28th KONARK DANCE AND MUSIC FESTIVAL-2013

The venue of the Konark Festival, Orissa is the Sun temple which was built by around 12000 craftsmen in the 13th century and if you see the contours of the temple you will clearly analyze the importance of the Odissi dance form which existed since then, as the walls are carved out and postures of this traditional dance form are made in it. The Sun temple was mainly made so as to worship the Sun god as the people believed it to be the primary source of energy and you would be amazed to know that this temple is considered to be one of the greatest architectural marvel of India where poetry on stones make the tradition of Konark alive even today.

As the temple showcases the importance of dance and art forms and so was considered to be the best venue for organizing the Konark Dance Festival.

WHEN AND WHERE IS IT CELEBRATED
The Konark Festival this year is going to take place from 1st to 5th of December. When we talk about Konark the famous Sun temple comes to our mind as it is here that the Konark Festival is celebrated in the month of December every year. The Konark festival, showcases mainly the traditional dance forms of India and over the years has become very popular among the tourists. And the traditional dance forms include the mesmerizing Bharatnatyam, the splendid Manipuri and Odissi, the graceful Sattriya and Kathakali etc.

HOW IS IT CELEBRATED
The Konark Festival is not just about the various dance forms but is also about the classical Indian music as it is here that some of the most appreciated and talented artists of India are showcased, thereby the festival is become best in terms of hosting best musicians in the country. When you witness the musical events it is only then that you will get an essence of the incredible Indian music. 

MAIN ACTIVITIES AND ATTRACTIONS OF 2013:

Day 1 (1st December 2013)
The two events lined up are an Odissi dance by Madhavi Mudgal and Group, and a Kuchipudi dance by Guru Raja Radha Reddy.
Day 2 (2nd December 2013)
The two events lined up are a Mohiniattam dance form by Bharti Sivaji and Group, and an Odissi dance form by the Meera Das and Group.
Day 3 (3rd December 2013)
The events include an Odissi dance by Kassturi Pattanaik and Group, and a Bharatnatyam dance form by the Mallika Sarabhai and Group.
Day 4 (4th December 2013)
The events include a Sattriya dance by Anita Sharma and Group, and an Odissi dance form by Nrutyagam.
Day 5 (5th December 2013)
The events include a Kathakali dance by Dr. Malabika Mitra and Group, and an Odissi dance form by GKCM, Odissi Research Centre.

The events such as Jugalbandi of music and painting are also held each day apart from the dance forms. If you are a fan of handicrafts then Konark Festival is the right place to be as it is here that a Craft Mela will be held alongside the venue of the main festival, where you will be able to see the master craftsmen showcasing their handicrafts. However, Konark is a festival with unique combination of dance and art forms so do not miss the opportunity to visit the Konark Festival this December. 
 

Immortal soul of St Xavier

December 3rd, day when a legend Francis Xavier who walked street to street to preach a word of god and affected a life of millions with his magical word breathed his last on this day. And to commemorate deeds of Francis Xavier this day is marked as a memorial feast tribute solely to Francis Xavier.

His silent body which lies on a silver casket at a Bom church of Goa million gathers on this day to attend and honor a death ceremony of a saint.



History
As per some the source some of the Portuguese found him just before he left to heaven and they performed a funeral and buried his body in a box which was filled with unslaked lime. It is also said that when his finger was sliced he witnessed a flow of blood and his body was still not stale at all he reported this incident to the Vatican and the title of saint was conferred upon Xavier.

The body was buried into a cemetery of Malacca and after years it was brought back to Goa and till now his body is no ay affected by death and his ruins are placed in a silver casket of Bom church of Goa.

When it is celebrated
It is usually celebrated at the month of December and on December 3rd huge crowds gathers here to pay their honor to St Francis by kissing his relics and praying him to bring a peace and prosperity in world, and celebrate the feast of St. Xavier.

How it is celebrated
On this day proceeding are performed by an archbishop f Delhi Anil Couto and co-celebrants Archbishop of Goa and Daman Filipe Neri Ferrao, Archbishop Emeritus Raul Gonsalves, Bishop of Sindhudurg Alwyn Baretto etc who grace this auspicious occasion with their presence and marks this occasion with their words and people who come here to see a death body of Francis Xavier get to see an immortal body.

