Eternal India Encyclopedia

FESTIVALS AND FAIRS

encyclopedia Eternal India

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. 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. NORTH

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.