How food and festivals fit together in India
In India, almost every festival has its own foods. Some dishes are cooked as an offering to a deity and then shared. Others mark the harvest, the change of season, or the end of a fast. A few are simply what a family has always made at that time of year.
Practices differ a great deal between regions, communities and even households, so the lists below are common examples rather than rules. A dish that is central to a festival in one state may be unknown in another.
Why festival dates change
Many Indian festivals follow lunar or lunisolar calendars, so their dates on the Gregorian calendar move from year to year. Diwali, for example, usually falls somewhere between mid-October and mid-November. Islamic festivals follow a separate lunar calendar and shift earlier each year. A few harvest festivals, such as Makar Sankranti, are tied to the sun and tend to land on or near the same date each year. Check a current calendar before planning around a specific date.
Festival food calendar
This table gives widely cited examples. It is a starting point, not a complete list.
| Festival | Typical time of year | Foods often associated with it |
|---|---|---|
| Makar Sankranti / Pongal | January | Sesame and jaggery sweets (tilgul), sweet and savoury pongal |
| Lohri | January | Gajar halwa, makki di roti, sarson da saag, sesame sweets |
| Holi | March | Gujiya, thandai, dahi bhalla, malpua |
| Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, Vishu | March to April | Ugadi pachadi, puran poli, shrikhand, sadya |
| Baisakhi | April | Makki di roti and sarson da saag |
| Eid-ul-Fitr | Varies | Sheer khurma, biryani, seviyan |
| Ganesh Chaturthi | August or September | Modak |
| Onam | August or September | Onam sadhya on a banana leaf, payasam |
| Navratri and Dussehra | September to October | Fasting foods, then festive vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals depending on community |
| Diwali | October or November | Ladoo, barfi, gulab jamun, namkeen, savoury snacks |
Diwali
Diwali is the festival of lights and is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, among others. Food is organised roughly into three groups: sweets (mithai), fried savoury snacks (namkeen) and a proper meal. Typical sweets include besan and motichoor ladoo, barfi, kaju katli and gulab jamun. In Maharashtra, karanji, chakli and shankarpale are common. Boxes of sweets are often exchanged as gifts. For a full menu, see our Diwali dinner recipes and menu.
Holi
Holi, the festival of colours, usually falls in March. Gujiya, a sweet fried pastry filled with khoya and dry fruit, is widely associated with it in North India, along with thandai, a spiced milk drink. Dahi bhalla, malpua and kachori with aloo sabzi also appear on tables in different regions. Some versions of thandai are traditionally made with bhang, which is a cannabis preparation; it is not part of every household’s drink, and it is not suitable for everyone.
Ganesh Chaturthi and Janmashtami
Modak, a steamed or fried dumpling with a sweet coconut and jaggery filling, is the dish most closely linked to Ganesh Chaturthi, especially in Maharashtra. For Krishna Janmashtami, many households prepare milk and butter based sweets, since Krishna is traditionally associated with butter and curd. Both festivals involve offering food first and sharing it afterwards.
Navratri and Dussehra
Navratri lasts nine nights. Many people fast or follow a restricted diet during this time, avoiding grains, onion and garlic in some traditions. Foods such as kuttu (buckwheat) flour puris, sabudana dishes and potato preparations are common choices in North India. Buckwheat is also a staple of Slavic cooking, as in our Ukrainian buckwheat recipes. Dussehra, which follows, is often marked with a larger meal and sweets.
Harvest festivals
India has many harvest festivals and they fall at different times in different regions. Some of the best known:
- Pongal (Tamil Nadu): Rice cooked with milk and jaggery (sakkarai pongal) and a savoury version made with moong dal (ven pongal).
- Makar Sankranti (widely celebrated): Sesame and jaggery sweets such as tilgul and til chikki. In Gujarat, undhiyu, a mixed winter vegetable dish, is popular around the kite-flying season.
- Lohri (Punjab): Sesame sweets, peanuts, makki di roti and sarson da saag.
- Baisakhi (Punjab): Often linked to the rabi harvest, with similar Punjabi dishes.
- Onam (Kerala): The sadhya, a vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf with many dishes, usually including sambar, avial and payasam.
- Bihu (Assam): Rice-based sweets and snacks, typically including pitha.
Eid and other faith-linked feasts
Festivals are not only Hindu. At Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, families often prepare sheer khurma, a vermicelli and milk pudding, and biryani (for the fasting month itself, see our Ramadan feast food guide). Nihari, a slow-cooked meat stew with Mughal roots, is associated with festive breakfasts in some communities. Sikh gurpurabs are marked with langar, the community meal. Christmas in India includes regional cakes and sweets. Temples across India also have their own food traditions, covered in our guide to Indian temple food.
Common threads in festival food
- Sweets: Milk, sugar or jaggery, ghee and cardamom feature heavily across regions.
- Offerings: Food is often presented to a deity first and then shared as prasad.
- Fasting and feasting: Many festivals combine a period of restricted eating with a large celebratory meal.
- Seasonality: Sesame and jaggery in winter, mango in spring and early summer, new rice at harvest.
- Hospitality: Visiting friends and relatives with sweets or snacks is part of most celebrations.
Festival food questions
What are some festival foods? Common examples are ladoo, gulab jamun, gujiya, modak, payasam, puran poli, samosa and biryani, depending on the occasion and region.
What is the biggest food festival in India? There is no single official answer. Diwali is often described as the biggest festival overall, and food is central to it. Onam, with its elaborate sadhya, is a strong example of a festival built around a meal.
What are the main harvest festivals and where are they celebrated? Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Makar Sankranti across much of the country, Lohri and Baisakhi in Punjab, Bihu in Assam and Onam in Kerala are frequently listed. Different sources count them differently.