Festivals of Jaipur

A heritage-filled land like Jaipur is best enjoyed during any festival. Festival is the right time to witness interesting ceremonies, rituals and awe-inspiring performances by locals. Indian cities including Jaipur welcome foreigners to be a part of their festival celebration. During festivals, you can find people dressed in traditional attire, take part in cultural celebration, enjoy delicacies that are made only during specific festivals and so on. Here are the top festivals of Jaipur.

Gangaur Festival

• When : March /April; according to Lunar calendar
• What : Rituals, photography
• Duration : One day
• Religion : Hindu

This is an important Ganhaur festival among women and girls. Womenfolk worship Lord Shiva and Lord Parvathi. Women make clay idols of the deity and worship for the welfare of their husbands. Unmarried girls pray for getting a good groom. You can find special rituals in temples and women in traditional dresses. People of all nationality and religion can take part in the rituals.

Teej Festival

• When : August
• What : Photography, folk dance, henna decoration, traditional song performances and others
• Duration : One day
• Religion : Hindu

This festival is similar to that of Gangaur but it attracts many tourists. During the festival women worship for the welfare of their husbands and girls worship for a better groom. There are traditional Teej songs that will be sung by the women. Dance performances are common during this time. If you are invited by an Indian family to celebrate the ritual at their home, you can enjoy all the elements of the festival.

Kites Festival

• When : Jan 14th
• What : flying kites, photography, kite competition, rituals and others
• Duration : Three days
• Religion : Hindu

This harvest festival is celebrated in different names around the country. This festival marks the harvest time in agricultural area and the festival is a tribute to Sun God for his rays. People perform rituals early in the morning and fly kites. The International kite festival organizes kite-flying competition for three days. Numerous people from various part of the world visit India for this competition and several more tourists and locals visit to enjoy the competition. You can find many avid photographers trying to capture the color of India.

Elephant Festival

• When : Full moon day of February or March
• What : Elephant processions, traditional music and dance performance, fair, camel processions and others
• Duration : One day
• Religion : Hindu

This festival is focused on elephants. The elephants will be painted and decorated with ornaments. The riders will also be formally dressed and the procession starts. It is followed by a parade of Chariot, horses and camels. Dance and music performances happen during the processions. It is a colorful festival. This festival is celebrated in Jaipur Polo Ground, opposite to Sawai Man Singh Stadium. Many shops can be seen outside and near the ground that sell unique and traditional items.

Donkey Festival

• When :Mid of October
• What : Donkey race, donkey beauty contest and donkey fair
• Duration : One day
• Religion : All

This is an annual celebration that is famous among tourists because of its uniqueness. Numerous travelers visit this fair just out of curiosity. It is just a fair that is conducted for trading donkeys. Over the period, the fair has got more interesting with donkey parade, donkey race, beauty contest and others. This is 500-year-old tradition that is similar to camel fair of Pushkar. The fair takes place in a small village, Looniyabaas that is just 20 km away from Jaipur.

Diwali Festival

• When :Changes from year to year. Mostly celebrated in October or November
• What : Bursting crackers, enjoying delicacies, night sky watching and others
• Duration : One day
• Religion : Hindu

This traditional Hindu Diwali festival denotes the victory of good over the bad. People celebrate it by bursting crackers throughout the day. The best part of the day is during night. If you are visiting