Hindu Festival Essay

720 Words3 Pages

The process of liberation from Samsara begins with the extinction of three fires, which are passion, hate and ignorance, and then proceeds to extinguishing of all feelings, including here happiness and sadness, into nothingness. This final state of nothingness leads to Nirvana. Those who attain Nirvana are known as “the worthy one” or “the perfected person”. There are many special or holy days held throughout the year by the Buddhist and Hindu community. These festivals are always joyful events. However, there are some differences between Hindu holy days and Buddhist holy days. Most of Buddhism holidays and festivals celebrate important events in the life of the Buddha. The dates of the holidays are based on the lunar calendar and often …show more content…

They say that Hindus have a holiday for every day of the year. Some think that even that may be an understatement. It is not known exactly how many Hindu festivals are there, but one professor of Hinduism has listed more than a thousand different Hindu festivals. As in most ancient religions, many of the Hindu holidays are based on the cycle of nature. These sacred days “mark the change of seasons, celebrate the harvest, and encourage fertility of the land” (as cited in “Hindu Holidays & Festivals”, 2015). The same as the Buddhist tradition, Hindu sacred days are celebrated through a wide variety of rituals, including worship, prayer, magical acts, singing, dancing, and giving food to the poor. I would like to mention two of the most important Hindu holy days, Holi and Diwali. Holi is also known as the festival of colors or the festival of sharing love. It is an annual festival celebrated on the day after the full moon in the Hindu month of Phalguna, which is the beginning of March. On these days, many people try to end and free oneself from past errors, to end conflicts, to forget and forgive. Next, there is Diwali, which is known as the festival of light, and is the most popular festival in South Asia. Many Hindus call it as the New Year 's Eve. An editorial written by the Times of India explains meaning of

Open Document