Kashmir Events & Festivals
Tulip Festival
Tulips blooms
Kashmir has the Asia's largest tulip garden called Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden, Siraj Bagh Cheshmashahi Srinagar, in the foothills of Zabarwan range withan overview of Dal Lake.The festival is held annualy in the month of April when tulips are in full bloom. The sprawling tulips of varied colours make the garden look like a silken carpet with intricate designs. The scene is simply captivating with floral charm. It is a visitor's memorable delight.
Baisakhi Festival
This festival also known as "harvest festival' is celebrated in mid April every year welcoming the onsent of Spring season.The festival is considered auspicious for marriages. The occasion is marke by different fairs.Bangra Punjabi dance dominates the festivity.
Khir Bhawani Festival
This festival is annually held in June at Khir Bhawani Shrine Tulmulla Ganderbal in which Hindu devotees paricipate in scores with reverence to participat in "Maha Yagna" a traditional offering.
Gurez Festival
The festival is held in July every and showcases the traditional folk dances and songs by the Gurez locals besides white water rafting is held in the Kishenganga river and a camp site in the scenic Dawar valley of Gurez.The charm of Gurez in its tradtional form is irresistable.
Amarnath Yatra
Amarnathji Yatra
Every year from mid June to mid August this yatra is held from Pahalgam and Sonmarg right upto Amarnathji caves crossing glaciers and mountains.Devotees from all over the country participate in the yatra.
Saffron Festival
Saffron Festival
This festival is held in October every when saffron is in bloom.Kashmiri saffrom is famous the world over and the festival offers an opportunity to see the intricate harvesting of saffron in the colourful fields providing enchanting view during the moonlit nights.
Snow Festival
Snow Festival
This festival is held in early January & February every year at Gulmarg, the winter Games capital of India,in which winter games teams from various states of the country besides teams from abroad participate in snow skiing,snow boarding, cross country. The Winter Games Federation Of India and J&K Tourism Department organise the festival in which local artists also perform the cultural shows.
Urs or annual festivals are held at various shrines mostly in honour of the birth annivarsaries of saints and seers. The prominet ones include: Urs Milad Hazratbal, Urs Peer Dastigeer, Urs Makhdoom sahib, Urs Naqashband sahib, Urs Nooruddin Noorani Chrari sharif,Urs Ashmuquam, Urs Shah-i-Hamdan Khanqah Moulla etc.in which devotees throng in scores for spiritual fulfilment.
Ladakh Events & Festivals
Many of the annual festivals of the Gom pas take place in winter, which is a relatively idle time for majority of the people. These take the form of dance-dramas in the gompa courtyards. Lamas, attired in colourful robes and wearing masks, perform mimes symbolising various aspects of the religion such as the progress of the individual soul and its purification or the triumph of good over evil. Local people flock from near and far to these events.
Festival of Hemis monastery
The biggest and most famous of the monastic festivals is that of Hemis, which falls in late June or early July, and is dedicated to Padmasambhava. Every 12 years, the gompa's greatest treasures, a huge Thangka, is ritually exhibited. Its next unveiling is due to take place in A.D 2004. Other monasteries, which have summer festivals, are Lam (late July/ early August), Tak-thok (after Phyang) and Karsha in Zanskar (after Phyang). Like Hemis, the Phyang festival too involves the unveiling of a gigantic thangka, though here it is done every third year.
Mask dancers performing in a festival
Spituk, Stok, Thikse, Chemrey and Matho have their festivals in winter between November and March. Likir and Deskit (Nubra) time their festivals to coincide with Dosmochhe, the festival of the scapegoat, which is celebrated at Leh in late February. Dosmochhe is one of two New Year festivals, the other being Losar, which falls around the time of the winter solstice.
The Monastic Festivals
The monastic festivals are annual events of the major monasteries which the local people eagerly look forward to attending, both for attaining religious merit and as a means of social entertainment. These are generally held to commemorate the establishment of a particular monastery, the birth anniversary of its patron saint or some major events in the history and evolution of Tibetan Buddhism. People turn out in the thousands to attend these festivals in their colourful best, making every event a carnival of colours.
