West Bengal Festivals

Calendar and guide to Bengal's festivals, from Durga Puja and Kali Puja to Poila Boishakh and Rath Yatra.

Festivals through the year

Gangasagar Mela (Jan, Mid-January (Makar Sankranti), Sagar Island, South 24 Parganas): One of the largest pilgrim gatherings in India, where devotees bathe at the meeting point of the Ganga and the Bay of Bengal.
Sohrai (Jan, Around Poush Sankranti (mid-January), Santhal villages of Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia and Jhargram): The Santhal harvest festival, when cattle are honoured, mud walls are freshly painted and villages dance to the tamak and tumdak drums for several days.
Tusu Parab (Jan, The month of Poush, ending on Poush Sankranti, Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram): A month-long harvest festival of the red-soil country. Girls sing Tusu songs every evening, and on the last day colourful paper shrines (chaudal) are carried to the river.
Joydev Kenduli Mela (Jan, Poush Sankranti (mid-January), for about three days, Kenduli, on the Ajay river, Birbhum): A fair in the village linked with the poet Jayadeva, and the biggest gathering of Baul singers in Bengal. Akhras sing through the night beside the river.
Winter music conferences (Jan, December to January, South Kolkata): Kolkata’s winter season of Hindustani classical music, with vocalists and instrumentalists playing late into the night and often a dawn raga to close.
Netaji Jayanti (Jan, 23 January, Kolkata and all of Bengal): The birthday of Subhas Chandra Bose is marked with processions, school parades, songs and sirens at noon. His family home in Elgin Road is a museum.
Poush Sankranti (Jan, Around 14 to 15 January, Across Bengal): A harvest festival celebrated with pithe, puli and patishapta made from new rice and nolen gur.
Saraswati Puja (Feb, Basant Panchami (late January to February), Schools, colleges and neighbourhoods): Students worship the goddess of learning, place books at her feet, and wear yellow. Bengal celebrates the day with khichuri and bhog.
Kolkata International Book Fair (Feb, Late January to February, Salt Lake area (venue has changed over the years)): One of the world's largest book fairs by attendance, with publishers, authors and lots of readers from across Bengal.
Bhasha Dibas (Feb, 21 February, Across Bengal): Language Martyrs’ Day, remembering the students killed in Dhaka in 1952 while demanding a place for Bengali. Now also International Mother Language Day, marked with songs, recitation and flowers at dawn.
Losar (Feb, Tibetan new year (February or March), Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Mirik): The new year of the hills’ Buddhist communities, with prayers, masked monastery dances, family feasts and new prayer flags.
Shivaratri (Feb, Phalgun (February to March), Tarakeswar, Bhukailash and Shiva temples across Bengal): A night of fasting and worship of Shiva. Women pour water and milk over the lingam, and temples stay open through the night.
Dol Jatra / Basanta Utsav (Mar, Holi (February to March), Shantiniketan and across Bengal): Bengal's spring festival of colours. In Shantiniketan, Basanta Utsav is celebrated with songs, dance and coloured powder in the Tagore tradition.
Baha (Mar, Phalgun (February to March), Santhal villages of western Bengal): The Santhal spring flower festival, held when the sal trees blossom. Flowers are offered at the sacred grove, and the village sings and dances.
Eid-ul-Fitr (Mar, End of Ramzan. Moves about 11 days earlier each year; around the second week of March in 2027, Red Road, Nakhoda Masjid and mosques across Bengal): The festival after a month of fasting, with mass prayers in the morning, new clothes, visits and sweet sewai. The nights before Eid fill Zakaria Street with food stalls.
Basanti and Annapurna Puja (Mar, Chaitra (March to April), Old family homes and temples across Bengal): The spring worship of Durga (Basanti Puja), said to be the older form of the festival, followed by the worship of Annapurna, goddess of food.
Gajan & Charak (Apr, Mid-April (end of the Bengali year), Rural Bengal): A folk festival to Shiva with processions, folk performance and rituals, held at the close of the Bengali year.
Poila Boishakh (Apr, 14 or 15 April, Across West Bengal and Kolkata): The Bengali New Year. Shopkeepers open new account books (halkhata), families wear new clothes and eat festive meals. Kolkata's shopping streets are lively.
Rabindra Jayanti (Pochishe Boishakh) (May, 25th of Boishakh (around 8 to 9 May), Kolkata, Shantiniketan): The birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore (born 1861), marked with song, recitation and dance from Jorasanko to Shantiniketan.
Buddha Purnima (May, Boishakh full moon (April to May), Darjeeling hills, and Buddhist temples in Kolkata): The birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha, marked with prayers, processions and lamps at monasteries and viharas.
Nazrul Jayanti (May, 11 Jaishtha (around 24 to 25 May), Kolkata, Churulia): The birthday of Kazi Nazrul Islam, the rebel poet, celebrated with his songs and poems.
Eid-ul-Adha (Bakri Eid) (May, Moves about 11 days earlier each year; mid-May in 2027, Mosques and homes across Bengal): The festival of sacrifice, with morning prayers and meat shared among family, neighbours and the poor.
