FAIRS AND FESTIVALS

Presented by:-

Nishant Kumar Oraon

Sagar Anand

FAIRS AND FESTIVALS IN INDIA

India is worldly known as a land vibrant celebration.

One can see the culture and life of India during the
celebrations of various fair and festivals, celebrated with
high sprit in each and every town in India.
Festivals in India continues through out the year.
There are noble cause and meaningful identity behind
each fair and festivals, based upon rituals, traditions,
legends, monsoons, history, while many express devotion
to the deities of different religions.
All festivals denote vivacity, colour, high sprit, dedication,
ebullience, peace, power, humanity messages, appetizing
foods, artistic performance, prayers and rituals.

CONTD...

When it comes to tourism, fairs and festivals are on

the priority among the tourist to coincide the trip to
witness amazing festivals of India.
All Indian fairs and festivals have lots of diversity
according to culture, lifestyle, language, religion of
each states.
The fairs and festivals of this country are some of the
prime contributors to the image of Incredible India.
If some wants to see the deep roots of the culture,
belief, life style, living, food, art, traditions of India the
fairs and festivals are the window to view the true
colour of India.

IMPACT OF FESTIVAL IN TOURISM

Festivals can be those determinates that cause people to travel to

the other countries in order to know local art, culture and history.
Development of local festivals increase culture tourism and provides
tourist destinations with economic and cultural benefits.
Economic benefits of festival tourism is connected with decreasing a
level of unemployment and increasing income of a country.
According to the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Govt. of India, fairs and
festivals are rising in popularity and are generating demand among
tourists, along with creating trends in the Niche Tourism segment.
Indian Festival Tours, which has been operating in Fairs and
Festival Tourism segment since 2009, has noted steady 10-15 per
cent increase in demand in the past three years.
In 2013, foreign tourist arrivals was 6.58 million and Foreign
Exchange Earnings from tourism in India was Rs 17,737 million, out
of which a considerable percentage were contributions from Fairs
and Festival Tourism. The USA and UK were and are the main
source countries to send festival tourists to India.

SOME MAJORS FAIRS AND FESTIVALS

Durga Puja (Navaratri)

Durga Puja - the ceremonial worship of the mother
goddess, is one of the most important festivals of India.
Durga Puja is celebrated every year in the Hindu
month of Ashwin.
The rituals entailsten daysof fast, feast and worship,
the last four days are celebrated with much gaiety and
grandeur in India and abroad, especially in Bengal,
wherethe ten-armed goddess riding the lion is
worshipped with great passion and devotion.
Raja Kangshanarayan of Taherpur or Bhabananda
Mazumdar of Nadiya organized the first Sharadiyaor
Autumn Durga Puja in Bengal in1606.

Ganesh Chaturthi
It is Celebrated as the birthday of the god of wisdom,
knowledge and prosperity, Lord Ganesha.
According to Hindu calendar month of Bhaadrapada,
starting on the shuklachaturthi. The festival lasts for
10 days, ending onAnant Chaturdashi.
Ganesh Chaturthi is said to have been celebrated since
the days of Maratha rulers: Satavahana, Chalukya and
Rashtrakuta.
Mainly celebrated in the states of Maharashtra, Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh with a lot of zeal
and splendour.
This festival brought in a feeling of unity and
togetherness in Indians that helped in revival of their
patriotic spirit.

Diwali or Deepawali
The origin ofDiwalican be traced back to ancient India,
when it was probably an important harvestfestival.
There are various legends pointing to the origin of Diwali
or Deepawali.
Some believe it to be the celebration of the marriage of
Lakshmi with Lord Vishnu.
Whereas in Bengal the festival is dedicated to the
worship ofMother Kali, the dark goddess of strength.
Lord Ganesh, is also worshiped in most Hindu homes on
this day.
In Jainism, Deepawali has an added significance to the
great event of Lord Mahavira attaining the eternal bliss
ofnirvana.
Diwali also commemorates the return ofLord Rama
along with Sita and Lakshman from his fourteen year
long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana.

Holi (Holika)
It aspring festival also known as the festival of colours
or the festival of love.
It is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the
last full moon day of the lunar month Phalgun.
In 17th century literature, it was identified as a festival
that celebrated agriculture, commemorated good spring
harvests and the fertile land.
Hindus believe it is a time of enjoying spring's
abundant colours and saying farewell to winter.
Holi also show the victory of good over evil and also the
triumph of devotion.
A 16th century panel sculpted in a temple at Hampi,
capital of Vijayanagar, shows a joyous scene of Holi.

 Pongal

Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated with religious fervor

across Tamil Nadu.
Pongalis also the name of a sweetened dish of rice boiled
with lentils that is ritually consumed on this day.
Symbolically,pongalsignifies the gradual heating of the
earth as the Sun travels northward toward the equinox.
The origin of Pongal can be traced back to Sangam Age, a
period extending from 200 BC to 300 AD.
Pongal is typically celebrated from 13th of January to 16th
of January, every year.
First day is Bhogi the day when people burn the old and
unwanted materials, like clothing and furbishes. The next
day is observed as Surya Pongal, the day dedicated to
honor Sun God. The third day of Pongal is known as Mattu
Pongal, wherein people worship farm animals.The fourth
day is observed as Kaanum Pongal, marks the end of
pongal festival for the year.

