Harela 2027

About Harela

Harela is Uttarakhand's festival of green shoots, kept mainly in Kumaon on Karka Sankranti, the first day of the solar month of Shravan. In 2027 it falls on Saturday, 17 July 2027. Families sow five or seven grains in a basket about ten days before, cut the shoots on the day and place them on each other's heads with a blessing, and the state holds a tree-planting drive.

Harela means the day of green. In Kumaon, the hill districts of eastern Uttarakhand, it opens the month of Shravan, when the monsoon has settled in and the kharif crop is going into the terraces. The festival is built around a small basket of seedlings that every family grows indoors for about ten days, then cuts and shares as a blessing.

As tradition tells it, the day also marks the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, which is why families shape clay figures of them for the puja. The greenery itself is the main thing, though. Elders read a strong, thick crop of shoots as a sign of a good year, and the shoots are offered at the family shrine and the village temple and placed on the roof.

Harela is a different festival from Hareli in Chhattisgarh. The names sound alike and both are about greenery and the monsoon, but Hareli falls on the Shravan new moon and centres on farm tools.

How the date is set

Harela follows the solar calendar used in the Kumaon hills. It falls on Karka Sankranti, the day the sun moves into Karka (Cancer), which is the first day of solar Shravan. That lands on 16 or 17 July, depending on the hour of the sun's transit. The lunar month of Shravan in North Indian calendars begins a few days later, so the two do not match.

Uttarakhand made Harela a public holiday in 2020. Before that it was an optional holiday. The government of Trivendra Singh Rawat converted it so that the whole state could join a single day of tree planting, and the holiday is usually given on 16 July. When Karka Sankranti falls on the 17th, panchangs and the government list can differ by a day. Families in the hills go by their own panchang, so the household puja and the office holiday may not land on the same date.

Many families also sow a small harela at Chaitra and Ashwin Navratri, but the Shravan one is the festival.

Ten days in a basket

Accounts differ on the number of days and grains, and both vary by village. This is the order the older Kumaoni descriptions give.

1. Sow the seedsAbout nine to eleven days before Karka Sankranti, the family fills a ringaal basket or leaf bowls with soil and sows five or seven grains: commonly barley, wheat, maize, gahat, mustard, urad and bhatt. Soil and seed go in alternate layers.
2. Keep it in the shadeThe basket sits by the household shrine, out of direct sun, and is watered every morning. Kept from the sun, the shoots come up pale.
3. Weed itOn the ninth day the basket is weeded, traditionally with a twig.
4. Make the dikareThe day before or on the morning itself, family members shape clay figures of Shiva, Parvati and their family, colour them and set them up for worship.
5. Cut the harelaOn Harela the shoots are cut at the base after the puja and offered to the gods first.
6. Place and blessAn elder, often the senior woman, touches the shoots to each person's feet, knees and shoulders and finally lays them on the head, saying the blessing.
7. Share itBundles go on the roof and to the village temple, and the rest is shared with neighbours and relatives.

The blessing

The lines elders say while placing harela are the heart of the day. Families word them slightly differently; this is the version printed by Aaj Tak.

Roughly: may you live and stay awake; may you become as broad as the earth and as wide as the sky; may you spread like doob grass. Other lines ask for the strength of the sun and the cleverness of a fox. The last ones are teasing and tender at once. They wish you a life so long that you eat rice ground soft on the grinding stone and walk out leaning on a stick.

The plate and the planting drive

Down To Earth lists the festival food as kheer, puwa, puri, raita and chhole. Shoots from the basket also go to neighbours and to relatives, including those who now live in the plains.

The state now treats Harela as its tree-planting day. Schools, government offices, the forest department and village groups plant saplings across all 13 districts. In 2025 the drive ran under the theme "Celebrate Harela, repay the debt of Mother Earth", and Drishti IAS reported more than 8.13 lakh saplings planted. In 2026 Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami used the day to ask people to revive traditional water sources, ponds and old stepwells.

Other names in the hills

The festival is strongest in Kumaon. Garhwal and Himachal Pradesh keep related days under other names.

Kumaoni families keep the year's other turns with the same mix of home ritual and food, from Ghughutiya at Makar Sankranti to Igas Bagwal after Diwali in Garhwal.

What to write

How to wish someone on Harela

A Harela wish is a blessing for a long, healthy life and a green season, and the best ones borrow from the old Kumaoni lines elders say while placing the shoots: "jee raye, jaagi raye", live long, stay awake. Mention the basket of shoots, the dikare, a sapling planted, or a family back in the hills. For a colleague, a plain "Happy Harela" with a line about the planting drive is enough. Keep it about family and the land; Harela is a home festival more than a temple one.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Hindi + Kumaoni.

When is Harela in each year?

Harela is set by the Hindu solar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 1 day later than in 2026.

Frequently asked questions