Hindu occasions documented with regional tradition attribution.
Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya.
Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturdashi.
Ashadha Shukla Ekadashi.
Vaishakha Purnima.
9-day Durga worship.
Sun-worship festival.
Festival of lights.
Kartika Krishna Trayodashi.
Sun enters Sagittarius.
Birth of Ganesha.
Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi (different calendar convention).
Ashadha Purnima.
Chaitra Purnima (North).
Shravana Shukla Tritiya.
Festival of colours; spring.
Phagun Purnima eve bonfire.
Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya.
Kartika Purnima.
Spousal-longevity fast (predominantly north/west).
Birth of Krishna.
Night before Makar Sankranti.
Great night of Shiva; night vigil and fasting.
End of Pitru Paksha.
Solar harvest / winter-solstice transition.
Shravana Shukla Panchami.
Kartika Krishna Chaturdashi.
Vaishakha Shukla Chaturdashi.
Nine nights of the Goddess; culminates in Vijayadashami.
Kerala harvest festival (return of Mahabali).
Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya.
Sibling-protection rite (rakhi tying).
Birth of Rama.
Sun-worship.
Regional solar/lunar new-year observances.
Ashwin Purnima.
Kartika Shukla Dwadashi.
Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi.
Shravana last Friday before Purnima.
Worship of Saraswati; spring onset; common day for Vidyarambha.
Ashwin Shukla Dashami.
Solar: Sun enters Virgo.
First feeding of solid food (rice).
Last rites / cremation; final samskara.
Immersion of the cremated remains in a sacred river.
70th-birthday longevity rite.
First tonsure / head-shaving.
Conception rite; first of the Shodasha (sixteen) samskaras.
Birth ritual welcoming the newborn.
Ear-piercing rite.
First shaving of the beard (boys); a coming-of-age rite, sometimes with a brahmacharya vow.
Naming ceremony.
Infant's first outing / first sight of the sun.
Offering of rice/barley balls (pinda) to nourish the departed soul.
Prenatal rite for the wellbeing of the foetus.
Girl's coming-of-age rite after menarche.
Rite at sighting of the 1000th full moon (~81 years 8 months).
Rite marking the end of studentship / return from the guru's house.
Rite formally uniting the departed with the ancestors (preta becomes pitri).
60th-birthday rite, often a re-solemnising of the marriage vows.
Hair-parting / blessing of the expectant mother; basis of the regional baby-shower.
Offering of water (with sesame) to the departed / ancestors.
13th-day ceremony marking the close of the principal mourning period.
Sacred-thread initiation; investiture with the yajnopavita and Gayatri upadesha.
Commencement of Vedic study (follows Upanayana).
Initiation into learning / writing the first letters.
Marriage; the most elaborate samskara, with extensive pre/post-wedding rites.
Periodic memorial rite honouring ancestors.