The Makar Sankranti festival which falls in mid-January and marks the winter solstice. During this period pilgrims in numbers more than 500,000 gather on Sagar Dwip, an island some 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Kolkata, for the three-day Ganga Sagar Mela. The pilgrims on the way to the mela sleeps in make shift tents erected in the Maidan . The festival lasts from 12th to 14th. The Baul Mela beings on the day  the Ganga Sagar Mela ends. Bauls are singers belonging to the  Hindu Vaishnab and Sufi Muslim  from all over Bengal as well as from Bangladesh. They gather at Bolpur which is 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of Kolkata and sings enchanting devotional tunes for three nights. 

As the winter recedes and spring approaches, the city get ready for the celebration of Vasant Panchami. On this day primarily students, artists and professors offer worship to Devi Swaraswati  the Goddess of Knowledge and music. 

Dol Purnima more popularly known as Holi is a festival of colours and the city celebrates it with the traditional gaiety. Holi is also known as the Dol Yatra in Bengal. It is celebrated by people of all walks of life both young and old by smearing each other with coloured powder especially red. Colours are also mixed with water and sprayed on passer-by. The ever enthusiastic group enjoys by drinking bhang which is a mild-milk beverage laced with marijuana. Social barriers are broken. This is a time when lower-cast plays with the upper-cast and poor may play with the rich. 

Marking the begining of the Bengali New Year is Noboborsho. It falls on the mid of April the approach of summer. Bengali businessman opens his new account book the halkhata. The account books, statues of Ganesh and Lakshmi is taken to the Temple for blessings. The businessmen invites their loyal customers in the evening  who make a token payment to open the new account book. The shops are heavily decorated with floral garlands, young banana and auspicious mango leaves and the customers are greeted with sweets. 

The Rath Yatra festival falls on the late of June or early July. It is celebrated in the honour of Lord Jagannath an avatar of Vishnu.  Huge processions are organised in Kolkata by the ISKON throwing the traffic out of gear. In Serampore district which is located away from of Kolkata, a huge replica of chariot of Lord Jagannath's is brought on the street. People scramble around to get a chance to pull the sacred rope of the huge chariot. Children on the suburbs are seen pulling their mini chariots decorated with flowers and idols of Jagannath, brother Balaram and sister Subhadra.  

Vishwa Karma is the God of Creation. On the 17th. September every year the festival is celebrated by all industrial houses, artists, craftsmen, and weavers. The tools utilized during production are cleaned and all machinery are repainted. The the statue of Vishwakarma holding a hammer  are erected in workshops. People are also found to be flying multi-colour kites.  

This is the biggest festival of Bengal and celebrated with real galore not only at Kolkata but by Bengali community across the globe.  During the puja, which lasts for around five days the entire city and its suburbs throbs in festive spirit and decorates itself like a new bride. The Bengalis of all walks of life accumulate their saving throughout the year for this period. A month prior to Puja Bengalis are found to move around the market like a swarm of bees looking for new attire and cloths. The whole city looks like a big fair with shops full of customers. According to Hindu mythology, all gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon endowed Durga with a portion of their own energy to give her strength, or shakti, to destroy the evil forces. Durga Puja is a celebration of the victory of good over evil. It is the worship of the 'Shakti' or power which governs the world. Some 2,000 pandals are erected throughout the city. The idol of Maa Durga build by the famous clay modelers of Kumartuli, shows her slaying the most powerful demon, Mahisasur.  The decorations of these pandals are a delight to the eyes. Most of these pandals are build in the replica of famous temples around the country and its craftsmanship will leave anybody on the earth spellbound. Some times its takes more than a month to build these pandals. The illumininations around these pandals are done by famous electricians of Chandannagar which even raised eyebrows electronic experts of Japan. The Pandals are placed where the public worship is done. During the occasion of Durga special drummers called Dhakis arrive from all over Bengal to play during the festival. These Dhakis use huge powerful drums made of a hollow tree branch and goat skin and the rumble of their drums can be  heard constantly all over the city on these occasions. The puja ends on Mahadashami, when the idol is carried on carts or trucks decorated in festive processions by cheering devotees, sometimes preceded by bagpipers and bandparties, to be immersed in river Hooghly or nearby lakes in front of the tearful eyes of the Bengalis. .......More interesting information 

Five days after Mahadashami the festival of Goddess of prosperity Laxmi is worshipped. It fall on a full moon and worshipped in most of the Hindu household. On the premises of the Durga Puja pandal, the public Laxmi puja is performed. 

After nineteen days of the completion of the Durga Puja, the city get geared up to celebrate another popular festival, the Kali Puja. Kali is worshipped as the Mother Goddess who protects from evil. The image of Kali is bit frightening and usually shows her with a severed head in one hand, her sword known as Kharga in the other. She is seen standing on her foot on Lord Shiva's chest  and wearing a garland of skulls. The puja actually takes place at midnight on the day of the new moon.During the Kali Puja all houses are lit up with candles decorated around the house. During this puja, children and adults are seen to burst firecrackers and lighting  multicouloured sprinkling crackers. No one seems to sleeps on that night.

Christmas is not only celebrated by the Christian community but even other people and communities of Kolkata as well. The famous Park Street is highly illuminated and Flurry bake specials cakes which is sold in no time. Christmas falling during winter  which is a very pleasant time of Kolkata, people are seen taking time off to hold picnics. There are parties in clubs and hotels. The best masses are at St. Paul's Cathedral, candle lit on this occasion, at St. Andrew's Kirk. 

As year come to an end the people of Kolkata and get ready to mark the beginning of another year. Although most communities follow their own calender, the first day of the Christian calender is celebrated by all. On the night of 31st December,  which is usually chill due to peak winter people forgetting the cold are seen to move around the side walks of Park Street through out the night merry making to glory. On New Year's Eve, parties are organised in clubs, hotels, restaurants and private homes. Most of the city transport are garlanded and the city is again found to be in the festive mood again. 

The major festival of the Muslims is Bakri-Id. It is also celebrated with high intensity and mood in Kolkata. During Bakriid, the northern part of the Maidan becomes the prayer grounds for Muslims. They gather around the Saheed Minar while the muezzin conducts the sessions from the top the monument.

The Shiite processions along Chitpore Road and, in Metiaburuz, Kidderpore, Razabazar, Narkeldanga, Beliaghata and Manicktola are really a spectacle to be seen. These procession are led by a white horse, the Hussain's mount. Immediately following are the tazias, preciously handicrafted replicas of Hussain's grave. The flagellants pound their chests singing "Hassan, ya Hussain" and use muti-tailed whip attached with razor flagellate themselves.