Hindu holidays are considered according to the lunar calendar, which is calculated using the tithis, or 30 days of the lunar calendar. Every three years there is also the month of Purushottama, which adds one extra month to the Vedic calendar.
Holidays are traditionally celebrated in temples and also in e.g. as home programs organized by different families around the world. Temple celebrations include traditional sacred ceremonies with matra recitations performed by the priests as well as distribution of sanctified vegetarian food, or prasadam, to the guests. In addition to these, many celebrations also include lectures or narrations of stories related to the holiday and a cultural program organized by the community.
Particularly popular festivals in Finland with large numbers of visitors are Sri Krishna Janmastami festival organized by the Hare Krishna movement, which gathered more than 2,000 visitors in one evening (2023) and Sri Jagannath Ratha Yatra, which is a traditional street festival attended by hundreds of Hindus. Celebrations organized by the Hare Krishna movement have been held in Finland for over 40 years.
In addition to these, the Diwali events organized by different communities bring together many different members of the community. Diwali celebrations have been organized not only in temples but also in stock exchange companies, schools and even kindergartens where there are many Hindus. The Durga Puja event organized by Bengali Hindus and the Ganesh Chaturthi organized by Maharashtrian Hindus have also been established Hindu festivals in Finland for years.