A month of Festivals
October brings with it a colourful variety of festivals of religious, cultural and national importance. This month will see Indians and Indian Diaspora in a festive mood, while they celebrate festivals like Navaratri, Dandia-Raas, Durga Puja, Dussehra, Diwali.
Europe & USA celebrate All Saints festival popularly known as Halloween . Thailand will see the people committing themselves to abstinence, purity and vegetarianism.
Rajasthan in India prepares itself for an absolutely stunning festival called Jodhpur Rajasthan International Folk Festival — a celebration of people’s passion for music and beyond.
Oktoberfest, September 17 – October 3: The 183rd edition of the largest beer festival and travelling funfair in the world began on September 17 in the German city of Munich. The 17-day festival is expected to draw some six million visitors to the Bavarian capital by October 3.
Vegetarian festival, September 30-October 10: The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a colourful event held over a nine-day period in October, celebrating the Chinese community’s belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind.
Durga Puja, October 7-11: Durga Puja is widely celebrated in Bengal and other parts of the country and world with a lot of excitement for five days. The Hindu holy festival is mostly celebrated in the month of Ashwin, and commences on Mahalaya. The festival overlaps with the nine-day Navratri celebrations and ends on Dussehra, also known as Vijaydashami.
Dussehra, October 11: Dussehra is also celebrated as Vijayadashami or Ayudhapuja and is an important Hindu festival celebrated in a variety of ways in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The festival symbolises the victory of Lord Ram over Ravan, and hence the victory of good over evil. During these 10 days, many plays and dramas based on the Hindu epic Ramayana are performed. There are outdoor fairs and large parades with effigies of Ravan.
Dashain, October 11: The longest and the most auspicious festival of the people in Nepal, Dashain is a festival very similar to Durga Puja in India that celebrates the many manifestations of goddess Durga. According to Hindu mythology, the demon Mahishasura had created terror in devalok (heaven) but goddess Durga killed him. The first nine days leading to Dashain symbolise the battle that took place between the different manifestations of Durga and Mahishasura.
Jodhpur RIFF, October 13-17: Music lovers from across the world gather together in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, each year to revel at the Rajasthani folk music festival. In the festival, the royal city of Jodhpur welcomes over 250 musicians and performing artists from across India and overseas, who come together and celebrate Rajasthan’s musical heritage. The heart-melting decorum is created through innovative collaborations accompanied with an interesting fusion of international and local folk music and exciting performances.
Halloween, October 31: It is one of the most popular festivals of the world. Though, over the decades, it has come to be celebrated as something fun, its roots lie in much sombre emotions of remembering the dead and paying them respect. It’s believed that Halloween celebrations originated from Celtic pagan rituals.
Diwali October 30: is one of the biggest festival of Hindus, celebrated with great enthusiasm and happiness in India. The festival is celebrated for five continuous days, where the third days is celebrated as the main Diwali festival or ‘Festival of lights’.
Different colourful varieties of fireworks are always associated with this festival. On this auspicious day, people light up diyas and candles all around their house. They perform Laxmi Puja in the evening and seek divine blessings of Goddess of Wealth.
@various inputs
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