Festivals
Durga Puja turns Kolkata into a walking city for several nights
Neighbourhood pavilions, closed roads and crowds that move on foot until dawn make the festival week a…
· 4 min read
Festivals
When a place changes completely for a week, and whether to be there for it.
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Festivals
Indian festival dates move because the calendar counts moons and years at once
A lunar month does not divide neatly into a solar year, and the corrections applied to reconcile them are why last year’s dates are no guide to this year’s.
Festivals
The Kumbh is run as a logistics operation on a riverbed
A temporary city with sectors, pontoon bridges and one-way crowd flows is built for the gathering and taken…
· 4 min read
Festivals
A state-organised festival is a different product from a living one
Curated events with fixed dates and ticketed access make a region legible to visitors, and what they gain…
· 4 min read
Festivals
Holi and Diwali are the hardest weeks of the year to move around India
Two festivals that send a large part of the country home at once absorb the trains, empty the shops and…
· 4 min read
Festivals
A pilgrimage route is transport infrastructure with a religious purpose
The seasonal Himalayan yatras move very large numbers of people up narrow roads in a short window, and the…
· 4 min read
Festivals
A temple town runs to a daily timetable and visitors are the last to learn it
Sanctums close for hours in the middle of the day, queues are organised into separate streams and dress…
· 3 min read
Festivals
The harvest festivals barely move because they follow the sun, not the moon
Mid-January celebrations across several states are tied to the sun’s passage rather than to a lunar month…
· 3 min read
Festivals
A mela is a market before it is a spectacle
The great Indian fairs began as trade gatherings tied to a religious date, and the livestock, commerce and…
· 3 min read
Festivals
Some Indian festivals move through the seasons because their calendar ignores the sun
A purely lunar year runs about eleven days short of a solar one, so Islamic observances shift steadily…
· 4 min read
Festivals
A chariot festival is the one week the deity leaves the building
Temple car processions invert the usual arrangement by bringing the image out into the street, which is why…
· 4 min read
Festivals
Assam has three Bihus and only one of them is a celebration
The Assamese year is punctuated by three festivals with the same name marking three different points in the…
· 4 min read