Festivals are at the heart of our faith and fun, and January has been a spectacular month to prove that. With important new year related festivals across the country, this weekend was dominated by search for Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Bihu and Pongal. Google Search Trends for the past one week show that each region where these festivals are celebrated, spiked in search volume over the weekend. What has emerged as perhaps the most interesting insight is that for most of these festivals, Indian netizens were looking for greetings and SMSs to send to their near and dear ones! Here’s a look at how the different regions gave space to their local festivals…
North Indians’ love for music define almost every festival; so it was no surprise to see the region search for Lohri songs and wallpapers; Punjab, followed by New Delhi, driving the highest search volume for the festival. Meanwhile, East India celebrated Bihu, and even though it is an Assamese festival, the search volume was only driven from West Bengal. However, across all festivals, the most searched was Pongal – with the entire search volume being driven from Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, respectively; there were marginal searches being done in Maharashtra and Delhi as well.
The Hindu New Year – Makar Sankranti, marked by the Maha Kumbh, emerged most popular in Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi, respectively. With millions of devotees expected to take a dip in the holy waters, citizens are busy reading more about the festival, being held in Allahabad this year.
