Fairs and Festivals

Festivals hold an unusual lure for the Rajasthanis, and they find any number of reasons to celebrate. While some of these are traditional festivals, there are also a large number that have been recently introduced by the tourism department. However, some of the larger and important celebrations are listed below

Baneshwar Fair
This is a tribal fair on the banks of the Mahi and Som rivers in the forested area around the border of Rajasthan that it shares with Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Bhil tribals from all three states gather here to worship Shiva.

Desert Fair
Jaisalmer exercises immense charm, but with the staging of the annual Desert Festival (January - February), it has also become one of the important events on the annual calendar. This is a showcase of the performing arts of the region on the stretching sands around this desert citadel. A number of events include turban tying competitions and camel races.

Elephant Festival
This festival on the occasion of Holi in Jaipur, is the festival of pachyderms includes several interesting attractions including elephant polo. The caparisoned elephants, their bodies painted with floral decorations by the mahouts, are a sight to behold.

Gangaur Fair
Celebrated all over Rajasthan, it has women taking out processions through the streets of towns, carrying images of the divine couple. Idols of Issar and Gangaur, manifestations of Shiva and Parvati, are worshipped by women, and particularly those unmarried who pray for a consort of the like of Shiva.

Marwar Festival
This annual event attempts to showcase the art and culture of the Jodhpur region in month of October. It is devoted almost exclusively to song and dance, and the Maand Festival has become a part of this huge regional celebration.

Nagaur Fair
A trading fair for cattle and camels in January - February, it is a wonderful opportunity to catch up on rural life as owners from all over the state come to camp on the outskirts of Nagaur while they buy and sell animals. The hides of the animals, cut into beautiful patterns, are particularly interesting. Fairs & Festivals

The people of Rajasthan live life to the hilt and nobody can really match the gay abandon with which the Rajasthani surrenders himself to the numerous fairs and festivals that are celebrated here.

There are animal fairs, to mark the chanting seasons. In fact, celebrations occur almost round the year and provide the visitor with a splendid opportunity to gain an insight in to the life of the Rajasthani. There is dancing, singing, drama, devotional music and other community activities that can enthrall the visitor.

Some of the more important fairs and festivals are the Desert Festival of Jaisalmer (held in January- February), Pushkar Fair, held in Pushkar, near Ajmer (November), Gangaur Festival, Jaipur (Murch- April ), Elephant Festival, Jaipur (March- April ), Marwar Festival, Jodpur (October), Camel Festival, Bikaner (January), Mewar Festival, Udaipur.

Listed here is a very small selection of the countless number of exciting events that are held in Rajasthan throughout the year.

BANESHWAR FAIR: Held at Baneshwar at the time of Shivratri (January - February), this is a tribal fair on the banks of the Mahi and Son rivers. Bhil tribals from all three states gather here to worship Shiva, and set up camps in this forested area in colorful groups.

CAMEL FESTIVAL: Held in Bikaner in January, this celebration has been recently introduction in the desert city with the only camel-breeding farm of the country. Not unexpectedly, most of the events are staged around this beast, with camel races and camel dances. There are also several folk performances. This may also be your chance to experience the rare fire dance staged late at night.

CHAKSU FAIR: A gathering of people from Jaipur's rural pockets collects here in almost all forms of transport - laden into tractor trolleys and jeeps - at what must be one of the most colorful events on the Rajasthani fair calendar.

DESERT FAIR: Jaisalmer exercises immense charm, but with the staging of the annual Desert Festival (January - February), it has also become one of the stretching sands around this desert citadel. A number of amusing events at the stadium include turban tying competitions and camel races.

ELEPHANT FAIR: On the occasion of Holi in Jaipur, this festival of pachyderms includes several interesting attractions including elephant polo. The caparisoned elephants, their bodies painted with floral decorations by the mahouts, are a sight to behold.

GANGAUR FAIR: Idols of Issar and Gangaur, manifestations of the Hindu God Shiva and Goddess Parvati, are worshipped by women, particularly the unmarried who pray for a consort like Shiva. Celebrated all over Rajasthan, it has women taking processions through the streets of town, carrying images of the divine couple.

KOLAYAT FAIR: The sacred site where Kapil Muni is supposed to have meditated, a fair is held here on banks of its lake, the air bristling with excitement. Kolayat can be visited from Bikaner.

MARWAR FESTIVAL: Held every October in Jodhpur, this annual event attempts to showcase the art and culture of the Jodhpur region. It is devoted almost exclusively to song and dance. The Maand Festival has become a part of this huge regional celebration.

MEWAR FESTIVAL: Held to coincide with Gangaur in Udaipur, the whole city turns out to mark the culmination of the 18-days festival, with a procession of floats on Pichola lake.

NAGAUR FESTIVAL: A trading fair for cattle and camels in January - February, it is a wonderful opportunity to catch up on rural life as owners from all over the state come to camp on the outskirts of Nagaur while they buy and sell animals. The hides of the animals, cut into beautiful patterns, are particularly interesting.

NAVARATRI: The nine days preceding Dussehra are marked by fasting, and one ritual meal a day. The martial Rajputs sacrifice a goat as food for consecration. The worship of their weapons is obligatory, usually in the month of September - October. It is a private celebration with no public fanfare.

PUSHKAR FAIR: Among the most easily identifiable of Rajasthan's many fairs, Pushkar has come to symbolize the heartbeat of the people of the state. Held in November in Pushkar, the temple town close to Ajmer, where an 8th century temple of Brahma draws the faithful, it is located on the banks of lake. Pilgrims bathe here and pray in the temple, while the actual fair is held in the vast stretching desert around it. Here, traders set camp to strike deals at India's, and probably the world's largest camel fair, though horses are also sold. It is also a time for friends and families to get together, camp in the desert, entertain each other with folk songs and dances, cook meals over camp fires, and wander through the exuberant melee of people looking for handicrafts, or merely to stand in a queue for the giant wheel. Special tented camps are set up on the occasion for visitors but such is a draw of this fair internationally, that even these are soon exhausted, and people may have to stay in nearby Ajmer, or even as far as Jaipur, visiting here by day

SITLA MATA FAIR: A large fair is held to propitiate the goddess of war whose wrath can be the terrible scourge of smallpox unless appeased by her followers. sacred food on this day consists of stale food left out the previous night. The fair is held in and around the temple dedicated to goddess in Amber, Jaipur.

SUMMER FESTIVAL: Held in June in Mount Abu, this is one of few celebrations during the summer months (though it coincides too with the marriage 'season' which spans, according to planetary chartings, from May-July). In the cool environs of the hill town, it is time to relax while folk performances are staged, particularly of the Bhil tribes of the region.

TEEJ: Another festival dedicated to the worship of Shiva and Parvati, this time it is married women who pray for a long, happy marital life during the monsoon months of July-August. Though celebrations are held all over the state, they are particularly colorful in Jaipur where a procession wends its way through the heart of the old city. Women dress in their finery and spend time in groups at swings that are specially erected for the festival.

URS AJMER SHARIF: Held in the holy town of Ajmer in honour of the Sufi saint, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, special prayers are offered at the mosque, and huge amounts of consecrated food offered from the large, steaming cauldrons that were a gift from Akbar. While quwwalis -folk songs are sung at night, the celebration unite people of all faiths, and the complete town is decorated with buntings, and wears the spirit of festivity.