Festival Overload: Diwali, Holi & the West Coast Holiday Calendar
My first October in the Pacific Northwest felt suspiciously quiet. No firecracker smoke in the air, no neighbours competing over rangoli designs, no last-minute runs for more sweets because your aunt miscounted the cousins. Just rain, pumpkins and Halloween decorations arranged with surprising restraint.
💡 QUICK INTEL
Focus: India’s crowded festival calendar vs West Coast holiday spacing
India Mood: Fire, colour, sound, sugar, extended family
West Coast Mood: Themes, décor, clearly defined seasons
Key Question: What happens when you try to live by both calendars?
India’s festival calendar: almost no neutral months
In India, the year is dotted with festivals that pile up in some months and thin out in others. Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri, Durga Puja, Diwali, Eid, Christmas, Pongal, Onam and many more. The exact mix depends on region and religion. Even if you are not personally observant, you feel the impact through traffic, school holidays, office sweets and music from loudspeakers drifting in at odd hours.
Diwali is all spectacle. Homes are scrubbed, streets glow with lights, and firecrackers test every dog’s patience. Holi turns entire neighbourhoods into temporary war zones of coloured powder and water. These days are not just rituals. They are practice in being with other people in a noisy, shared space.
West Coast holidays: neatly packaged and branded
On the West Coast, major holidays are fewer and more sharply framed. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and maybe the Fourth of July in summer. Each comes with its own imagery, soundtrack and shopping logic. You do not wake up to surprise public holidays because the moon did something important. You do know when big-box stores will start putting up fairy lights.
For Indian families in Seattle or Portland, this setup can feel both gentle and flat. Life is less disrupted and school calendars are predictable. At the same time, Diwali might fall midweek with no day off. You light a few lamps after work, attend a community event on the weekend and then slide back into normal life while cousins in Delhi are still sweeping up burnt-out sparklers.
Hybrids: West Coast Indians remixing both worlds
In Bay Area suburbs, you may see a carved pumpkin on the porch and a small clay lamp in the window in the same week. Community centers host Diwali nights compressed into four hours: cultural performances, a DJ, catered food and a cautious number of sparklers approved by local fire rules. Holi becomes a ticketed park event with safe colours, waivers and chai stalls next to cold brew stands.
These festivals may feel tidier than their Indian counterparts, but they do a different job. They teach kids who grow up on the West Coast that their year can hold more than one story at a time. You can go trick-or-treating and also learn to say “Happy Diwali” with a matchstick in one hand and a sparkler in the other.
“India taught me that a year can feel like a festival marathon. The West Coast taught me that leaving space between celebrations can make each one ring louder in your memory.”
— Maya
The Verdict: It makes little sense to measure Indian festivals and West Coast holidays on a single scale of fun or authenticity. They are different rhythms of belonging. If you are lucky enough to hold both, your calendar does not just get busier. It gets wider.