Festivals and Events in Puducherry

Puducherry celebrates festivals with fervour. Pongal, Easter, Dassehra, Diwali and Christmas are celebrated with enthusiasm, but some of the special events like the International Yoga Festival held in January each year attracts hordes of visitors as this is a particularly festive time with a variety of dance forms on display.

The Festival of Pondicherry is celebrated on August 15 and many interesting cultural shows are put up and this day also coincides with the birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Aurobindo. Bastille Day is celebrated on 14 July in keeping with their French antecedents. The Villianur Temple Car Festival draws a lot of tourists too as on this day in May. The temple deity is dressed and taken out in a chariot. Devotees jostle to be the chosen ones to pull the chariot through town as they distribute food to the townspeople. This act of feeding and serving the crowds they believe will make all their wishes to come true.