It is only during this occasion a century cross body of St Xavier comes down for public veneration and in other days people could only see a feet and face of St Xavier. Occasion starts from 4 am of morning and closes at 8 pm and during this time people gathers to kiss a relics and ruins of their very own Francis Xavier who did a lot to bring a justice on earth and influenced all the people towards a reality of life.

It is believed that it has a healing touch and with an order of pope still his finger are carried across a world so that people could feel a healing touch of St Xavier. It is a most celebrated occasion in memory of St Xavier and many important statesmen marks this day with their presents in order to feel a holy vibe that surrounds an ambiance of Bom church of Goa.

Attraction
 Main attraction is a silver casket which holds immortal ruins of St Xavier and it is placed right at side of Alter. To get a glimpse of a ruins people travels from distance and feels blessed after it veneration.

Toshali National Crafts Mela, the Event of Colors and Fascinating Craftsmanship

Odisha is a land of diverse cultures and traditions, so it automatically holds innumerable events and festivals throughout the year. There are different religions and their respective sacred places for the religious seekers, ethnic culture and architecture for the travelers, traditional dance forms for entertainment and a wide range of local delicious foods for the ones who are interested in trying different delicacies. Odisha has everything to offer from art to historic places and various attractive destinations for the visiting tourists. In fact almost every month of the year is involved with celebrations, festivals and events in Odisha which provides a unique opportunity for the local as well as international tourists to explore every time they visit this place. The Toshali National Crafts Mela is one of the main attractions of this place. It one of its kind which is meant to encourage and preserve the craftsmanship of the creative artists belonging to the region as well as the other parts of the country along with artists from SAARC countries.

The Toshali National Crafts Mela is a unique exhibition of the colorful and vivacious spirit of rural India. It is held in the beautiful setting of the temple of Bhubaneswar (Janta Maidan), in Odisha. The crafts mela was first organized in the year 2007 on the lines of Surajkund Craft Mela at Pushkar in Rajasthan with a motive to assist a direct link between the craftsmen and the buyers. It is a 13-day long event, which provides opportunity to the visitors to interact with the nationally and internationally renowned craftsmen and even purchase their fascinating creations. Since then the event is organized annually, offering a huge platform for numerous gifted artists, painters, weavers, sculptors and craftsmen from across the country as well as other SAARC nations like Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka to exhibit their inventiveness. The event executes a colorful environment resembling to the typical setting of ‘Indian rural Haat’, which gives it a unique flavor.
The chief objectives of this event are to introduce crafts and their craftsmen directly to the purchasers, to identify, cultivate and preserve languishing crafts of the country and to educate and introduce customers about the captivating technique and skills involved in creation of the crafts.

The fair is jointly organized by the Union Ministry of Tourism, the State Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts department, the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC), the Odisha Sangeet Academy and the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre.

The event displays some of the finest handicrafts and handlooms of India such as cane craft from North East, woodcraft from Kashmir, wood and cane inlay work from South India, oxidized jewellery, sea-shell decorations from Rajasthan, patola and bandhni from Gujarat and Rajasthan, fashion accessories such as Punjabi shoes, tribal ornaments of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, chikan from Lucknow, kantha from Tripura & West Bengal, kanjeevaram from the South. In addition to these, several colorful cultural events and food stalls providing a huge range of scrumptious delicacies make a major draw of the Toshali National Crafts Mela. Other than this, famous music and vocal artists also perform during this event.

7 WONDERS OF INDIA: PURI BEACH FESTIVAL

Every year one of the most awaited festivals of the country (India) is the Puri Beach Festival. We can understand from the name of the festival itself that it is celebrated on the mystic beach of Puri. And the name of the beach is Swargadwara(Orissa).This festival is inspired from the beach festival of Goa. If you want to experience the world famous, art and culture of Orissa then Puri beach festival is the place to be. Once here you can enjoy the interaction with local people of Orissa and get closer to the real essence of this very state.


HISTORY OF THE FESTIVAL
In the year 1993(29thOctober), the very first Puri Beach Festival was inaugurated by two great personalities, Late Sri Biju Pattnaik and Gulam Nabi Ajad. Since then this festival has proved to be a great success as it is known to be the most popular festival of Orissa where tourists gather not only from India but abroad as well.

WHEN IS IT CELEBRATED
The Puri Beach Festival is a five day festival which is celebrated every year in the month of November. And this year it is scheduled to be from 23rd to 27th of November. Each year Hotel and Restaurant Association of Orissa (HRAO) are the organizers of the festival. While the Government of India, the Department of Tourism and Development Commission of Handicrafts are the co-sponsors of this world famous festival.   

