✦ zenith calendar · the hindu almanac
the great festivals in one quiet layer of your sky, each one explained in its own tradition's words.
hindu is one of the holiday almanacs that come with zenith calendar. it holds the festivals of the hindu year as they fall for new delhi. outside india a festival can fall a day either side, and the almanac's own page says so.
its dates come from published festival lists, not worked out on your phone. tap a festival and read three short paragraphs: what it is, where it comes from, and how it is kept.
lunisolar · the hindu months, as published for new delhi
vijayadashami · the day of victory
vijayadashami, the tenth day, after the nine nights
the day of victory: it celebrates rama's victory over ravana and durga's victory over mahishasura, the triumph of good over evil.
in the north the ramlila ends at dusk with great effigies of ravana burned; mysore holds its royal dasara procession, and in bengal, on bijoya dashami, durga is carried to the water.
the festival of lights
the new moon of kartika: the night of lakshmi puja
the festival of lights, at the heart of five days of celebration: the night lamps are lit to welcome lakshmi, the goddess of fortune.
homes are cleaned and lit with diyas, clay oil lamps, and rangoli is drawn at the door; in the evening families worship lakshmi and ganesha together and share sweets.
the great night of shiva
the fourteenth night of the waning moon in phalguna
a night of fasting, prayer and staying awake, when devotees turn to shiva to cross from darkness into light.
devotees fast through the day and keep a vigil through the whole night; the linga is bathed in water, milk, curd, honey and ghee, and "om namah shivaya" is chanted until dawn.
the festival of colours
the morning after the full-moon bonfire of phalguna
the festival of colours, welcoming spring: old quarrels are meant to be let go, and friends and strangers embrace.
people play with gulal, coloured powder, and water through the morning, then wash, dress and visit friends and family, sharing gujiya and thandai.
zenith calendar draws the year as an orbit round the sun. lit, hindu puts its festivals on their dates on that ring, in rose. its mark is ॐ, the om.
each festival carries three short paragraphs in its notes: what it is, where it comes from as its own tradition tells it, and how it is kept.
hindu arrives locked, so nothing in it changes by accident. the lock guards your hand, not your eye: you can still read it, shine it or eclipse it. one tap unlocks it, and then it is yours to rename, recolour or add to.
tap its chip in the legend to eclipse it (kept, but not drawn) and tap again to bring it back. nothing is deleted either way.
hindu shares one sky with your own commitments. like every almanac that comes with the app, it never counts toward the almanacs you can make for free, and it lives on your phone: zenith calendar has no server of its own.
✦ zenith calendar · the sky around it
hindu is a single layer. beneath it is a whole calendar drawn as the sky, your year an orbit round the sun, and every part of it answers your touch.
the sun stands at the centre and the year rings round it, with today's earth riding at today's place, its small moon beside it. tap the ring anywhere else and a faint ghost earth waits on that day.
drag along the ring and the days pass under your finger, the big date and the day's list following as you go. lift, and the day you stopped on stays picked.
tap the small moon beside today's earth and you dive into the week. the moon above shows its phase, named underneath; swipe the dates and each week brings its own.
tap the sun and the ring tips on its edge into a ladder of years. in the week, pull the moon firmly down and the month opens, the moon resting half off its foot.
zenith calendar has no server of its own. tap the gear and switch on "nothing comes in" or "nothing leaves this phone"; lift them, and every almanac is back exactly as it was.
hindu is waiting in the app, and the rest of the sky comes with it.
hindu ·
Diwali falls on 8 November 2026, the night of Lakshmi Puja on the new moon of Kartika, as published for New Delhi. In 2027 it falls on 29 October.
Dussehra, Vijayadashami, falls on 20 October 2026 as published for New Delhi. In 2027 it falls on 9 October.
Holi, the festival of colours, falls on 22 March 2027, the morning after Holika Dahan, the bonfire on 21 March. In 2026 it fell on 4 March.
Maha Shivaratri falls on 6 March 2027 as published for New Delhi. In 2026 it fell on 15 February.
Zenith Calendar for Android comes with an almanac called hindu: the festivals of the Hindu year, drawn on the ring of your year beside your own days. Turning it on costs nothing.
Hindu holds the festivals of the Hindu year as they fall for New Delhi. Regional new years (hindu) holds each region's own new year, reckoned for that region's city, so a day can fall a day apart from the hindu almanac. They are separate almanacs, so you light the one you keep.
They are copied from published festival lists for New Delhi, not worked out on your phone. Outside India a festival can fall a day either side, and where two days are published for Janmashtami or Ram Navami, the Smarta one is kept.