Editing West Bengal (section)

=== Festivals ===
{{Main|List of festivals in West Bengal}}

[[Durga Puja]] is the biggest, most popular and widely celebrated festival in West Bengal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.westbengaltourism.gov.in/web/guest/festival-home |title=Durga Puja |access-date = 5 March 2012 |work=Festivals celebrated throughout West Bengal |publisher=Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120116073347/https://www.westbengaltourism.gov.in/web/guest/festival-home |archive-date = 16 January 2012}}</ref> The five-day-long colourful Hindu festival includes intense celebration across the state. [[Pandal]]s are erected in various cities, towns, and villages throughout West Bengal. The city of Kolkata transforms Durga Puja. It is decked up in lighting decorations and thousands of colourful pandals are set up where effigies of the goddess Durga and her four children are displayed and worshipped. The idols of the goddess are brought in from [[Kumortuli]], where idol-makers work throughout the year fashioning clay models of the goddess. Since independence in 1947, Durga Puja has slowly changed into more of a glamorous carnival than a religious festival. Today people of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds partake in the festivities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Durga Puja in India: Largest Open-Air Art Expo |url=http://kolkata.china-consulate.org/eng/zlgxw/t1309532.htm |website=kolkata.china-consulate.org |access-date = 25 December 2015 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151225163234/http://kolkata.china-consulate.org/eng/zlgxw/t1309532.htm |archive-date = 25 December 2015}}</ref> On [[Vijayadashami]], the last day of the festival, the effigies are paraded through the streets with riotous pageantry before being immersed into the rivers.<ref>{{cite news |title=Foreign bloggers and travel writers soak in Kolkata's festive spirit |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Foreign-bloggers-and-travel-writers-soak-in-Kolkatas-festive-spirit/articleshow/49531930.cms |website=[[The Times of India]] |date=26 October 2015 |access-date = 25 December 2015 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160101213233/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Foreign-bloggers-and-travel-writers-soak-in-Kolkatas-festive-spirit/articleshow/49531930.cms |archive-date = 1 January 2016}}</ref>

[[Rath Yatra]] is a Hindu festival which celebrates [[Jagannath]], a form of Krishna. It is celebrated with much fanfare in Kolkata as well as in rural Bengal. Images of Jagannath are set upon a chariot and pulled through the streets.<ref name="Betts-2013">{{cite book |title=Footprint Focus-Kolkata and West Bengal |isbn=978-1-909268-41-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aD_-AgAAQBAJ |language=en |last1=Betts |first1=Vanessa |date=30 October 2013 |publisher=Footprint Travel Guides |access-date=11 May 2018 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202001158/https://books.google.com/books?id=aD_-AgAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{multiple image
| align             = 
| direction         = 
| image1            = Durga, Burdwan, 2011.JPG
| width1            = 200
| image2            = Mahesh Rath Yatra.jpg
| width2            = 190
| image3            = Goddess Saraswati dressed in yellow sari for Vasant Panchami Festival, Kolkata.jpg
| width3            = 170
| footer            = Festivals of West Bengal: [[Durga Puja]], [[Rath Yatra]] and Goddess Saraswati dressed in a yellow sari on [[Saraswati Puja]]
| image4            = Karam puja 4.jpg
| caption4          = [[Karam festival]] in [[Jhargram]]
}}

Other major festivals of West Bengal include: [[Poila Baishakh]] the Bengali new year, [[Dolyatra]] or [[Holi]] the festival of lights, [[Nobanno|Poush Parbon]], [[Kali Puja]], [[Shakta Rash|Nabadwip Shakta Rash]], [[Saraswati Puja]], [[Diwali|Deepavali]], [[Lakshmi Puja]], [[Janmashtami]], [[Jagaddhatri]] Puja, [[Vishwakarma Puja]], [[Bhai Phonta]], [[Raksha Bandhan|Rakhi Bandhan]], [[Kalpataru Day]], [[Shivratri]], [[Ganesh Chathurthi]], Maghotsav, [[Karam festival]], [[Kartik (month)|Kartik Puja]], [[Akshay Tritiya]], Raas Yatra, [[Guru Purnima]], [[Annapurna]] Puja, [[Charak Puja]], [[Gajan (festival)|Gajan]], [[Buddha Purnima]], [[Christmas]], [[Eid ul-Fitr]], [[Eid ul-Adha]] and [[Muharram]]. [[Rabindra Jayanti]], [[Kolkata Book Fair]], [[Kolkata Film Festival]], and Nazrul Jayanti. All are important cultural events.<ref name="Betts-2013" />

