August and September mark the months of the year that have got the most festivals in our Hindu tradition thankfully. The Rakhi festival is going to be celebrated on the 28th of August this year, 2026- this particular day is a full moon day, and it is the last day of the Sawan month – a month reserved for the exclusive worship of Shivji. On this Rakhi festival day, all sisters tie some colorful and fancy threads on their brothers’ wrists annually. The brother is thence bound to his loving sister, looking after her and allowing for her to feel safe and secure permanently.
The month of Sawan is extremely lucky for all our country’s Shaivaites, and the Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage gains a lot of traction during this quarter of every year most fortunately. The Kailash Yatra or pilgrimage isn’t complete without the 10-day festival of Ganesh- who is the son of Shiv and Parvati borne out of their holy matrimony.
The Ganesh festival is especially loud and festive in the Indian state of Maharashtra as nearly all Maharashtrians over here are the devotees and worshippers of Ganesh or more popularly and lovingly, Ganpati. Ganpati aka Ganesh is the Lord of the Ganas or the warriors and lower demigods in the Hindu pantheon of our religiosity, and He is also the Lord of wisdom and knowledge- he holds the special virtue of intelligence and worldly wisdom additionally most befittingly. Every year, nearly all our devout Marathis bring the Lord home and worship him with flowers, incense, some exclusive sweetmeats and all our Hindu rituals most arduously. Some really devoted souls host really hefty and decorative Ganpatis outside their shops and buildings- all the Ganpatis are later submerged in the Arabian Sea with a lot of sadness and with the eternal promise that Ganesh will return the next year to endow his followers with a lot of wisdom and a lot of earnings and cash and his divine protection most enduringly.
The Hindu religion will always recognize and worship the female energy and thus, Ma Durga is worshipped for 9 days in the Navratras- 9 different forms and incarnations of her are hosted and worshipped religiously in nearly all the homes, the lanes and bi-lanes of the Eastern state of West Bengal yearly.
After the Navratras come Dasera and Diwali- on Dasera Day, the Hindu god Ram is worshipped in all his glory year after year most devotedly. On this particular day, Ram and his favorite follower Hanuman killed the demon king of Lanka who had abducted Sita, the wife of Lord Ram most vilely. During the 5 days of Diwali nearly all Hindu households worship Laxmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth and nearly all Hindus burst crackers and light diyas with utmost devotion and piety. The death of Ravan, symbolic of the eternal triumph of good over evil, holds a special place in our collective Hindu religion and orthodoxy.
And thus, we can safely surmise that Hinduism is one religion that reverences morality, prosperity, non-violence, righteousness, feminism, the right spiritual and material allegiances, outright devotion and intelligence and wisdom wholeheartedly.
