Frequently Asked Questions

The World Holy Name Festival is a worldwide week of chanting, organised each year by the ISKCON Kirtan Ministry. Temples, congregations and families on every continent take the Holy Name out into their streets and neighbourhoods — through Harinama sankirtana, nagar sankirtan, kirtan melas, japathons, home programmes and online kirtans — so that as many people as possible hear the names of Krishna during the same seven days.

It is offered in the mood of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s desire that the Holy Name be chanted in every town and village, and in service to Srila Prabhupada, who carried that chanting around the world.

17 – 23 September 2026. Seven days of continuous worldwide chanting. You are welcome to begin your local programmes a little earlier or continue a little later — whatever suits your community — but everything within those dates becomes part of one global offering.

You can see the countdown, the theme and the full festival overview on the World Holy Name Festival 2026 page.

Everyone. There is no registration fee, no application and no minimum size.

• Temples and centres — organise Harinama, kirtan melas, japathons and public programmes.
• Congregations, nama-hattas and bhakti-vriksha groups — hold community kirtans and street chanting.
• Families and individuals — chant extra rounds, hold a home programme, or invite neighbours for a kirtan evening.
• Online communities — host virtual kirtans for devotees who cannot gather in person.

Whatever you do, please send us the story afterwards so it can be counted and shared.

All the official artwork is free to download from the Festival Resources page — posters, hoardings, street banners, Instagram posts and stories, WhatsApp DPs, Facebook covers and YouTube artwork. No sign-up is needed; just click and download.

Most items are offered in up to three formats:

• Image — a ready-to-share picture file. Use this for WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and Facebook.
• Print — the high-resolution print file. Give this one to your printing shop for posters, banners and hoardings.
• PSD — the layered Photoshop file, so a designer can edit the artwork before printing.

How you may use the artwork is set out in the Festival Resource Usage section of our Terms of Use. In short: use it freely to promote the festival, but please do not sell it or alter it in a way that misrepresents ISKCON.

Yes — that is exactly what the PSD files are for. Download the PSD version of any item, open it in Photoshop (or a compatible editor), and add your temple or community name, address, programme schedule, contact number and QR code in the space provided. Then export it and send it to the printer.

If nobody in your community works with Photoshop, print the ready-made Print file as it is and add your local details on a separate strip, sticker or announcement board.

Fill in the report form on the Reports & Sankirtan Stories page. It asks for your name and contact details, your temple or community, where the programmes were held, what kind of programmes they were, a few simple numbers, the story of your celebration in your own words, and up to five of your best photographs.

Every report is read and reviewed by the Ministry team before it is published, so please take a little care with the details — and do send photographs, because they are what devotees love most.

As soon as the Ministry team has reviewed and approved it. Reports are not published automatically — each one goes into a moderation queue first, and during the festival week that queue can be busy, so please be patient with us.

Once approved, your report is published on the Reports page with your photographs, and its numbers are added to the totals on the Live Global Dashboard. Your email address and phone number are never published.

Visit the Live Global Dashboard. It gathers every approved report and shows the worldwide picture as it grows — which countries and continents have reported, which temples and communities have taken part, and the running totals of programmes, participants and hours chanted.

The dashboard reflects approved reports only, so the more communities that send in their stories, the more complete the picture becomes.

They are the guidelines for kirtan in ISKCON, established by the Governing Body Commission, that keep our chanting in line with what Srila Prabhupada taught and practised — the mantras we sing, the melodies and instruments we use, and the mood in which kirtan is led in ISKCON temples and programmes.

You can read the resolution and the guidance on the Kirtan Standards page. Helping devotees understand and follow these standards is one of the central services of this Ministry.

The simplest and most valuable support is to chant, to organise Harinama in your own town, and to send us your report so that others are inspired.

If you would also like to contribute financially, the bank details for a direct transfer are on the Donate page. Offerings support the World Holy Name Festival, kirtan education and training, and the free resources we provide to temples worldwide. Every offering, large or small, is a service to the Holy Name.

Use the Stay Connected sign-up box at the bottom of any page on this site. Enter your email address (and your name, where the form asks for it) and you will receive kirtana news and World Holy Name Festival updates.

We send only occasional news, we never pass your address to anyone else, and every message carries an unsubscribe link. See our Privacy Policy for the full details.

Write to us at iskconharinamsankirtanministry@gmail.com, or use the form on the Contact page. A member of the Ministry team reads every message.

Please do write to us about coordinating the festival in your area, using the artwork, a report you have sent, or anything you would like corrected or removed from the site.