Festivals in Kolkata

When's a bamboo tent not a bamboo tent? When you're in Calcutta. For, in this city, a step into a luxurious bamboo edifice known locally as a pandal could well be your baptism to the festive side of the city. Pandals, in which the idols of deities are places and worshippers congregate, are a staple of Hindu festivals Kolkata, but the festive landscape of Calcutta isn't about which religion you belong to. Festivals are a great opportunity to meet people, soak in the culture of the city, pamper your taste buds, discover the cosmopolitan side to the city and, of course, give yourself up to religious fervor.

Rathyatra

Travel along with the Lord of Puri, Jagannath, as his chariot takes him to his midsummer vacation. Legend has it that Jagannath, a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, goes on this vacation with his brother Balaram and sister Subhadra. Religious fervor runs high and the streets of Calcutta turn into a mélange of colors. Devotees take turns to pull gigantic chariots bearing idols of the three divinities through the narrow bylanes of the city.

Do check out the Rathyatra in Mahesh in the nearby Hooghly district - it's the oldest in the state. The Mahesh Rathyatra of 1875 is also special as it provided the inspiration for Radharani, a famous novel by Bengali poet and author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.Saraswati Puja

If you wake up to streets dotted with young girls in yellow saris, don't get an eye test. Just throw on your best Indian wear and hurry down to the roads for the festivities of Saraswati Puja. Dedicated to Saraswati, the goddess of learning, science, and the creative arts, this festival is all the way for students. The youngest girl in every Bengali family is decked in yellow on this day, and students flock to the pandals to pray for their academic success.

Shivratri

For an all-night festive experience, catch the celebration of the "Night of Shiva". Devotees meditate, pray, sing and recite hymns in praise of Lord Shiva and offer milk, curd, honey and glossy green leaves of the bel tree in worship. Celebrated in February-March, the festival is also a time for the devotees to observe fasts. The Shivratri celebrations in Tarakeshwar, in the neighboring Hooghly, are special and worth a visit.

Poila Baisakh

The first month of the Bengali calendar, Baishakh, marks the beginning of the crop cycle in Bengal. A lot of Bengali weddings are held in this month, and new businesses started. The first day of this month is called Poila Baisakh is celebrated as the Bengali new year. Chances are, if you step into a shop in Calcutta on this day, you'll be offered sweets and maybe the odd gift or two. Traders start the new year by inaugurating new accounting books.

Id-ul-Fitr

Id-ul-Fitr marks the end of the holy Islamic month of Ramzan. Take a walk down the path alongside the Maidan on this day and watch the young, middle-aged and old alike gathering here for their prayers, harkening to the call of the muezzin from the Shahid Minar.

Muharram

The solemnity of Muharram is best experienced by following an "Ashoura" procession in the city. Led by a snow-white horse, the procession of tazias and the devout wends its way through areas such as Metiabruz and Khiderpore.

Kali Puja

A festival to propitiate the dark goddess Kali, Kali Puja is held in the dark of a new moon night. With her blue-black skin, blood-smeared face, terrifying third eye, Kali wears little other than necklaces of snakes and skulls. In her four hands, she bears weapons and blessings for her followers. This is one festival that is seldom performed within a home, and is often marked by animal sacrifices.

Makar Sankranti

A festival that marks the winter solstice, the Makar Sankranti festival is marked by two melas or fairs, both held a little distance from Calcutta. The maidan in Kolkata, however, plays host to the hordes of faithfuls thronging to the three-day Ganga Sagar Mela held on Sagardwip to commemorate this festival. Even as the Ganga Sagar Mela winds down, bauls - a cult of minstrels - wend their way to nearby Bolpur for the Baul mela.

Lakshmi Puja

Durga Puja is closely followed by Lakshmi Puja - the festival honoring the goddess of wealth, peace and prosperity. Every home celebrates this festival as a chance to welcome the goddess of wealth to their homes. A day or two before the festival, the bazaars of Kolkata are choc-a-bloc with vendors selling idols of the gracious Lakshmi, seated on a lotus.

Durga Puja

For four days in September-October, Calcutta comes to a standstill as almost everyone in the city throngs its streets, visiting the pandals dressed in their festive best and fêting their taste buds with food from the stalls that spring up on the roadsides. Incense, drumbeats, chants, laughter, the sizzle and smell of food characterize this festival dedicated to Goddess Durga. Durga Puja is a chance to meet old friends, rub shoulders with the young and eligible, buy new clothes, walk the streets of the city till the wee hours of the morning, and, of course, admire the oeuvre of idol makers who craft beautiful idols of Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik out of bamboo, straw, jute, clay and paint.

Joydev Mela

Strictly speaking, the Joydev Mela is held at Kenduli, a small village near Tagore's Shantiniketan, and not in Calcutta. However, this fair-cum-festival held in the early half of January and commemorating the birth of the Bhakti cult poet Jaydev is a wonderful way to connect with rural India. For three days, Baul minstrels, spiritual shoppers and city slickers seeking a high flock to this festival and lose themselves to the trance-like magic of baul songs.

Bhai Phota

This is the day brothers and sisters put aside their family squabbles and celebrate their familial ties. Women maintain a fast through the morning and break it by applying a dab of sandalwood to their brothers' foreheads, praying for their safety and welfare and plying them with sweets. In turn they receive gifts from their brothers. Do wangle an invite to a Bengali house on this day if you can - it's a day when the kitchen turns out some of its best fare of the year!

Dol Purnima

A festival of spring, Dol Purnima is marked by people merrymaking on the streets, smearing each other with color, drinking milk laces with marijuana (locally called bhang) and ambushing unsuspecting passers-by with water balloons. Some of the celebrations can get pretty rowdy and some of the colors can get pretty artificial, so stay in your room if your skin's sensitive.

Vishwakarma Puja

If you're in Calcutta in September, and know someone in a factory, a workman or an artisan, spend the early morning of this festive day in their company. Dedicated to the God of Creation, Vishwakarma, the true spirit of the festival is seen in the homes of craftsmen and in industrial houses. Machines are oiled, cleaned and painted, and tools scrubbed and polished till they reflect the idol of the god, holding a hammer in his hand.

Christmas

For the best picture-postcard feel during Christmas, take a stroll down Park Street on Christmas Eve. Midnight mass at St Paul's Cathedral is a different experience altogether, as the entire cathedral is lit up by candles. If you're in the vicinity of the shopping are called New Market, also drop by at the celebrated Nahoum's for the best bakes and cakes of the season.