HOW IS PURI BEACH FESTIVAL CELEBRATED?

The Puri Beach Festival offers world class entertainment to every age group as one can find varieties of cultural performances, handicrafts, Fashion shows, rock concerts, Beach Parties, food festivals, DJs and sports competitions. Artists who have made their name around the world from the country (India) perform here for increasing the entertainment factor of the festival. You can enjoy different dance forms being performed in the festival such as classical dance, folk dance, contemporary dance, lyrical dance etc. If you want more of local dance forms of Orissa then you can sit back and watch the spectacular Odissi, Lambadi and Lepcha performances. If you are a sports lover then you are not going to be left behind in being entertained in the festival as there are various sports competitions held such as beach volley ball, Kabadi, Malkhab etc. You can also visit the Handloom and Handicrafts exhibition which will be held everyday and here for sure you will be fascinated by the creativity. It will not be wrong if we describe the festival to be a blend of art-dance-music-sports.

The Puri Beach Festival is most famous for the “Sand Art” and every year visitors mainly visit with the motive to witness this exquisite art form. It is a new concept which is introduced and is proved to be a huge success for the festival. The Sand Art is a theme and concept based activity where carvings are made out of sand. For instance in one year the theme shall be ancient monumental structures and the other year it shall be something else and these themes are portrayed in an artistic manner by the artists.

To sum up, the Puri beach festival is a must to visit as it will transform you to a different world and will prove to be a one of a kind holiday trip.

Bundi festival of Rajasthan

Reflecting a beauty of culture, heritage and tradition Bundi utsav is one of the most celebrated festivals of Rajasthan. Celebrated at a site of Hadoti in Rajasthan, November marks a month of color art and culture.
Beauty of this festival is, it looks to uplift a beauty of culture that Rajasthan has and to see that people gathers from all across a world at a site of Bundi a small town at a district of Hadoti in Rajasthan.

Marked by a beauty of culture, at this day people wear their ethnic attire and prepare themselves to march for celebration. As it is a most celebrated festival and people waits for it to happen with boom and beauty all the people from different district and people from across the country participate at ‘Shobha Yatra’ which is followed by an Ethnic sports contests, arts and craft fairs, cultural exhibits and music/dance performances.
During these festivals people engage themselves in sharing lamps, bridal attire show, turban tying competition, rural sports contests, sightseeing, display of lights and blowing crackers all night.

People at the banks of River Chambal, cries their prayers and thank god for giving them opportunity to live under his roof and carries on the feast of festival by chanting Vedic rhymes. Keshorai Patan reveals a miniature of famous Pushkar cattle and women and men in all traditional attire enjoys a beauty of festivals with delights and it also offers tourist a brilliant chance to see a rich culture of Rajasthan which is very much associated with an essence of soil and sense of belongingness.

During this festivals locals stays on shops to sell their beautiful art and crafts and one has a brilliant chance to buy them as it reflects a culture of Rajasthan. various shops exhibits their beautiful creation and people do love to buy them and it becomes more beautiful during a time of this festivals when they show their beauty of creation to commemorate a beauty of long and awaited festival.

During the time of festival you would see a true culture of Rajasthan and they explore it so brilliantly people from around the world come to participate on this festival. Lights, attire, tradition, folk songs, dance and so many things comes within the festival one would feel bless to see a beauty of this festival which comes at the month of November.

A prayer, sharing of lights to complement each other, state fair where even traveler participates in number is just a beauty of this festival and one would notice a huge number of crowds during a time of this festival.
On should also stand to see a dance competition and many other cultural and classical features of Rajasthan culture. A land of fort or rather says a land of kingdom enjoys this festival with full tune and also allows an overseas traveler to participate at the same time.

So this year be a part of rich culture and do a Deep Dan which is a most notable feature of Bundi festival.

Karwa Chaut a festival of Women

It is usually a one day festival observed by married women who fast from sunrise to moon rise for a longevity, prosperity and safety of their Husband.Though it is widely observed throughout the nation but it is more famous and practiced thoroughly by northern Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Uttarakhnad, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and other states.

History
It began with a magical tale of Droupadi who fasted for pandavas with a suggestion of Lord Krishna and from then onwards a people started following a culture and in modern days it has become more like a custom.

