Hinduism,
Buddhism and to an extent Christianity,
remain the predominant religion and
Nepali, Hindi, Bengali and English
are the prevailing languages.
The Nepali culture
is rich with hidden cultural treasures.
It has various castes and each cast
has a set of their own language apart
from the common Nepali which is used
for conversation. Tibetan is used
by the refugees and some other tribal
people.
Owing to the diversity
of the population of Darjeeling, some
festival or the other is celebrated
almost every month. Most of the Hindu
and Tibetan festivals follow the lunar
calendar and so the date of the festival
does not fall on the exact date the
next year. Also a public holiday means
that all the Government offices and
Banks remain closed that day.
In addition to Durga
Puja, Diwali, Saraswati Puja and Shivratri
etc. there are local festivals peculiar
only to the area. The Lepchas and
Bhutias celebrate the New Year in
January, while the Tibetans have their
Devil dances to celebrate their New
Year in their monasteries from the
last week of February to March. As
in the Chinese tradition, the snake
or dragon dances curl through the
streets. In February the Pedong Mela
and agricultural fair is held in Kalimpong;
along the banks of the confluence
of the Teesta and Rangeet held the
large fair called Makar Sankranti
and in the second week of January
the Beni Mela is celebrated in the
streets of Teesta Bazar when folk
dances fill the air with joy and music.
In mid June processions, celebrate
the Birthday of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama.
A Brief Description of the Darjeeling
Festivals round the Year
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