We just celebrated the New Year. And I noted in my Sunday post that January 11th observes the quirky No Longer New Year’s Day! Then I noticed that the Welsh celebrate Calennig on January 13 every year. This is the tradition of celebrating and welcoming the New Year. Followed by Novy God on the 14th, which means New Year in Russian. Many other cultures celebrate their New Years at different times of the year. This includes the Tamil New Year in April along with others across India celebrating their New Years with different names.
January also brings with it other celebrations for our family and friends – that of Pongal and Makar Sankaranti. These are observed on the 14th of January this year. Note that Pongal is a multi-day festival with the main/biggest celebration on January 14th. This post lists these festivals (already done partly here) and to feature books about some of these festivals from India.
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New Years and Other Celebrations from India
Festival Stories: Through the year
Festival Stories: Through the Year by Rachna Chhabria (Children’s Fiction/Diversity/Multicultural; 9 – 12 years and up)
Description: India is a country of myriad festivals! Not a month goes by in which we don’t have something to celebrate. This book invites you to rejoice in India’s rich culture through the simple stories of two young twins, Natasha and Nikhil, as they experience an entire year of festivals and celebrations – starting with Lohri in January and ending with Christmas in December!
My Quick Thoughts
I loved this look into the various festivities of India through the eyes of the young protagonists via their blog posts/journal entries. Chhabria uses a combination of anecdotal storytelling and interesting facts/narratives about the festivals along with ideas/how-tos for recipes/traditions and more to make this book a must-read for young readers (and old).
New Years of India
New Years of India (3 – 5 years)
Description: A young girl discovers what it means to celebrate New Years across India, the food, attire, festivities and the coming together of loved ones. New Years of India covers, Bihu, Ugadi, Gudi Padwa and many more!
My Quick Thoughts
Given that I grew up in a community where people from all over India lived, and hence grew up celebrating multiple New Years throughout our lives, I love this book! It gives a short yet definitive look into the various New Years across India with vibrant artwork depicting the celebrations.
And Now, the End of This Post
Dear reader, do you have a New Year celebration on a date different from the 1st of January? Or do you know of other such celebrations? Which of the featured books intrigues you enough to look for it/get it for yourself or others? Do let me know. And as always, do let me know if you have any comments and recommendations on this post.
This sounds like an amazing books for kids! It’s wonderful when they can learn about other cultures.
These are some picks! I’ll have to add to my list.
Your post beautifully captures the essence of the myriad celebrations in India, and I’m so excited about the book recommendations!
I’d like to read the Festivals Through The Year Stories with my grand children. I think it could be a good learning point for both them and myself!
I would love to read that book, so interesting! My daughter would like that in her collection too.
These picture books look so good, and welcome back in the game!
Those are wonderful books to check out and I’m sure they would be amazing.
Festival Stories: Through the Year seems like an interesting book. It would be nice to learn more about the various festivities of India.