India (Orissa) : public and bank holidays, closure of banks, stock exchanges, school vacations

Hinduism : A Hindu festival in honor of Lord Shiva and his marriage to Goddess Parvati. Ceremonies involving prayers and hymns take place mostly at night.

Hinduism : Vasant means, the spring season . This is the great spring festival, falling on the fifth day of the month of Magh, the first day of spring. On this day everyone wears a yellow cloth. It represents the ripening of the spring crops. Even the food is coloured yellow by using saffron. Spiritually, the yellow colour is a sign of prosperity; it is the colour of love. On this day we offer special worship to the sun god, to Mother Ganga (the deity of the sacred river Ganges), and Mother Earth. They provide us the means of acquiring food and all that we need to keep alive. We express our gratitude to them by worshipping them. Hindus are ever mindful of the debt they owe to all nature. Worship of nature is extremely important to them.

Culture : Takes place after completion of the most arduous task of Jhum operation i.e., jungle-clearing (clearing of the remnants of burning). It is a spring festival celebrated with great fervour and gaiety. Chapchar Kut is estimated to have started in 1450-1700 A.D. in a village called Suaipui. [Wikipedia]

Secular holiday : Commemorates the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution recognizing a major change in the Panchayat Raj system. Decentralization of power is now in the hands of the people by the State Legislatures

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Hinduism :

Hinduism :

Hinduism : Festivities take place in the Rama temples. recitation of the Ramayana (Perayana), which can last up to 9 days. Classical music and sacred chants.

Secular holiday : N the memory of the formation of the state as a separate province on 1 April 1936. After losing its political identity completely in 1568 following the defeat and demise of the last king Mukunda Dev, efforts resulted in the formation of a politically separate state under British rule on linguistic basis on 1 April 1936. [Wikipedia]

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Jainism : Jain festival honoring Lord Mahavira on the founder's birthday.

Catholic or protestant : The First Council of Nicaea (a gathering of bishops in the early days of Christianity) wanted to find a day to commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. This commemoration had to be linked to Jewish holiday traditions, since the last supper of Christ was believed to be a Jewish Passover meal. But the Jewish calendar is based on lunar and solar cycles, so the Easter celebration had to follow the same calendar.

Hinduism : The traditional new year day festival of Buddhists and Hindus in Odisha, India. The festival date is set with the solar cycle of the lunisolar calendar, as the first day of the traditional solar month of Mesha. This is identical to the purnimanta system of lunar month Baisakh (on Indian national system, it is the 24th day of Chaitra).

Secular holiday : This lawyer and politician drafted the constitution of India.

Muslim, Sufi : Ends the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. There were 30 days of strict fasting from sunup to sundown in honor of the first revelation to the Prophet Mohammed.

Buddhism (Theravada) :

School holidays :

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Hinduism : A fasting day observed by married Hindu women of Nepal and the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha[1]on the Amavasya, the no moon day in month of Jyeshtha. It is also known as Sabitri Uwaans in Western Odisha region. [Wikipedia]

Banks only : First day of three-day Raja Sankranti in Orissa. The festival is dedicated to Mother earth, girls and women. Farmers prepare for the ensuing monsoon season by giving rest to farmlands for three days. Girls and women do not do any work for three days and they indulge in fun, games and merrymaking. [Hindu Blog]

Secular holiday : The first day of the Raja Sankranti festival is known as Pahili Sankranti, the second day is Raja and third day is Basi Raja.

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Hinduism : Ratha Yatra, Rathajatra or Chariot festival is any public procession in a chariot. The term particularly refers to the annual Rathayatra in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other East Indian states, particularly the Odia festival that involve a public procession with a chariot with deities Jagannath (Vishnu avatar), Balabhadra (his brother), Subhadra (his sister) and Sudarshana Chakra (his weapon) on a ratha, a wooden deula-shaped chariot. It attracts over a million Hindu pilgrims who join the procession each year. [Wikipedia]

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Muslim, Sufi :

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Muslim, Sufi : The first day of the year is observed on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar. The first Islamic year beginning in 610 AD during which the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, known as the Hijra

Culture : (December 26, 1899 – July 31, 1940) was an Indian independence activist, best known for assassinating Michael O'Dwyer in March 1940 in what has been described as an avenging of the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre. Udham Singh Kamboj changed his name to Mohammad Singh Azad, symbolizing the unification of the three major religions of India: Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. Singh is considered one of the best-known revolutionaries of the Indian independence struggle.