Fairs and Festivals in India

In India, celebration is a way of life. Be it a way of welcoming spring, of preparing for harvest, of praying for bounty, for participating in the return of mythological heroes and the destruction of evil, of cleansing one’s sins or worshiping nature and deities, the country has fairs and festivals for every occasion. In all corners of the counry people get together to worship in their own ways, different in the methodologies yet diven by the same spirit.

Apart from the main festivals like Deepawali, Holi, Dusherra, Id-ul-fitr, GuruPoorva, Buudha Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti, Christmas, etc, India has several other festivals as well.

The harvest season is celebrated in different ways in the separate parts of the country. In the south we have Onam, the harvest festival of Kerela that also corresponds with the Malayalam New Year, Chingam, and is famous for its snake boat race in the river Pamba. This takes place between the end of august to the beginning of September, when the sky is at its most azure and the forests at their resplendent green.

In the north, harvest comes in the form of Baisakhi, on the 13th of April, and is celebrated in specially in Punjab where it is typified by vigorous bhangra dances, gay clothes, and festivities.

When it comes to spirituality, the cake is taken by the great Kumbh festival, the biggest religious fair in the world. It is held once every three years on the banks of the holy rivers -Godavari in Nasik, Shipra in Ujjain, Ganga in Haridwar and at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati in Prayag or Allahabad, the last considered the most sacred site. Thousands of devotees throng to the holy waters to wash away their sins in a sight that is as magical as it is inspiring.

Other examples of religious fairs include the annual Brahmotsav Festival held in Andhra Pradesh (August-September) in honour of the presiding deity Lord Venkateshwara; Bangalore’’s Karaga each spring; the Kulu Dussehra (Oct-Nov) where deities are believed to congregate to pay homage of Raghunathji; Trichurpuram with its magnificently decorated elephants; Brahmotsavam in Madurai; Chaitra Purnamasi at Kanchipuram, in Tamil Nadu; Bauddh Mahotsav in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh; Goa’s Shigmo; the Parsi Pateti; the music-filled navratri of Gujarat, and of course, the famous Bihari Chhath, which is a thanksgiving ritual that also aims to win the blessings of nature, specially the sun and water, as represented by the rivers.

Apart from these one also has an indefinite number of fairs at both the national as well as local/folk levels. These range from animal/cattle fairs like those of the elephant festival, the Pushkar mela, the Sonepur fair, etc., there are also others like the Taj Mahotsava in February, the Nauchandi fair usually held in March, the Gangaur festival for marital bliss, the mask dance of the hemis in Ladakh, the festival of flower-sellers in Mehrauli each October, and the Bengali Poush each December.

While the cultural fabric of India is too diverse to either mention or list all its festivals and fairs in one place, all one can say to do justice to these fascinating human panoramas is that they all unfold on the canvass of human experience and contribute in their own special, specific ways to the grandeur, joy and exuberance of life itself. The festivals of India, like the country itself, are extravaganzas that validate all the colours, flavous and rasas of the very essence of existence.