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FESTIVALS AND FAIRS
FESTIVALS
The Indian calendar is a continuous procession of festivals. Most of
them are highly spectacular and great fun. They attract vast crowds of
devotees. All Indian festivals have a strong, cultural, artistic and religious
theme and flavour. Music and dance festivals which are held to coincide
with some festivals like
Dussehra
(Dussera
) and
Ramana- vami
attract
some of the best exponents of music and danqe in the country.
Some festivals like
Dussehra, Diwali, Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi,
Bakrid, Muharram, Id-Milad, Ramzan, Easter, Christmas, Mahavir Jay
anti, Buddha Jay anti
are celebrated all over the country while others are
local in character. There are no fixed dates for many of these festivals.
Only a few have fixed dates. Hindu festivals follow the lunar calendar and
are decided upon only during the previous year.
NORTH
JAMMU & KASHMIR
Janmashtami-Krishna
Jayanti,
Dussehra, Id-ul-Fitr, Id-uz-Zuha, Id-i-
Milad-ul-Nabi
and
Miraj Alam Muharram
are observed.
Nau Roz
(March/April), Kashmiri New Year's Day.
Jaithaashtami
(May), birthday of goddess
Ragniya.
People pray and
make offerings of milk, kheer and flowers to the goddess.
Mela
Hemis Gompa
(June): Buddhists in Ladakh gather, the Lamas
wear masks and low subdued music is played.
HIMACHAL PRADESH
Kulu and Kangra valleys hold some of the most picturesque fairs and
religious festivals in India, especially during
Dussehra
(Sept/Oct). The
Menjar Mela
held in April and October is famous; throngs of hill people in
colourful costumes come to the towns on these days.
PUNJAB
The Punjab has a large Sikh population and their festivals are cele-
brated with great gusto. January marks the culmination of winter. Popular
melodies are sung around huge bonfires. In April,
Baisakhi
Day is
celebrated with
bhangra
dancing for on this date Guru Gobind Singh
welded the Sikhs into a martial community in 1689.
The
bhangra
with its manly movements is the most popular folk dance
of the Punjab peasantry. There are no hard and fast rules. The dancers
swirl round to the rhythm of drums, clapping and waving their sticks in
joyful abandon.
At the
Hola Mohalla
Festival, held at Anandpur Sahib just after Holi,
Sikh warriors in traditional costume re-enact ancient battles in a
spectacular style.
CHANDIGARH
Baisakhi
(New Year) is celebrated in a boisterous fashion with
energetic
bhangra
(folk) dances in all the villages. It is mostly noticeable
among the Sikh community. It commemorates the
Khalsa
Order's
foundation day.
Raksha Bandhan
is celebrated in July/August when rakhis coloured
threads are tied by sisters on their brother's wrist, brothers in turn gift them
as a sign to provide security and protect their lives, and sweets are shared.
AND FAIRS
Holi
is celebrated in March when the fields are golden with ripening
wheat and yellow clouds of mustard flowers. The lively festival of colours
comes alive when neighbours and friends smear coloured powder and
coloured water, images of
Holika
are burnt in bonfires the night before the
festival.
HARYANA
Lohri
marks the climax of winter. Held in January when community
bonfires are built in the evening with people gathering around throwing
rice, popcorn and sweets into them, singing songs and exchanging
greetings.
"Tikka"
is celebrated on the day after Divali in Kartika. As a
symbol of protection, women put
tikka
a mark made of saffron on their
brother's forehead.
DELHI
Christian Mela
at Mehrauli (March-April). Service at St. John's
Church with procession in the streets of the metropolis.
Sair-e-Gulfaroshan —
'Festival of flowers' (August/September). Fire
dancers lead the procession. Both Muslims and Hindus go to the Dargah
Khwaja Sahib and then to the Hindu Jog Maya temple.
Urs
of Hazrat
Nizam- ud-din Aulia(13th century) (December) by people of all
communities at his tomb. The sacred tank waters are said to possess
healing properties. Mushairas and qawwalies take place.
CENTRAL INDIA
Central India is overwhelmingly Hindu and holds festivals throughout
the year.
Dussehra
comes in September/October. It lasts ten days during
which scenes from the Hindu epics are portrayed in villages and towns.
Dipavali
(or
Diwali),
the festival of lights, falls in October/November.
Basant Panchami
occurs early in February and marks the commencement
of spring. Being an "auspicious day" more marriages are celebrated on this
date than any other time of the year, streets are filled with gay processions.
Devotees of Shiva celebrate
Shivaratri
in February/March. Holi, end of
February or early March. People pour coloured water over each other in
good humoured street battles.
RAJASTHAN
It is during festivals that this land is seen at its best. Some of these are
common to the entire country like
Holi, Dussehra
and
Diwali
; others,
exclusive to the region, are rich in local colour. The spring festival of
Gangaur,
held in honour of
Gauri,
(another name for Parvati, Shiva's wife)
the goddess of abundance, is symbolic of the ripened harvest. Images of
the deity are carried in procession, surrounded by men and women in the
gayest of regional costumes. Another festival known as the
Teej,
celebrates
the coming of the monsoon. Sacred to the goddess Parvati, her image is
borne, bedecked in red and gold, on a palanquin accompanied by
caparisoned elephants, horses and camels. Every October/November a big
fair is held at Lake Push- kar, one of the holiest Hindu places of
pilgrimage, 7 miles from Ajmer.
An annual 3-day Desert Festival is held over the full moon during
January or February, in Jaisalmer. Another festival, promoting Mewari
culture, is held at the same time as the
Gangaur
and
Teej
festivals, in
Udaipur and Chittorgarh, while atNegaur, near Jodhpur, during January or
February, a spectacular cattle fair is held.
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