A monastic festivel in progress
Chhams – the ritual dances
The core event of the monastic festival is a highly choreographed ritual dance-drama known as ‘Chhams’, which is directed by the ‘Chham-spon’, the mystic dance master of the monastery. The dances are performed not only to dramatise the esoteric philosophy of the event for the benefit of the lay devotees, but also by way of ritual offerings to the tutelary deities of the monastery and the guardians of the faith. A select group of resident lamas of the monastery, dressed in brightly patterned brocade, robes, perform these dances in the courtyard of the monastery. They also wear masks representing various divinities, which are mostly found in the form of statues in the "Gon Khang", the room dedicated to the guardian divinities. Some of the dances also feature masks representing famous characters from historical episodes or Tibetan fables. The more fearsome ones represent powerful divinities in their various manifestations, mostly representing the Dharmapalas or protectors of the faith. The dancers, holding ritual instruments in hands, step around the central flagpole in the monastic courtyard in solemn dance and mime, in tune with the music of the monastic orchestra. The ritual instruments and the hand gestures or mudras of the dancers symbolise different aspects of the dance-drama. In between the more sombre sequences, relief is provided by a group of comic performers who jump into the scene in the guise of skeletons and other characters, performing comic and acrobatic feats. These also wear masks representing various divinities and religious or historical characters.
Destruction of the evil
"Dao Tulva" ceremony (killing of the enemy)
As the ‘Chhams’ approaches its end on the second and last day of the festival, the climactic scene is enacted, in which the votive offering, a grotesque human figure made from dough, is ritually cut into pieces and scattered in the four cardinal directions. This figure symbolises the enemy of Buddhism as well as the embodiment of the three cardinal evils in the human soul viz. ignorance, jealousy and hatred. Accordingly, its destruction represents killing of the enemy of Buddhism and the purification of the human soul from the three evils. This ritual is known as ‘Dao Tulva’ and has many interpretations: cleansing of the soul from evils, dissolution of the human body after death into its elements, or a re-enactment of the assassination of the Tibetan apostate king Lang-dar-ma by a Buddhist monk in 842 AD. In fact, the long-sleeved dress and the huge hat worn by leader of the Black-Hat dancer, who executes this ritual in most festivals, represents the dress used by Lang-darma’s assassin to conceal his identity.
Pilgrimage of the deities
The ‘Rimpoche’ or head lama incarnate of the monastery conducts the rites and ceremonies of the festival. He sits on a high throne placed in the centre of the long veranda that runs along one side of the rectangular courtyard facing the huge, elevated gates of the monastery’s main prayer hall or Du-khang. This room actually serves as the green room for the artists during the festival.
Mask dance before devotees
The lamas of the monastery and the monk musicians in their full ceremonial attire, sit on carpet-covered cushions on either side of the throne in the veranda, according to their hierarchy.
The Rimpoche leads the lamas in the recitation of the mantras associated with the ‘Chhams’, thus creating the appropriate ambience for the dancers to enact the role of the deities whose guise they adopt. For the lay devotees, however, seeing the masked dancers serves to familiarise themselves with the kind of deities they are to encounter during the 49-day- ‘Bardo’ or transition period between death and rebirth in one of the six forms of existence, depending upon one’s karmic existence.
A deity's mask
The festive atmosphere
The monastic festivals also provide the local people an opportunity for socialising, trading and entertainment.
On this occasion, makeshift markets spring up overnight near the monastery, to which people throng. During the summer festivals, the visiting people organise picnics, overnight excursions, and all-night signing and dancing parties.
For the more devoted villagers, however, the event is essentially a pilgrimage to the monastery and its various temples, for it is during this period only that they can see all the images and figures, which are otherwise kept veiled.
The 10-Year Calendar of Monastic Festivals
The monastic festivals of Ladakh are governed by the Tibetan calendar which is luni-solar. So the dates vary form year to year, requiring astrological calculations to determine each year’s calendar. Traditionally, at the end of the year, the astrologers prepare a new calendar of festivals so that it is available as the new year ushers in. But in the absence of long-term calendars, visitors face problems in planning trips to Ladakh to witness these events.
In order to address this problem, the J&K Tourism Department has had a 10-year calendar of festivals, for the period 2000 AD to 2009 AD, prepared by an astrologer, which is included in this site for the convenience of visitors .
Calendar of Monastic Festivals
|
Name of Festivals
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
|
Spituk Gustor
|
-
|
Jan.
13-14
|
Jan. 31st.
Feb.1st.
|
Jan.
21-22
|
Jan
09-10
|
|
Leh and Likir
Dosmochey
|
-
|
Feb.
11-12
|
March
2-3
|
Feb.
19-20
|
Feb.
08-09
|
|
Yargon
Tungshak
|
-
|
Feb.
18-19
|
March
07-08
|
Feb.
24-25
|
Feb.
13-14
|
|
Stok Guru
Tseschu
|
-
|
Feb.
23-24
|
March
14-15
|
Feb
2-3
|
Feb.