Onam
It is the annual harvest festival of the state Kerala.
The festival falls in the month of August to September
according to the Gregorian calendar.
Onam has been found belongs to the reign of Kulasekhara
Perumals i.e. around 800 AD.
The celebrations of Onam include elaborate rituals, music,
dances, sports, boat races and of course foods.
Vallamkali or the Snake Boat Race is the most enchanting
facet of the festival of Onam. The event is promoted as a
major tourist attraction of the state of Kerala and draws a
large number of domestic and international tourists.
Onam celebration two significant one is celebrated as
annual harvest festival and second is related to the demon
king, Mahabali. According to Malayalee calander it was
believed that Mahabali kind hearted king of Kerala come
back to earth and the entire festival is celebrated to
welcome their dear king Mahabali to earth.

Goa Carnival
The funkiest fest of India, Goa Carnival is a three-day
long festival.
This carnival cum festival was first started in Goa in the
year 1961.
It was initially celebrated by King Momo, one of the
legendary Chaos kings of the state and is one of the
Portuguese festivals.
Goa Carnival reflects the rich tradition and culture of the
state of Goa.
The different kinds of celebrations in the Goa Carnival
include singing, dancing, drinking, feasting and various
other types of merry making. All major streets of the
state become lively with the graceful dances, strumming
of guitars, lively processions and many more. Apart from
the non-stop festivity, the streets are decorated with
vibrant colours and floats.

Car Festival (Ratha Yatra)

Ratha-Yatra, at Puri in the state of Odisha, India. The
oldest, biggest and most visited Rath Yatra in the
world. It attracts a large crowd.
TheJagannathtriad are usually worshiped in the
sanctum of thetempleat Puri, but once during the
month ofAsadha they are brought out onto the Bada
Danda and travel (3km) to the ShriGundicha
Temple, in huge rath.
To kill Lord Krishna and Balram, Kansa, their
maternal uncle, invited them to Mathura. He sent
Akrur with a chariot to Gokul. As asked, Lord Krishna,
along with Balram, sat on the chariot and left for
Mathura. The devotees celebrate this day of departure
as Rath Yatra.

Pushkar Fair
Pushkar has the only temple of Lord Brahma in the
country. And the holy pushkar lake has 52 ghats
surrounding it.
Pushkar Fair celebration held on Kartik Purnima.
Every year thousands of devotees throng the Pushkar
lake around the full moon day of Kartik Purnima in
October-November to take a holy dip in the lake.
It is the world's largest camel fair held in the holy
town of Pushkar in Rajasthan.
Competitions such as the "Matka Phod", "moustache",
and "bridal competition" are the main attractions of
the Pushkar camel fair which attracts thousands of
tourists.

Kumbh Mela
It is the religious festival that is celebrated four times over the
course of 12 years, the site of the observance rotating between
fourpilgrimageplaces on four sacred riversat Haridwar on
the Ganges River, at Ujjain on the Shipra, at Nashik on the
Godavari, and at Prayag (modern Allahabad) at the confluence
of the Ganges, the Jamuna, and the mythical Sarasvati.
The major event of the festival isritual bathingat the banks
of the river in whichever town Kumbh Mela being held.
Kumbh Mela is celebrated at different locations depending on
the position of the planet of Brhaspati(Jupiter) and the sun.
When Jupiter and the sun are in the zodiac sign Leo (Simha
Rashi) it is held in Trimbakeshwar, Nashik; when the sun is
in Aquarius (Kumbh Rashi) it is celebrated at Haridwar; when
Jupiter is in Taurus (Vrishabha Rashi ) and the sun is in
Capricorn (Makar Rashi) Kumbh Mela is celebrated at
Prayag; and Jupiter and the sun are in Scorpio (Vrishchik
Rashi) the Mela is celebrated at Ujjain.

SOME OTHER IMPORTANT

FESTIVALS
Republic Day: Republic Dayhonours the date on
which theConstitution of Indiacame into force on 26
January 1950 replacing the Government of India
Act(1935) as the governing document of India.
Independence Day: Celebrated on August 15,
Which is the anniversary of the day in 1947 when
independence was formally granted at midnight to
India.
Shivaratri: It is observed as the night, when lord
shiva danced the tandav his cosmic dance.

CHALLENGES

A proper promotional strategy with special focus on

Festival Tourism is necessary to create more
awareness about the fairs and festivals of India.
Another important challenge is safety of travellers,
especially women travellers.
Crowd management is an aspect that has to be
provided with special attention, especially for fairs
like the Kumbh Mela, which attracts a vast number of
tourists from all over the world.