Jamai Shashthi (Jun, Jaishtha (May to June), Bengali homes everywhere): Mothers-in-law honour their sons-in-law with blessings, gifts and a huge lunch of fish, meat, mangoes and sweets. The fish markets are at their busiest the day before.
Muharram (Jun, Moves about 11 days earlier each year; mid-June in 2027, Central Kolkata, Metiabruz, and Murshidabad): The Shia mourning for Imam Hussain, with tazia processions on the tenth day (Ashura). Murshidabad’s Nizamat Imambara is the centre in the district.
Hul Diwas (Jun, 30 June, Santhal areas of western Bengal): Remembers the Santhal uprising of 1855 led by Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, with gatherings, songs and tributes.
Rath Yatra (Jul, Ashadha (June to July), Serampore (Mahesh), Kolkata (ISKCON)): The chariot festival of Lord Jagannath. The Mahesh Rath Yatra in Serampore is one of Bengal's oldest and most famous.
Jhulan Jatra (Aug, Shraban (July to August), ending on the full moon, Vaishnav temples, Nabadwip, and homes across Bengal): Radha and Krishna are rocked on decorated swings. Children build little scenes of villages, farms and fairs with clay toys around the swing.
Manasa Puja (Aug, Shraban Sankranti (mid-August), Rural Bengal, especially Bankura, Bishnupur and the delta): Worship of the snake goddess Manasa in the rainy season, with songs from the tale of Behula and Lakhindar.
Janmashtami (Aug, Bhadra (August to September), Across Bengal, especially Nabadwip and Mayapur): Krishna’s birthday. In Bengal it is the season of the palmyra fruit, so homes make taler bora, sweet palm fritters.
Bhadu Parab (Sep, The month of Bhadra (August to September), Purulia, Bankura, Bardhaman): A month of women’s songs to Bhadu, a folk goddess. Clay images are kept in homes and sung to every evening, then taken to the water at the end of the month.
Biswakarma Puja (Sep, Around 17 September, Factories, workshops and rooftops across Bengal): The god of craft and machines is worshipped in workshops, garages and factories, and the sky fills with kites as rooftops compete to cut each other’s strings.
Durga Puja (Oct, Ashwin (September to October). 2026: 16 to 21 October, Kolkata and all across Bengal): The biggest festival of Bengal and a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (Durga Puja in Kolkata, 2021). Elaborate pandals, idol-making, dhak drummers, dhunuchi dance, sindoor khela and Bijoya.
Mahalaya (Oct, The new moon before Durga Puja (September or October), Homes and Hooghly ghats across Bengal): The day the Puja season begins. Bengal wakes before dawn to the radio recital of Mahishasuramardini, and many go to the ghats to offer water to their ancestors (tarpan).
Kojagari Lakshmi Puja (Oct, The full moon after Durga Puja (October), Bengali homes everywhere): Lakshmi is worshipped at home with alpana of her footprints, painted saras, khichuri and sweets. Kojagari means “who is awake?”: the goddess blesses those who stay up through the full-moon night.
Kali Puja & Diwali (Nov, Amavasya (October to November), Kalighat, Dakshineswar, Kolkata): Bengal celebrates Diwali by worshipping Goddess Kali at night, with lamps, fireworks and midnight rituals. Bhai Phonta follows.
Bhai Phonta (Nov, Two days after Kali Puja, Bengali homes everywhere): Sisters put a dot of sandalwood on their brothers’ foreheads and pray for their long life, then feed them a festive meal. Sweet shops are busiest of the year.
Chhath Puja (Nov, Six days after Diwali, Hooghly ghats and lakes in Kolkata and Howrah): The sun festival of Kolkata’s Bihari and Purvanchali families, with offerings to the setting and rising sun from the water’s edge. The riverbanks are packed at dusk and dawn.
Jagadhatri Puja (Nov, Kartik (November), Chandannagar): Chandannagar's most famous festival, known for its illuminated streets and grand pandals; also celebrated in Krishnanagar.
Rash Mela, Cooch Behar (Nov, November (Rash Purnima), Cooch Behar): A large fair held around the Madan Mohan temple with stalls, folk performance and local crafts.
Rash Utsav, Nabadwip and Shantipur (Nov, Rash Purnima (November), Nabadwip and Shantipur, Nadia): Nabadwip celebrates Rash with towering images of Shakti goddesses carried through the streets; Shantipur with Vaishnav processions. Both towns are full through the night.
Patachitra fair, Naya (Nov, Usually November, Naya village, Pingla, Paschim Medinipur): The patua village opens its homes for a fair of painted scrolls, with painters singing their pater gaan and selling directly to visitors.
Kolkata International Film Festival (Nov, November or December, Nandan and halls across Kolkata): A week of world and Indian cinema, held each year since 1995, with long queues of film lovers.
Nabanna (Nov, Agrahayan (mid-November to December), Rural Bengal and Shantiniketan): The festival of new rice. The first rice of the harvest is cooked with milk, jaggery and fruit, offered to the gods and ancestors, and shared with neighbours.
Poush Mela (Dec, From 7 Poush (late December), Shantiniketan, Birbhum): A famous winter fair at Shantiniketan with Baul singers, handicrafts, food stalls and folk arts from across Bengal.
Bishnupur Mela (Dec, Late December, Bishnupur, Bankura): A winter fair in the temple town, with classical and folk music, Baluchari saris, terracotta and dokra stalls.
Christmas on Park Street (Dec, 25 December (Boro Din), Park Street and churches across Kolkata): Kolkata celebrates Christmas ('Boro Din') with lights on Park Street, midnight mass at churches such as St Paul's Cathedral, and plum cakes from old bakeries.