Information on Fairs and Festivals of Himachal for a Tourist

Himachal is a paradise of travellers , The state offers a wonderful climate round the year for holiday seekers , but if the holiday planned is combined with the local festivals ,the holiday experience get enhanced many times over .Below is the information on some of the fairs and festivals in the tourist state of Himachal Pradesh :

To Himachal any opportunity for celebration is welcome. Innumerable fairs and festivals are held throughout the Pradesh. Almost every village has a fair. Then there are fairs for groups of villages and still bigger fairs for the areas or the districts. Most of the fairs are religious but there are also community and trade fairs. In fact every kind of fair in essence becomes a social get together or a trade gathering. Besides propitiating the local god, matches are made, marriages settled and wares of the artisans and the produce of the farmers change hands. Men and women dressed in their most colourful clothes sit on hillsides which present a riot of colour to watch the wrestling matches or the dances and songs that go on endlessly.

Minjar is a seasonal fair of Chamba for celebrating the rains and the flowering of maize. It is held in August and starts with a traditional procession of decorated horses and banners. People from all parts of Chamba and even from other areas of Himachal travel long distances to watch the week-long celebrations. Besides the famous folk-dances of Caddis, there is plentiful music and trade. On the concluding day the devotees offer Minjars (maize flowers) and coconuts to God Varuna at Ravi river. Afterwards sweets and scents are distributed.

Vrajeshwari fair is a religious fair held twice a year at Kangra during the Navratri. Besides the locals, thousands of devotees of the 'Mata' come from distant places to participate in it. Many perform the mundan samskar (the first shave of the head) of their children here. The old temple of the goddess was destroyed in the earthquake of 1905, and a new temple was built in its place.

The Jwalamukhi fair is also held twice a year during the Navratri of Chaitra and Assuj. The devotees go round the 'Jwala Kund' in which the sacred fire burns, making their offerings. The number of participants reaches over one lakh at times. The temple is a very ancient one but was renovated during the times of Raja Sansar Chand and Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It has a gilded dome. Nearby is /Goralch Tibbi' a centre of the Gorakhpanthi Naths.

The Holi fair of Sujanpur is different from the Holi celebrations elsewhere. Folk-dances, songs, plays, wrestling matches and athletics are some of the attractions of the fair held in the most spacious ground of the State.

The seven-day-long Shivratri fair at Mandi is unique in style and known for its colourful atmosphere. Hundreds of gods and goddesses are carried in palanquins by their devo-tees. Singing and dancing, they enter the tastefully decorated city of Mandi on Shivratri. After presenting themselves at the Raj Madhav temple (shrine of the main god of the area), they pay their homage to Lord Shiva at the Bhootnath temple. This marks the start of weeklong festivities which provide a rich feast of fun, fair, music and dance. The conclusion is preceded by Jagran (nightlong pooja) in which the 'guru' and the 'chela' predict the event of the coming year.

The Kulu Dussehra is the biggest draw among festivals. It is held in October in the spacious Dhalpur maidan of Kulu. The beginning is marked by Rath Yatra, in which the chief deity of the celebrations, Raghunathji, is carried in a fully decorated wooden chariot. The yatra signifies the march of Rama to conquer Ravana. Hundreds of hill-gods brought from all over the district participate in the festivities which go on for seven days. Besides the most colourful and vigorous folk-dances of the State, there are other entertainments which keep the visitors enthralled. Every evening presents a new fare, a new sensation, a new activity. Certain new items such as modern drama, classical and light music have now been grafted into the traditional schedule presented in the recently built open-air theatre.

Lavi, the most ancient trade fair of the state is held in November at Rampur, the gateway to Kinnaur. Raw and semi-finished wool, woollens, pattis, pattus, namdas, pa-shminas, chilgozas (nuts), colts, horses, mules and yaks, worth over Rs. one crore change hands during the fair. Buyers from all over the country reach Rampur, located in a narrow valley on the banks of the Sutlej a few days before the fair, where one can have a closer view of the folk-arts of Kinnaur and remote areas of Shimla, Kulu, Lahul and Spiti districts. The fair is known to have been held in an organized way for 235 years. In the past, local people used to light bonfires on the arrival of the shepherds and graziers from the high pastures. To this day this feature has been preserved. While during the day may be witnessed hectic bargaining chores for wares, at night folk-dances and music around small bonfires enliven the participants and onlookers alike.

Himachal pradesh tours include The Nainadevi temple (Bilaspur district) -is situated on a hilltop, 8 km from the Ganguwal power house. About a 111 lakh of devotees attend the famous Nainadevi fair in August. Some of the devotees cover the entire distance to the temple by lying prostrate each time they take a step.

