Festivals of Maharashtra: Unique Celebrations Beyond Ganesh Chaturthi

Maharashtra is globally-renowned for its grand celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi. But not many are aware of the other famous festivals which are celebrated with much fervor and devotion in Maharashtra beyond Ganesh Chaturthi. Some of these festivals are unique to the state and have immense religious significance.

These festivals embody the spirit of the state with community bonds and regional folklore. Let’s know more about these unique festivals of Maharashtra:

This festival of Maharashtra celebrates the Marathi New Year and spring harvest or Konkani New Year. This is celebrated on the first day of Chaitra, celebrating new beginnings around March or April. On this festival, homes are cleaned and decorated with colourful rangolis, neem and mango leaves. A colourful cloth is also hoisted on a bamboo with neem leaves, flowers, sugar garland, and a copper/silver pot. This decorated bamboo is placed outside the home to ward off evil and invite prosperity.

People of Maharashtra take an oil bath in the morning and wear traditional attire like nauvari sarees for women and dhoti-kurta and turban for men. They also cook delicious delicacies such as puran poli, shrikhand, batata bhaji that are drool-worthy. Massive processions and performances are also held mainly in Nashik, Mumbai, and Pune with drums rolling, folk dances, and big feasts.

This festival is mainly celebrated in the rural areas of Maharashtra on the new moon day of Shravan during August. This festival honours bulls and oxen that are essential to farming. Farmers give baths to their cows and bulls and adorn them with colourful ropes and ornaments such as bells and flowers, and take them around the village.

All the villages then celebrate the day together with music, dance, fairs, and authentic rural dishes like poli and kunbi rice dishes. This festival is celebrated to show gratitude towards agricultural animals. Schools also remain closed on this day.

This coastal festival marks the start of the fishing season along the Konkan and is a coconut festival where fishers offer coconuts to Lord Varun on this day before setting sail to pray that they have a successful catch and also for their safety. They decorate their boats as well, and all the villagers gather for a feast with coconut rice, prayers, and enjoy the folk songs. This festival celebrates the sea as well as gratitude for the monsoon. This festival is celebrated in August in Mumbai and the Konkan coast.

This festival is also known as Shravan Panchami and is also celebrated on the fifth day of the fortnight of Shravan. Snakes, mainly cobras, are worshipped on this day and are offered milk, flowers, and sweets. People offer prayers at the temples of Lord Shiva. Traditional snake charmers also participate actively in village squares.

This ritual of offerings is believed to protect people from snake bites and bring blessings. Cobras made of clay are also venerated in houses. This festival is celebrated for blessings of the snakes for the well-being of their family, and these snakes also keep the crops safe from rodents and rats, so by praying to them, they express their gratitude. People in Maharashtra celebrate with dances and songs in the streets on this day.

This festival is celebrated here with great joy and enthusiasm and marks the birth of the deity Krishna. People perform a midnight puja on this festival as well. Maharashtra performs this festival through the tradition of Dahi Handi, where pots are filled with curd, butter, and sweets which are placed at a high level, and teams known as Govindas form a human pyramid to break the pot. This tradition is done to recreate Lord Krishna’s playful heists of butter and has now been turned into competitions of high spirits. People of this region also prepare a prasad or organise a Chappan Bhog as well to honour Lord Krishna.