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India is a land of festivals!
No matter when and where you are in this colourful country you often end up running into a celebration – whether religious or cultural. There are various vibrant festivals celebrated around the year such as Diwali – The Festival of Lights, Holi – The Festival of Colours, The Festival of Eid – which marks the end of Ramadan, Ganesh Chaturthi – celebrating the birthday of Lord Ganesha, Pushkar Fair, the Jaisalmer Desert Festival – and many more.
Our Festival Special Journeys not only provide you with a great travel experience by transporting you to exciting places but will also leave you with an enriching, immersive and enduring insight into the diverse life of India – in which ‘festival’ is an important and significant expression of the local culture where you find it. We design our itineraries in such a way that you get to be ‘in the right place at the right time’ to participate in one or more of these special celebrations.
Our Festival Special Itineraries mainly revolve around the following four ‘signature’ Indian Festivals
Diwali
Diwali is world famous as the Festival of Lights and is celebrated in the autumn months of October or November every year. An important festival celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains it celebrates the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair. At Diwali, millions of candles and lights shine in joyous celebration – on housetops, outside doors and windows, and around temples and other buildings and skies explode with huge and colourful fireworks displays. People visit their friends and family delivering boxes of sweets and wish happiness to each other. It’s a day which spreads a positive energy and infuses hope into everyone’s life.
Holi
Holi is a festival which is celebrated over two days in March. This is the Hindu spring celebration. On the evening of the first day, a stack of wood (symbolising evil to be destroyed in people’s hearts)is burned accompanied by prayers and music. Next morning, the Festival of Colours takes place in which people plaster each other with multi-colour powders and paints, symbolic of social and spiritual harmony- with spectacular {and very photogenic) results.
Jaisalmer Desert Festival
Jaisalmer Desert Festival in February distils the essence of the golden fort city of Jaisalmer’s rich and colourful cultural heritage into three extravagant days of celebration involving camel races (and a polo match), a bazaar, delicious Rajasthani food, plenty of music, dance and local competitions for titles such as ‘most beautiful moustache’, ‘turban tying champion’ and ‘Miss Moomal’ and ‘Mr Desert’. Everything is exotic in this desert festival, amidst the golden sands of the Thar Desert. With a final musical performance by folk singers under the moonlit sky at the dunes in Sam, just outside Jaisalmer, this unforgettable festival comes to its end.
Pushkar Fair
Pushkar Fair. This famous and spectacular festival of Rajasthan takes place in October and November over 5 days, at which time the usually rustic Pushkar, situated at the edge of the Thar desert, beside its sacred lake descends into comfortable chaos – inundated with thousands of camels, pilgrims, merchants, (local) tourists, fortune tellers and street musicians. Not only are tens of thousands of camels, donkeys and horses traded at the largest camel market in India, there are beautiful fabrics, saris and jewellery available for purchase at gypsy bazaars and sights and colours and tastes to freely beguile your tastebuds, your eyes and your camera.
There are many more festival celebrations you can participate in and we can customize a trip according to your request. Just tell us what you would like!
