Happy Krishna Janmashtami (Krishna’s Birthday)

Krishna Janmashtami, Lord Krishna’s birthday, also known as Krishnashtami, Saatam Aatham, Gokulashtami, Ashtami Rohini, Srikrishna Jayanti,Sree Jayanti or sometimes just Janmashtami, is one of most important festivals for many Hindus celebrating the birth of Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. This year in 2012, Janmaashtami is celebrated on August 10th
and has large celebrations all over India.
Janmaashtami, popularly known in Mumbai and Pune as Dahi Handi, is celebrated with enormous zeal and enthusiasm. The handi is a clay pot filled with buttermilk that is positioned at a convenient height prior to the event. The topmost person on the human pyramid tries to break the handi by hitting it with a blunt object. In Gujarat where the city Dwarka has Dwarkadhish temple celebrates it with pomp and joy.In Jammu,kite flying is an important part of the celebration on his day.
In UP (Utter Pradesh) where the lord was born in Mathura, his play ground Gokul and Vrindavan become more crowded and celebrations go up to a week.  Many hindus and other spiritual devotees go to Mathura and Vrindavan in North India for Krishna birthday celebrations since these places are where Lord Krishna had spent his childhood.
Many celebrants of Janmashtami perform a fast on this day. At midnight, the Lord’s birth hour, arti is performed. The traditional prasad is ‘Panchajiri’ – made of five ingredients: powdered ginger, ‘suva’, coriander, sugar and ghee. Other ingredients include poppy seeds (khaskhas) and dessicated coconut shavings. After arti, devotees jubilantly sing and hail kirtans extolling the Lord’s incarnation: “Nand gher anand bhayo, Jai Kanaiyalal ki .. Hathi, ghoda, palkhi, jai Kanaiyalal ki …” “Bawa Nand tane darbar, nobat vaage re lol … Hari pragatya taaranhaar, nobat vaage re lol…”.