Thursday, July 12, 2007

While in a festive mood....

Rajasthan, one of the most charming states of India is known for its rich cultural heritage. You can have a glimpse of Rajasthan’s cultural heritage in colourful fairs and festivals of the state. Rajasthani people celebrate a number of festivals all through the year. Amongst the festivals of Rajasthan, the Desert festival of Jaisalmer is very popular. Every year in the month of January and February, the Desert Festival is held in the desert of Jaisalmer. During the Desert Festival, the golden sands of Jaisalmer becomes lively with magnificient colours, music and clamour of the festival.

Sponsored by the Rajasthan State Tourism Corporation, this festival is a rejoyous celebration of the traditional performing arts and creative crafts of Rajasthan. Set against the picturesue backdrop of the massive Jaisalmer Fort, the Desert Festival offers endless visual feast to visitors. The common folk dressed in colourful apparels, use to dance and sing the verses from the ancient ballads of valour, romance and tragedy.

Go for Shopping of Souvenior

At Desert Festival you get a huge range of traditional Rajasthani commodities. You can buy a variety of items in the fair and keep them as a momento for lifetime. Some of the must buy include exquisite embroidered skirts, hand-woven shawls, rugs, carvings on wood and stone, camel decorations, embroidered leather bags, ethnic silver jewelry and terracotta.

Enjoy the interesting Events

Most outstanding features of this desert festival are the game shows by snake-charmers, acrobats and fun shows by puppeteers. The camel festival is a special attraction of the festival, in which camels take part in race and other competitions. The show of "Blood, Blade and Romance" on the sand dunes recreates the environement legendary past. Besides, the Camel tattoo show of the Border Security Force, is the most spectacular show of the festival.

Another interesting event is the moustache and turban tying competitions, which demonstrate the conservation of the century old glorious honourable tradition of Rajasthan. To keep the moustache twisted upwards means to sustain the pride intact, while dropping moustaches convey the notion of complete surrender. Tying a turban is not only an intriguing tradition but an art as well. There are numerous patterns of tying turbans and different colours of the turbans describe the caste, region and also the occasion.

In the evening, people enjoy the musical shows and dance. At this time, the vibrating sound of the drums can be heard from long distance. Nearly all the variations of performing arts of are presented in the evening. The festival continues upto late night and the number of spectators swells up too as the night grows on. The final day of the festival takes place usually on the full moon day, when the sand dunes turn silvery coloured in the moonlit.

Visit the Festival

On the whole, Desert Festival is not only a festival, its a visual representation of Rajasthan’s rich culture and traditions. Due to its unique feature, the festival draws lakhs of tourists from Indian and abroad as well. Here, I have desribed only an overview of the festival, better you participate in the festival on your own to experience much more. So, next time you don’t forget to pay a visit to the Desert Festival of Jaisalmer.