[[Eid al-Fitr]] is the most important Muslim festival in West Bengal. They celebrate the end of [[Ramadan]] with prayers, alms-giving, shopping, gift-giving, and feasting.<ref name="Chakrabarti-2013">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVOFAAAAQBAJ&q=Eid-ul-Fitr+in+West+Bengal&pg=PA182 |title=Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis |last1=Chakrabarti |first1=Kunal |last2=Chakrabarti |first2=Shubhra |date=22 August 2013 |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=978-0-8108-8024-5 |language=en |access-date=21 October 2020 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202001200/https://books.google.com/books?id=QVOFAAAAQBAJ&q=Eid-ul-Fitr+in+West+Bengal&pg=PA182 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Christmas, called ''Bôŗodin'' (Great day) is perhaps the next major festival celebrated in Kolkata, after Durga Puja. Although Hinduism is the major religion in the state, people show significant passion to the festival. Just like Durga Puja, Christmas in Kolkata is an occasion when all communities and people of every religion take part. Large masses of people go to parks, gardens, museums, parties, fairs, churches and other places to celebrate the day. A lot of Hindus go to Hindu-temples and the festival is celebrated there too with Hindu rituals.<ref>{{cite web |title=YSSKendra – Christmas Celebration at Dakshineswar Ashram, December 2016 |url=https://dakshineswar.yssashram.org/article/view/280 |access-date=2 September 2022 |website=dakshineswar.yssashram.org |archive-date=2 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902113328/https://dakshineswar.yssashram.org/article/view/280 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Christmas In Belur Math: রীতিমেনেই বেলুড় মঠে বড়দিন পালন |url=https://www.etvbharat.com/bengali/west-bengal/state/howrah/christmas-celebrate-by-belur-math-monks-old-rituals/wb20211224220302236 |access-date=2 September 2022 |website=ETV Bharat News |date=24 December 2021 |language=bn |archive-date=2 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902113327/https://www.etvbharat.com/bengali/west-bengal/state/howrah/christmas-celebrate-by-belur-math-monks-old-rituals/wb20211224220302236 |url-status=live}}</ref> The state tourism department organises a gala Christmas Festival every year in [[Park Street, Kolkata|Park Street]].<ref>{{cite web |title=West Bengal Tourism |url=http://www.westbengaltourism.gov.in/web/guest/parkstreetchristmascarnival |website=www.westbengaltourism.gov.in |access-date = 25 December 2015 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151225190848/http://www.westbengaltourism.gov.in/web/guest/parkstreetchristmascarnival |archive-date = 25 December 2015}}</ref> The whole of Park Street is hung with colourful lights, and food stalls sell cakes, chocolates, Chinese cuisine, momo, and various other items. The state invites musical groups from Darjeeling and other [[North East India]] states to perform choir recitals, carols, and jazz numbers.<ref>{{cite web |title=In photos: Glimpses of a Bengali Christmas on Kolkata's Park Street |url=http://scroll.in/article/777409/in-photos-glimpses-of-a-bengali-christmas-on-kolkatas-park-street |website=Scroll.in |access-date = 25 December 2015 |language=en-US |first=Angikaar |last=Choudhury |date=23 December 2015 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151225163820/http://scroll.in/article/777409/in-photos-glimpses-of-a-bengali-christmas-on-kolkatas-park-street |archive-date = 25 December 2015}}</ref>

[[Vesak|Buddha Purnima]], which marks the birth of Gautama Buddha, is one of the most important Hindu/Buddhist festivals and is celebrated with much gusto in the Darjeeling hills. On this day, processions begin at the various Buddhist monasteries, or ''gumpas'', and congregate at the [[Chowrasta (Darjeeling)]] Mall. The Lamas chant mantras and sound their bugles, and students, as well as people from every community, carry the holy books or ''pustaks'' on their heads. Besides Buddha Purnima, [[Dashain]], or [[Dusshera]], Holi, Diwali, [[Losar]], Namsoong or the Lepcha New Year, and Losoong are the other major festivals of the Darjeeling Himalayan region.<ref name="Chakrabarti-2013" />

Each year between July and August at [[Tarakeswar]] Yatra held, nearly 10 million devotees come from various part of India bringing holy water of Ganga fin order to offer it to [[Shiva|Lord Shiva]].

Poush Mela is a popular winter festival of [[Shantiniketan]], with performances of folk music, Baul songs, dance, and theatre taking place throughout the town.<ref name="Chakrabarti-2013" />

Ganga Sagar Mela coincides with the [[Makar Sankranti]], and hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims converge where the river Ganges meets the sea to bathe en{{nbsp}}masse during this fervent festival.<ref name="Betts-2013" />