Ratha Yatra
16 July 2026 · movable holiday — Pulled with love and faith – the road is for everyone!
Ratha Yatra, the “Festival of Chariots”, is one of the largest Hindu festivals in India. Its best-known celebration takes place in Puri, in the state of Odisha, in connection with the Jagannath Temple. According to tradition, on this day the deities worshipped in the temple are carried out onto enormous wooden chariots, which thousands of devotees pull with thick ropes along the main avenue. The chariots are built anew each year and decorated with bright fabrics and canopies. Taking hold of the ropes is understood as a deep expression of devotion, and the festival draws people from across the country. The date follows the lunar calendar: it falls on the second day of the waxing moon (shukla paksha) in the month of Ashadha, usually in June or July. In this way the sky sets the rhythm of the festival, with the days counted from the new moon until the chariots set out. Today Ratha Yatra is also held in many cities around the world.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver constellation figure made of luminous dots and lines, shaped like a towering festival chariot with large wheels and a tiered canopy, drawn by glowing rope-lines across the Milky Way
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