the Pitcher Festival, a major Hindu festival held every three years in one of four towns (Allahabad, Hardwar, Ujjain and Nashik), the cycle culminating in the Maha Kumbh Mela or Great Pitcher Festival held in Allahabad every twelve years, with a particularly important festival taking place every 144 years
[Sanskrit kumbha pot, pitcher + mela festival; from the pitcher or pot containing nectar of immortality, from which according to Hindu tradition drops of nectar were spilt in the four places in which the festivals are now held]