Esoteric Calendar
Hindu & Vedic Festival Calendar 2026
Festivals, fasts, and sacred dates from the Hindu and Vedic traditions.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Cyclical Rhythms
These cycles repeat throughout the year. Their dates shift with the moon and stars.
Browse by Tradition
Festivals woven into the lunar month
The Hindu sacred year runs on a lunisolar calendar, its months divided into a bright waxing fortnight and a dark waning one, with the great festivals pinned to particular lunar days. The full moon (Purnima) and the new moon (Amavasya) are themselves observances, kept with fasting and offerings to the ancestors.
From that lunar frame hang the major festivals: the spring Navaratri of the Goddess, Akshaya Tritiya as a day when any new venture prospers, and the four monsoon months of Chaturmas when the gods are said to sleep. Many are tied to a deity’s appearance or a turn in the farming year, and most move against the Western calendar from year to year.
What this calendar holds
The entries here gather the pan-Indian festivals and the quieter monthly observances of the full moon and the new moon. The dates shift each year because they answer to the moon, which is why the same festival can land weeks apart in two consecutive years.