Andaman and Nicobar Island Festivals | Styles At Life

/ 1,949 Comments

One of the most exquisite union territory of India lies on the laps of Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The two islands together form the lot. While the Andaman Island is on the north side, the Nicobar occupies the southern portion where the Bay of Bengal flows by mostly to the west of the islands. The northern hemisphere is taken care of by the Andaman Sea which separates Burma and Thailand from this islands.

Although they are blessed with abundant flora and fauna the main attraction of the spots beside the scenic beauty remains the culture of the natives, their taste, their lifestyle, their festivals.

Andaman and Nicobar island festivals

Beautiful Andaman and Nicobar Island Festivals.

Andaman and Nicobar shelters a plethora of different people, different by caste, race or color but that doesn’t stop these natives from being a part of any celebration they wish to. Being a large economic source as a tourist spot, these natives and cultures are amiable towards the non-local festivals as well and maybe that is why, New Year and Christmas is widely celebrated with fun and frolic. But when it comes to traditional festivals, their cultures reflect a mash up of all the Indian festivals and first comes in line is the durga pooja.

See More: Festivals Of Pondicherry

All over India people are familiar with this certain festival, the pomposity or the grandeur celebration of this event is a wonder to be seen. Just like any other city in India, Andaman Nicobar natives dress up to their best and celebrate Durga Pooja.

Next comes in line is the janmashtami where the birth of Lord Krishna is celebrated. The houses are decorated; women folk sweat themselves busy preparing mouth-watering dishes and small drama or such event is performed as a part of entertainment, although the Puja offered to lord Krishna is the core procedure. This is generally during the august or September time.

See More: Festival Of Delhi

Another festival celebrated is the subhash mela. This is regarding the birthday of our great martyr Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and is celebrated on the same month as his birthday, January. This calls out for an occasion of assembling all the local tribes and their cultures are mashed and blended in. tourists are always open for participation in any of them they wish.

For the special entertainment of the tourist sector, the tourism department of these islands conducts certain festivals from time to time. Some of them are Island tourism festival which is an annual cultural event organized by the touring committee for the special reason of entertaining the tourists. This is probably one of the most important events of all time since the local art gets a platform to showcase their talents via these cultural events. Then there is the monsoon magic festival which is a festival to show gratitude for the new harvest. Even this is a well awaited event where the natives get a wide stage to bring forth their cultures and their individual talents.

See More: Jammu And Kashmir Festivals

What is Andaman Nicobar without its sun-kissed beaches? One of the main attractions catering to the tourists as well as the economy is the infamous beaches of these islands and to add a fun zeal to this, the beach festival is recently created where this caters to the beach lovers by organizing various beach sports such as volley balls, tug of war etc.

These natives due to their several tribes are more into tribal festivals. While some tribes celebrate Pongal which is a harvest festival, others celebrate Panguni Uthiram which caters to the Tamil needs. Then there are Bengali traditional celebrations like holi, ramanavami, eid, diwali, shivratri.

Being a centre hub for all the religions while Vivekananda and block mela is celebrated by some, others celebrate Good Friday. All in all this entire island has a yearlong schedule of different festivals satisfying different needs and all of them a hit in their own way.

Images Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.