Presented by – Mrs. Suman Choudhary PRT. K.V. No-1, Airforce, Jodhpur India 'celebrates' four main national festivals Republic Day Independence Day Gandhi Jayanti Children's Day Republic Day is India's great national festival. On 26th of January every year India celebrates its Republic Day. 15th August is celebrated as the Independence Day of India. The date commemorates the day when India achieved freedom from the British rule in the year 1947. Gandhi Jayanti celebrates the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi . Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as 'Bapu' or 'Father of the nation', was born on the 2nd of October in 1869, in Porbunder, Gujarat. We have many festivals in India. These Festivals are Special occasions. We celebrate many festivals throughout the year. It is great fun to celebrate festivals with friends, family and relatives. During all these festivals people put on new dresses. Some of the main festivals are: Diwali Dusshera Holi Christmas Id Guruparva Diwali is a festival of lights. On this day people pray to Goddess laxmi and Lord Ganesha. People decorate their homes with lights, candles and diyas. Children burst firecrackers. We distribute sweets among our friends and relatives. Everyone celebrates this festival with great joy. Dussehra is celebrated for ten days. On the lastday, the effigies of Ravana, his brother and son are stuffed with crackers. The crackers go off. The effigies are burnt. Holi is a festival of colours. People put ‘gulal’ and throw coloured water on one another. Children are very happy to celebrate this festival. Christmas is celebrated on 25th December. Lord Jesus Christ was born on this day. People go the Church and light candles to pray. Christmas tree is decorated. We all enjoy the Christmas cake. They also exchange gifts. Id is a festival celebrated by muslims. Id is celebrated after a whole month of fasting. People go the Mosque to pray. There prayer is called ‘namaz’. They wish each other ‘Id Mubarak’. We all enjoy delicious sewaian. Guruparva is clebebrated by Sihks. They celebrate Guruparvas on the birthdays of their ten Gurus. People go to the Gurdwaras to pray. Big colourful processions are taken out. A community meal called langar is distributed to all.