Legend of Karwa, it is historic and mythological tales of Husband devote Karwa who once threatened Yama to curse and destroy him because of his refusal to send a crocodile to hell that once caught Karwa husband. Seeing such a power and devotion Yama decided to send crocs into hell and bless Karwa and her husband who in turn enjoyed a blessed life till the end.The Story of Satyavan and Savitri is also a noted one in giving a birth to a Karwa Chaut.

When it’s celebrated
The festivals falls under fourth day after a full moon in the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Kartik, in simple words it is celebrated 9 days before the call of diwali. This festival is also celebrated by unmarried women in desire to get their destined husband.

How is Celebrated
Proceeding of Karwa Chaut is very interesting as the women start off early by putting all the shringars and all the traditional decoration require to make puja a successful one. They buy all the essentials require for puja like Karwa, matthi, heena etc. before a crack of a dawn they prepare all the stuffs and have it before sun breaks the light and as the day progresses they start decorating their hands and feet with Heena mehandi.

































They decorate their puja thali with all the necessary ingredients and meets with their friends and relatives and in evening they start to gather in front of local temple where they listen to a legendry tale of Karwa and at the same time perform songs and listen to prayers. And to the story teller they offer mud pot, a metal urn filled with water, flowers, an idol of Ambika Gaur Mata, Goddess Parwati and some fruits, mathi and food grains.
Amongst the essentials that are kept in thali are Sindoor, incense sticks and rice. During this event women’s wear a colorful and heavy saris mostly all are in red color which is a symbol of married woman beside that they wear  nose pin, tika, bindi, chonp, bangles, earrings etc.

And when it counts a time just when moon starts to raise all gathers in top of their building with thali and water and catch a glimpse of its ray through sieve and Dupatta. They offer water to moon and cry a prayer to bless their husband with a long life, safety and prosperity. That calls for an evening and women breaks their fast

Main attraction
An ambiance that comes with the festival is a main attraction of this festival; it is so much interesting to see how women gather in front of the temple or at local gardens to start their proceeding. In true words the festival in whole is most attractive thing.

The Colourful Pushkar Camel Fair of Rajasthan

Pushkar is considered as among the five pilgrimages that are highly placed in Hindu religion. According to the legends it is said that when Lord Brahma killed the demon named Vajra Nabh with a lotus flower, the petals of the flower floated down to the earth and landed in three places in and around Pushkar where lakes were formed.

According to the beliefs related to the fair, it is said that on the day of Poornima, all the 330 million deities of Hindu religion come to Pushkar Lake to bless the worshippers. Because of this belief, thousands of devotees gather for a holy dip at the lake on this occasion who consider that their sin will be washed away by doing so and pay their homage at the only Brahma Temple, situated in Pushkar and which is nowhere else in the world.

The Pushkar Camel Fair is truly the world’s biggest camel fair. During this hundreds of stalls are established in this region selling camels, horses, bulls, cows and other cattle. The fair provides perfect circumstances for the commercial growth as well as the religious faith of the people.

Timing
This popular fair is celebrated for five days from Kartik Ekadasi to Kartik Poornima. According to Hindu calendar, Kartik Ekadasi is the 11th lunar day in the bright fortnight of the Hindu month of Kartik, and Kartik Poornima is the full moon day or the 15th lunar day of Kartik. Kartik Poornima is considered as the chief day of the Pushkar Fair, as according to the mythology it is believed that  on this day the petals of the lotus flower of Brahma had fallen on to the earth. On this holy day devotees take a bath in the Pushkar Lake to wash away their sins. According to the Georgian calendar this fair falls between the months of October to November.

Activities of the fair
Uncountable numbers of traders gather at this place during this fair. These set their shops which exhibit a wide range of various products like woollen blankets of Merta, bead necklaces of Nagaur, textile printed from Ajmer and Jodhpur, brass ware of Jodhpur and Jaipur and many more. During this fair cultural shows and exhibitions are also organized to add colour to the event. In addition to all these, movies are also shown and competitions are also held where poets recite the tales of heroism of the early days. Animal competitions and many other races are also held which fascinate the tourists.

The fair is initiated with a camel race, which is followed by music, songs and exhibitions. On this fair, one also gets a chance to taste a vast variety of Rajasthani delicacies. Vibrantly dressed villagers singing their folk songs also attract the tourists as they represent the true culture and tradition of Rajasthan. In addition to the wide range of shows exhibited during this fair, puppet shows are also organized, which also forms a unique form of attraction, as the puppet shows are quite rare these days.