The Renuka fair is held on the banks of Renuka lake in Sirmur district. According to legend, Renuka, mother of Parasuram, took the shape of the lake after the curse of her husband, Rishi Jamdagni. Nearby is the Parasuram temple. Idols adorning various temples are brought to the fair which is held in November. Thousands join the celebrations and take a holy dip in the lake. The area presents a fascinating scene of camps which resound with devotional songs and folk music during the entire celebrations.

The Chintpurni fair is held at one of the famous centres of Durga worship in Una district. Besides the weekly fair every Tuesday, three very big fairs are held here annually, two during Navratris and one on Shravan Ashtami.

Besides these there are numerous other fairs. The Nalwars of Bilaspur, Sundernagar, Jogindernagar and other places are the popular cattle fairs. The Seri fairs of Arki, Kunihar, Mashobra and other places are known for buffalo fights while Sipi, Narkanda and Rohru fairs are famous for their gaiety and typical hill atmosphere.

Himachal folklore which embraces folk-songs, dances, drama, ballet and opera, besides being a source of enjoy-ment, provides an unending stream of glittering phantasma from which painters, sculptors and writers derive inspiration. In addition to the mythological legends, which have been woven around gods and the mysterious dwellers of the mountains, it is rich in references to history, social life and political conditions -of the times.

This oral art can be conveniently divided into legends of ancient heroes, fairytales, demon tales, mythological tales, folk-dances, folk-songs, folk-drama, hill ballet and opera. While the legends and tales are more important to specialized compilers and scholars who can use them for the study of philology, archaeology, anthropology, and religion, the folk-dances, songs, dramas and ballets are a matter of every-day enjoyment not only for the participants but also for the locals and the outsiders.

Folk-dances probably had their origin in the harvest festivals and the rituals of the ancient times when gods were invoked through music and dance. In the earliest times, men in the isolated and remote hills bridged the distance between this world and the other, through rituals and dances, by assuming the roles of gods and demons.

Dances are performed during festivals before or after the sowing or harvesting seasons. These are, however, not restricted to festivals or fairs, but are performed spontaneously at all community functions or gatherings—a marriage, childbirth or the worship of a god. Hard working hill men forget their toil and compete in song and dance. For them every joyous happening is enough reason to be celebrated with a Meta (fair) which enables them to show off their finery, to exchange gossip, to buy petty knick-knacks and above all to dance and sing.

There are both solo and group dances. The most important is Natrambha or Nati. It is danced to the accompaniment of drums, clapping and singing. Ran Singha, Karnal and Shehnai provide the musical notes in between. Nati can alternate as a solo or a group dance. When it is a group dance scores of people can perform it in a circle or in a chain which in movement can be circular or serpentine.

Mala, Rasa and Chhari are the other favourite folk-dances. In the sword dances of Kulu, men dancers, dressed in the traditional tight white trousers and tunics, with bright bordered shawls and black plumed caps lavishly decorated with blue primulas and yellow jasmine, begin the perform-ance. The women dancers wrapped in woollen shawls wearing their colourful headgear (Dhatu) enter the arena. Forming a circle and holding a handkerchief in the right hand, men and women wave it as they move round and round in a movement of eight beats. Sometimes there is a slight change and there are four steps taken with a pause in the fifth, and three more steps with the flat of the foot. Then suddenly, as the group pauses, two or three dancers come into the centre of the circle and commence dancing with brandishing swords; then they circle these weapons very fast, round and round in the air, with great skill. The dance is accompanied by dholak, Ran Singha, Karnal and small clarionets. As the musicians sing, they recall the old days of chivalry and romance and also praise the deities. Moving from the rather slow and measured dance at the start, the entrance of the sword dancers raises the tempo of the performance till it reaches the crescendo.

The folk-songs are known for their melody and charm. Broadly speaking, the tunes followed are those of the Pahari Rag, the Jhainjhoti, the Jhuri and the Lamen. The northern-most areas of Kinnaur and *Lahul and Spiti have, however, different music. The musical instruments also vary.

Shimla is the focus point for any Himachal Travel package, The glamour of Shimla, the capital, features in many a folk-song since it attracts the young lovers of the surrounding hills. The songs describe the charm of the meadows, the mountains, the moonlight and the clear dawns.

The musical instruments commonly used are Ran Singha, Karnal, Nafiree, Manjira, Dhol, Nagara, Damama, Thali, Bhana, etc. It is customary to play Badhai, the welcome tune, at the beginning of all fairs, festivals, offerings or even at the arrival of important persons.

