Fairs & Festivals

Fairs & Festivals in India

Holi

March is the month of Holi. Dates change yearly depending on the Hindi calendar so check the dates if you would like to incorporate this colourful experience into your trip.

It does not matter where you are in India on this given day you are liable to be coloured lovingly with exuberant bright colour. Holi is an exciting time of the year to be in India. The streets are full of life as the celebrate the arrival of spring, new growth and new beginnings and is celebrated by the spread of happiness and love.

Diwali

Mid-October to mid-November is the months of Diwali. The date changes from year to year as per the Hindi calendar. The streets are buzzing with shoppers leading up to the big event. People clean their homes from top to bottom and give the premises a new lick of paint. It marks the time to buy new clothing and items for the homes. Diwali is celebrated by families with a get together with a feast of foods. Followed by an evening of fun and frolic when the skies become alight with cascades of fireworks alighting the sky, and children with their necks stretched in awe at the night skies display of colour. Sweet shops do a roaring trade with ample of tasty morsels to tempt the sweet tooth in all of us.

Pushkar fair

November is the time for camels to shine and enter the beauty pageant. The Pushkar Cattle Fair, also called the Pushkar Camel Fair. It’s an annual livestock fair held in the town of Pushkar within the desert state of Rajasthan. Nomads trek in with their livestock to trade, along with their families. They camp out under makeshift awnings for the duration in anticipation their hard efforts will make for a profitable year. The town becomes instantly stimulated with an iridescence that makes for a photographer’s dream. The Nomads in their colourful turbans with handlebar moustaches tending to cattle, the market stalls and fairground make for a remarkable experience.

Jaisalmer Desert Festival

The annual Desert Festival brings more colour to Jaisalmer than a painter’s palette. The once a year celebration brings a collage of colour that sparks the desert city with an electrifying fiasco of funfair. The opening ceremony is not to be missed as the crowd lines the alleyways as the parade of mounted dressage camels sparkle the audience with stars, as the tiny mirrors reflect the sun and dance to the sway of these four legged beauty queens. The fair brings rivalry as the ladies in their finest attire bid for the honour of becoming the sole winner of the Miss Moomal competition. Turban tying, camel polo, sand art, food, music and performances are a plenty. The famous moustache competition showpieces the endurance of growth of an impressive facial exhibit. Mr Desert is the time honoured privilege granted to the hero that takes the trophy and prestige that parallels alongside. Running for three days before the full moon in February the desert fair is an experience like no other. Jaisalmer, the Rajasthan desert city in the Thar is the most astonishing medieval places alike no other in India. So why not witness the golden city while she puts her best cheek forward and shines brightly. Scheduling your trip’s timeframe around events will make for an unforgettable experience.