall—of tradition, exclusion, and every power structure from the tax code to labor law to the Catholic Church, which are designed to preserve power and wealth in the hands of those who already have it and who are fearful of letting in newcomers. “Italians always have to go backward because they’re too afraid of going forward,” Kan told me. “They always like it in the places where they’re worse off because at least those awful places are familiar—they already know that suffering.” We both laughed. What else could we do? Around us the Roman café was thrumming. Kan is working on a novel. “As soon I’m done with my book, I want to get out of here,” at least for a while, she told me. “This country is a badly run museum.” When the children of immigrants want to become emigrants, perhaps that means they, too, possess Italianità .

—May 9, 2024

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