Indian festivals 2027: the winter celebrations that land in your summer

Lohri belongs to winter. In Australia, January falls in summer, which is the first thing to know about the Indian festivals 2027 brings. Delhi Tourism, run by a Delhi Government corporation, calls Lohri a “prominent winter folk festival” of Sikhs and Hindus from the Punjab region, held on 13 January every year and marking the beginning of the longer days after the winter solstice. As part of the celebrations, a huge bonfire is lit in almost every Punjabi household.

Of the Indian festivals 2027 brings to the Australian summer, those on India’s official list already have dates. It puts Makar Sankranti and Magha Bihu on Thursday 14 January 2027 and Pongal on Friday 15 January. Republic Day shares Tuesday 26 January with Australia Day. Basant Panchami, a festival of spring’s onset, follows on Thursday 11 February, in the last weeks of an Australian summer.

The list comes from India’s Department of Personnel and Training, whose memorandum of 16 July 2026 sets the 2027 holidays for central government offices. Those in Delhi and New Delhi shut on closed holidays such as Republic Day. Makar Sankranti, Magha Bihu, Pongal and Basant Panchami are restricted holidays, a longer list from which each employee may choose two.

Indian festivals 2027: a bonfire, then kites

Lohri is on neither list for 2027, and no official Punjab Government list of 2027 holidays could be found on 19 October 2026. Delhi Tourism says people walk around the fire singing Lohri songs and throw peanuts, sesame, beaten rice and popcorn into the flames as prasad, a devotional offering. It ties the festival to the harvest of the rabi, or winter, crops.

Britannica describes Makar Sankranti as a Hindu festival marking the Sun’s entrance into makara, the sign corresponding to Capricorn, and links it to the harvest of winter crops. In Gujarat the day is Uttarayan, “a uniquely Gujarati phenomenon” according to Gujarat Tourism, when kites fill the skies over most of the state’s cities from before dawn until well after dark. The main contest is to cut a nearby flyer’s string and bring the kite down. Ahmedabad has hosted an International Kite Festival since 1989.

In Assam the same date is Magh Bihu, or Bhogali Bihu, which Britannica calls a mid-January harvest festival. The state’s MyGov site says families and friends get together beforehand to make laroos, pithas and the meji, and feast on the eve, known as Uruka. Early the next morning, after bathing, the eldest member of the family burns the meji or bhelaghor. A Britannica photograph shows a meji, a tall bamboo and straw structure, in flames.

New rice in a pot

Pongal is a restricted holiday on Friday 15 January. Britannica calls it a four-day harvest festival of Tamil Nadu, held in mid-January under the Tamil solar calendar. It marks the start of Thai, a month Tamils consider auspicious, and Tamils across southern India and abroad observe it. Tamil Nadu Tourism, the state’s official tourism website, says it usually falls between 13 and 16 January.

On Bhogi, people throw out old things and replace them with new ones. The Sun god is worshipped on Thai or Surya Pongal and cattle on Mattu Pongal, and on Kaanum Pongal families gather for a grand meal. The sweet dish called pongal, new rice with milk, jaggery and cardamom, is prepared in a pot during the festive days.

One Tuesday, two calendars

Republic Day, one of India’s three national holidays, is on Tuesday 26 January 2027. The Fair Work Ombudsman lists the same Tuesday as the Australia Day public holiday in all six states, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, so India’s Republic Day falls on a public holiday across Australia.

Rashtraparv, the Ministry of Defence’s Republic Day website, records that the Constitution “came into force on 26th January, 1950”. On 19 October 2026 its home page still featured Republic Day 2026, with no program for 2027.

In Canberra, the High Commission of India’s events page shows a celebration of the 76th Republic Day at India House, posted on Sunday 26 January 2025. On 19 October 2026 neither that page nor the High Commission’s announcements page carried any notice of a 2027 function; nor did the websites of the consulates in Sydney and Melbourne.

Spring, in the last weeks of summer

India’s list gives Sri Panchami, or Basant Panchami, as a restricted holiday on Thursday 11 February 2027. Britannica calls Vasant Panchami, also known as Saraswati Puja, “a Hindu festival that celebrates the onset of spring in India”; vasant means spring in Hindi, and panchami refers to the fifth day. Its entry covers the festival’s celebration in Hinduism, Sikhism and Islam. The Basant Panchami greeting published on the Prime Minister of India’s website on 23 January 2026 sought the blessings of “Goddess Saraswati, the deity of knowledge and arts”.

By March the Australian summer is over. India’s list puts Maha Shivratri on Saturday 6 March and Holika Dahan on Monday 22 March, with Holi a closed holiday on Tuesday 23 March 2027. Id-ul-Fitr, also closed, is listed for Wednesday 10 March, a date the memorandum says may change with the sighting of the moon.

A completed Pongal, no upcoming events

On 19 October 2026, Queensland Tamil Mandram’s website showed its most recent Pongal Celebration, at New Farm Park in Brisbane on Saturday 7 February 2026, as completed, and listed no upcoming events. No council kite, Sankranti or Lohri event with a 2027 date could be found that day.

Between Lohri and Basant Panchami on 11 February, the festivals move from a winter bonfire to the onset of spring in India. Every one of those weeks falls in an Australian summer.