If you’re heading east to India, Japan or China this fall, there are plenty of festivals for you and your family to enjoy.

September Celebrations: Faith, Floats, Families

The Ganpati Festival is in honor of Ganesh, the elephant-headed deity who is recognized as the remover of obstacles.  It begins in late August in Mumbai and lasts for 10 days.  Various communities, residential blocks, streets, markets, wealthy merchants and organizations put up pavilions.  An image of Ganesh, usually quite lavish, is placed on each mandap.  The Ganpati festival is a declaration to the public place of religion, the liveliness of Indian communities, the strength of popular artistic and artisan traditions, and the glorious malleability of an Indian deity.

Japan’s Danjiri Festival at Kishiki Shrine in Kishiwada City, Osaka, takes place on two days in September.  A danjiri is a traditional type of wooden float, decorated with various ornaments.  About 32 of these floats, each representing different neighborhoods, parade around the whole day and ram into each other when they encounter.  Thus, this is also referred to as the fighting festival.  On the second day of the festival, the gigantic floats are drawn as fast as possible around town.  The highlight of the festival is watching the floats go around the corners of narrow streets at high speed, ending at the site of Kishiwada Castle.

In early October, China holds its Moon Festival.  The holiday encourages families to get together wherever possible, as the round shape of the moon symbolizes family reunion.  Moon cakes (round pastries filled with bean paste, fruit, or jam) are the main food of the festivities, and are often piled 13 high in pyramids to represent the months of the lunar calendar year.  People feast on moon cakes, gaze at the moon, and spend time with their families.  They also hang colorful paper lanterns all over their houses and adorn their supper tables with round fruits.

October: Battle of Rama

Dussehra is an Indian Festival that takes place after nine days of Navaratri celebrations, which commemorate the death of the evil king Ravana, his son, and his brother.  Most communities celebrate Dussehra with great fanfare.  During the festival, professional dance companies and amateur troupes act out the Ramleela, or the story of Rama.  Young men and small boys dressed as Rama (forces of good), his brother Lakshman, Ravana (forces of evil), and other players in the drama, proceed through the streets of the community as part of an elaborate float.  Rama and Ravana engage in a battle and Ravana is defeated.  Rama then fires an arrow into the huge effigies of the sons of Ravana, Meghnada and Kumbhakarna (lethargy and laziness, respectively), which are stuffed with crackers and explosives.  The “Victory to Rama” is celebrated with a large explosion in the sky.  In Bengal, Dussehra is celebrated as Durga Puja, and idols of the goddess Durga are worshiped for nine days before being immersed into a body of water.  In Mysore, caparisoned elephants lead a colorful procession through the streets of the city.

Light & Renewal in November

During three days in the late fall, Karatsu City in Japan hosts the Karatsu Kunchi, a festival that includes rhythmical music and large floats called Hikiyama.  It starts during the evening, with paper lanterns adorning the Hikiyama.  On the second day, the portable shrine of Karatsu leads the way of the Hikiyama to Nishinohama, a sandy beach.  On the third day, teams dressed in the traditional uniforms of Edo Period firefighters pull the floats through their neighborhoods, and then return the Hikiyamato their storage place, the Hikiyama Float Exhibition Hall.  A funny side note: During the festival, no one is criticized for not observing good manners.

Diwali takes place 18 days after Dussehra, and is one of the most well known of the Indian Festivals.  People light small oil lamps and place them around the home and the perimeters of the property.  The celebration of the festival includes an explosion of fireworks and the exchanging of sweets.  The “festival of lights,” as it’s colloquially known, signifies the return of Rama after defeating Ravana, and the renewal of life (and accordingly, it is also common to wear new clothes on the day of the festival).

Gia interned for Family Travel Forum while an English major at New York University.  She now works for True Romance Magazine. She likes to read, write, sing, golf, and of course, travel. One of her favorite places is Rome, and she hopes to live there for at least part of her adult life.