Plan your trip · Netarhat

What's on in Netarhat

Festivals on the Netarhat plateau belong to its villages, not to its tourist trail. There are no ticketed events — only community celebrations you may be lucky enough to see.

Nothing dated is confirmed for Netarhat right now, so here is the year instead — the fixtures that come round annually, and what each one means for a visit.

The year in Netarhat

Netarhat's calendar runs through most of the year, with the busiest weeks in the clear, comfortable months and a quieter stretch in the heaviest rain. Broadly, Oct – Mar is when visiting is most comfortable here, and that is when the calendar is busiest — which also means accommodation is most expensive and books furthest ahead.

Most of these follow lunar calendars and move by weeks from year to year, so treat the windows below as the season rather than the date, and confirm the year’s dates before you book around one.

Across Jharkhand

Sarhul and Karma

🗓️ March–April, August–September

Tribal spring and harvest festivals with sal flowers, drums and community dance.

Planning: Village-based; ask locally rather than expecting a ticketed event.

Nationwide

Diwali

🗓️ October–November

The biggest holiday of the year — lamps, sweets, fireworks and a week of visiting family. Cities are lit up and markets stay open late.

Holi

🗓️ March

Coloured powder and water, thrown at anyone within reach, mostly through the morning.

Navratri and Dussehra

🗓️ September–October

Nine nights of fasting, music and dance, ending with Dussehra. What it looks like changes completely by region — garba in Gujarat, pandals in Bengal, processions in the south.

Eid al-Fitr

🗓️ shifts ~11 days earlier each year

The end of Ramadan. The old quarters of Delhi, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Bhopal are at their best in the evenings through the preceding month, when food streets run past midnight.

Makar Sankranti and Pongal

🗓️ mid-January

The harvest turn, marked with kites in the west and north and four days of Pongal in Tamil Nadu.

Sarhul (March–April)

Sarhul welcomes the new year as the sal trees flower. In each village, the priest (pahan) makes offerings at the sacred grove, and people wear sal blossoms in their hair. The day ends in dancing at the akhra, the village dance ground, to drums and the mandar. It is the most important festival of the Oraon and Munda communities around the plateau.

Karma (August–September)

Karma falls on the eleventh day of the bright half of the month of Bhadra. A branch of the karam tree is brought into the akhra and planted there, and people fast, sing and dance through the night for good harvests and the well-being of brothers and family. It falls at the end of the monsoon, when the forest is at its greenest.

Sohrai (October–November)

Around Diwali, many communities in the region celebrate Sohrai, a harvest and cattle festival. Houses are freshly plastered and painted with patterns, and cattle are washed, decorated and honoured.

Christmas (December)

Many Oraon and Munda families in the area are Christian, and village churches hold Christmas services and gatherings. Christmas week also brings Netarhat's biggest tourist crowds, with holidaymakers from Ranchi and beyond.

Durga Puja and Diwali

Celebrated in the market area and by families working on the plateau, on a smaller scale than in the cities.

Etiquette

These are religious and community events. Watch from the edge unless invited to join.
Ask before photographing people, especially during worship.
Do not offer money for staged dances.
Go with a local guide, who can tell you when and where celebrations are happening, since dates follow the lunar calendar and vary by village.

Planning

Dates move each year. Ask your lodge or guide a few weeks ahead. For weather in each season, see best time to visit.

Questions

Netarhat — FAQ

Can tourists attend Sarhul in Netarhat?

Village celebrations are community events, not shows. With a local guide and the villagers' welcome you may watch the dancing, but keep a respectful distance from the worship.

What is Sohrai?

A harvest and cattle festival celebrated around Diwali, when homes are plastered and painted with patterns and cattle are decorated and honoured.

When is Karma celebrated?

On the eleventh day of the bright half of Bhadra, usually in August or September, with night-long singing and dancing around a karam branch.