Occasions of Tripura
Garia Puja
Garia Puja, a festival of indigenous people from Tripura. A bamboo pole symbolizes Lord Garia, also known as the deity of livestock and wealth. Garia is worshiped with flowers and garland along with cotton thread, rice, beer made out of rice, earthen pots, riccha and eggs. The Garia festival is celebrated on the seventh day of Baisakh, accoding to Bengali calendar for 7 days.
Kharchi Mela
Kharchi Mela was started by the kings of Tripura to worship around 14 Gods and Goddesses in the Chaturdash Devata Mandir. Today, it is celebrated throughout masses on a large scale every year. A week-long festival in June, which falls in eighth day of new moon; attracts hordes of devotees to Chaturdash Devata Mandir at Old Agartala. Hundreds of devotees mark their presence to offer prayers during the week-long ‘Kharchi Puja’, marking one of the oldest celebration inside Tripura.
Diwali Mela
This fair is over 500 years old celebration, which takes place near Tripura Sundari Temple. It happens every year at the eve of Diwali. In Matabari, at Udaipur of Gomati district, the Tripura Sundari Temple, an ancient religious heritage is visited through thousands of devotees, which is among fifty-one pitha that are recognized in scriptures as holy sites. A grand festival takes place in the vicinity of this temple and people from both tribal and non-tribal communities remain present on this festival. It happens in the month of October or at November.
Water Festival in Neermahal
Neermahal or water palace, a historic monument also called the ‘lake palace’ of eastern India, was built by Maharaja of Tripura, Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur in 1939. It is surrounded with over 2,100 acres in water. Every year, the locals and the state government jointly organise ‘Neermahal Water Festival’ for three days with many programme and an organised vibrant boat race competition in a lake known as Rudrasagar combined with some cultural performance or events in winter.