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.
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