HAPPY NEW YEAR to all Indians and to everyone else.

Happy Vaisakhi to Punjabis, Haryanvis, Himachalis
Happy Navreh to Kashmiris
Happy Rongali Bihu to Assamese
Happy Vishu to Malayalees
Happy Poila Boisakh to Bengalis
Happy Sangkranti to Oriyas
Happy new year to Tamils, Manipuris, Tripura people

Happy Ram Navami to everyone.

Hey, does your New Year share the same origins as the Songkran festival in Indochina?

Yes they have the same origins. In Orissa state of India the new year is called Sangkranti. They share the the same name with the one in indo-china. Also Nepali and Srilankan new years fall on the same days.

happy belated new years. I was going to say it was yesterday until I saw the date of the posts

Welcome bro. Happy new year to you too. See this is India, they all celebrate the same New Year with different names.

So how did Sangkranti get over to Indochina?? Do u also throw water around alot as a celebratory ritual?

Happy belated New Year to all . It appears most Indians celebrate it around April 14!

Oh, Happy Ram Navami as well

^ Happy Vaisakhi @kkdkckrl and Happy Ram Navami. Vikrami calendar is more popular especially in the North. Though the national calender of India is the Saka calender. In Saka Calender the year starts in March and in the Vikrami calender the year starts in April . This is the only difference I know.


Indochina is not some far off place. It is in the neighborhood of India. India and Indochina have a shared culture. How it reached Indochina? This is the way Europeans see things. I wasn't expecting you to see things this way.

By throwing water you mean throwing water on people? Yes we do. But not in new year. It is another festival called Holi which is celebrated in different dates in March because it follows the Hindu calender. People throw water even at complete strangers. Especially children become a big nuisance during Holi festival, but people don't mind much.

I wonder what drove Indian Gov't to adopt Shalivahana Calendar as the official calendar instead of Vikrami or other calendars. One would assume, since the overwhelming majority use Vikrami calendar it would be the official calendar.

Actually Shalivahan or Saka calender is a regional calender, while Vikrami calender is a Hindu religious calender. So in order to preserve the secular nature of modern India, Saka calender was chosen. But there are lots of other regional and local calenders in India as well.

Happy New Year, India!

Happy new year too! I dont know exact location in India ppl celebrate the festival but i know about Sri Langka since the Theravada Buddhism came from Sri Langka.

Hey guys I'm not sure if this is relevant but what's navratari ??

It means nine nights in Sanskrit language.

Navratri = Nav + Ratri,

Nav = Nine
Ratri = Nights

The festival is celebrated for nine days, it is devoted to the worship of the feminine form.