India's regional festivals fall into families. Harvest and new-year festivals cluster around mid-January (Makar Sankranti and its cousins) and mid-April (several regional new years), with others after the monsoon rice crop. Temple festivals honour a local deity with processions of chariots or elephants.
Key facts
- Assam's three Bihus are tied to the farming year: one at sowing, one in the lean season when granaries are low, and one at harvest with the Meji bonfire and community feasts.
- The Hornbill Festival runs 1 to 10 December at Kisama Heritage Village, first held in 2000; it is called the 'Festival of Festivals'.
- Chhau is danced at the spring Chaitra Parva; the Kumbh Mela and Durga Puja are among the Indian festivals on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
- Ramlila (2008) is inscribed on the UNESCO list but Dussehra itself is not.
Why exams ask about it
State, deity, month and origin story are the four things asked about any festival; harvest festivals of the north-east are favourites.