Folk-drama encompasses the entire personality of the hillmen. It seeks to meet all his intellectual, emotional and aesthetic needs. Unlike urban and modern drama, it freely uses songs, dances and instrumental music besides dia-logues. The multiple approach results in a form that is self-contained and is complete entertainment. Folk drama has survived the competition from cinema and other organized entertainments because of its capacity to adjust old themes to the idiom of contemporary audiences and reality. Various techniques are employed; comments by a player, didactic exhortations and appearances of characters from modern life in the earlier settings are its flexible devices.

Karyala, Banthra or Sang are the commonest forms of rural drama, all of which show remarkable awareness of village people about their economic and social problems. The plot of these plays is generally loose and adjustable and, therefore, leaves much to the ingenuity and improvisation by the performers. It is usually built around certain character-types. Any available space in the middle of a field, marked by two or three feet high poles with cords tied round them, provides the stage for the folk-drama. The audience sits all around such a stage.

Folk ballet and opera are also performed in certain areas. These are called Sih, Rawal and Boora, and are a sort of unwritten tales narrated like other stories through the medium of ballet or opera. Handed down from generation to generation, these have undergone modification but their essentials have remained unchanged. These are, however, exclusive arts for men. The dancers and audience assemble in a courtyard or a temple. The singer’s squat on the ground and to the accompaniment of tambourine commences singing the story in chorus. The dancers donning wooden masks sit on the sides. As the musicians start their song, dancers get ready and in a short while start going round and round dancing and interpreting the story by means of highly formalized gestures and movements. They swing and sway, intensify their footwork and get deeply involved in the performance.

The ballet and opera usually tell stories of love or tales of satire and irony. Sometimes a mythological story interspersed with incidents picked from daily life is enacted. The gods, the parties, the witches, the demons, the village loafers, imposters, jokers, the shopkeepers, the money-lenders and various other characters drawn from the hill people's life are woven into these dance dramas.

There are scores of love-lyrics that are current in Himachal areas. The famous among these are Phulmu-Ranjhu, Kunju-Chanchalo and Raja-Gaddan. These exquisitely rendered love-songs depict the joy and sorrows of young hearts. The Phulmu-Ranjhu lyric tells of a tragic episode. In Kunjhu-Chanchalo, the song takes the form of a conversation between the lover and his sweetheart. The Raja-Gaddan song records the wooing of gaddan Nokhu by Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra. The pretty Gaddan while reconciling to her fate to be the beloved of the prince, finds it difficult to forget altogether her former husband who was a tribal Gaddi. There are also songs which recall some important historical events like the sacrifice of Rani Suhi for public cause like bringing drinking water to Chamba town. The song called Sukrat is soulfully rendered and depicts the great story of the sacrifice of the Rani, famous for her feeling of love for the people and her deep human sympathy for them. Another tragic story telling the love of a brother, who takes upon himself the blame for the murder his brother committed and thereby goes to the gallows in Bilaspur, is depicted in one of the saddest song called Mohuna. Ceremonial lyrics such as Bhayi, Suhag, Suhagare and Vidayi are sung on special occasions like birth, betrothal and marriage. Then there are seasonal songs like Chhinj which are sung in Chaitra (March) only. These unfold the love-lorn heart of a woman who languishes for her husband who has gone too far off lands.

The tribal dances of the Trans—Himalayan region are different in content and music. The old tradition of both song and dance in these areas has been zealously guarded against any urban influences. The districts of Kinnaur, Lahul and Spiti and the tehsils of Pangi and Bharmour of Chamba district constitute this zone. The inhabitants in these areas are known respectively as Kinnauras, Lahaulas, Spitians, Pangwals and Gaddis. Besides there are the Gujjars who are still the wandering nomads. All these tribes have their own distinct traditions of folk-dances and songs. They have also their distinct dresses and ornaments. Besides the popular dances like Kayang, Bakayang and Banyangchu, there are ritual dances, performed by Lamas on certain religious ceremonies or festive occasions. The dancers and musicians both wear embroidered and brocaded robes. The faces and heads are covered with quaint huge masks. One masked dance particularly features an important event in the history of Himalayan Buddhism when Lamas successfully carried out a plan of executing a cruel king, Langdarma, in the eighth century. A special occasion for masked dances is the celebration of the birth of Padama Sambhava (A.D. 750-800) who is held in high esteem by the Buddhists of Himalayas since it was he who carried the message of Buddhism to Tibet.

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