19-20
|
|
Matho
Nagrang
|
-
|
Feb.
27-28
|
March
18-19
|
Feb
7-8
|
Feb.
24-25
|
|
Saka Dawa
|
-
|
May 27
|
June 15
|
May 4
|
May 25
|
|
Yuru Kabgyat
|
-
|
June
10-11
|
June
28-29
|
June
16-17
|
June
5-6
|
|
Hemis
Tseschu
|
-
|
June
21-22
|
July
10-11
|
June
29-30
|
June
18-19
|
|
Stongday Gustor
Zanskar
|
-
|
June
29-30
|
July
18-19
|
July
6-7
|
June
26-27
|
|
Karsha Gustor
Zanskar
|
-
|
July
8-9
|
July
27-28
|
July
15-16
|
July
6-7
|
|
Phyang Tsedup
|
-
|
July
9-10
|
July
28-29
|
July
16-17
|
July
6-7
|
|
Shachukul
Gustor
|
-
|
June
28-29
|
July
17-18
|
July
5-6
|
June
25-26
|
|
Korzok Gustor/Tsomoriri
|
-
|
July
14-15
|
Aug.
2-3
|
July.
22-23
|
July.
11-12
|
|
Dakthok
Tseschu
|
-
|
July
20-21
|
Aug.
8-9
|
July
28-29
|
July
18-19
|
|
Sani Naro-Nasjal
Zanskar
|
-
|
July
24-25
|
Aug.
12-13
|
Aug.
1-2
|
July.
21-22
|
|
Deskit Gustor
Nubra
|
Oct.
16-17
|
Oct.
5-6
|
Oct.
24-25
|
Oct.
13-14
|
Nov .
1-2
|
|
Thiksay
Gustor
|
Nov.
5-6
|
Oct.
25-26
|
Nov.
13-14
|
Nov.
1-2
|
Nov.
20-21
|
|
Chemday/Padum
Wangchok
|
Nov.
14-15
|
Nov.
4-5
|
Nov.
23-24
|
Nov.
11-12
|
Nov. 30
Dec. 1st.
|
|
Galdan
Namchot
|
Dec .
11
|
Nov.
30
|
Dec .
20
|
Dec .
8
|
Dec.
27
|
|
Ladakhi Losar
(New Year)
|
Dec.
17
|
Dec.
6
|
Dec.
25
|
Dec.
14
|
Jan.
2
|
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Jammu Events & Festival
Lohri (13 January) festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Jammu as it heralds the onset of spring. A dance called Chajj and Hiran is performed all over both in the cities and the ruaral areas.
Baisakhi (April 13 or 14) is celebrated all over Jammu in the month of April. Numerous fairs are held and people take dips in rivers and canals. Department of Tourism has organized Arti of river Chenab at Jio Pota at Akhnoor where lakhs take a dip on this occasion.
Bahu Mela (March-April & September-October) is held in March-April and September-October in the Bahu Fort Jammu on the occasion of Navratras
Chitre Chaudash (March-April) is held at Uttar Behni in March-April.
Purmandal Mela is held on the occasion of Shivratri. Thousands of people assemble here to celebrate the marriage of Lord Shiva to Goddess Parvati.
Baba Chamliyal Mela is celebrated Celebrated in the memory of Baba Dalip Singh Manhas every year in June in the village of Chamliyal on the Indo-Pak border 40 kms from Jammu. The unique feature of this mela is that the Baba Chamliyal is revered by people on both sides of the international border and is celebrated in unison by them on either side united by faith which makes boundaries irrelevant. People of all religions in thousands throng the shrine during the festivities. The earth around the shrine is called Shakar and the water from the adjoining well is called Sharbat. . A meeting of the BSF and the Pakistan Rangers is held on the international border on this day. The BSF presents shaker and sharbat to the Pakistan Rangers who in turn present chadar for the mazar of the Baba. Shakar and Sharbat are mixed and the paste is smeared on their bodies by people afflicted by skin diseases for cure.
Jhiri Mela (Oct-Nov) is held in the village of Jhiri near Jammu in November in celebration of the martyrdom of the Baba Jitto a peasant who laid down his life in protest aginst the unjust demands of the local landlord. It is one of the biggest rural fairs of the region.
Jammu Festival: The festival is organised in Jammu every year in the month of April during Baisakhi by J&K Tourism Department. It is a celebration of the local culture, crafts and cuisines, where people from adjoining states also take part.
Navratra Festival (Sept-Oct): Though the yatra to the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi is a round-the-year event, the one undertaken during the Navratras is considered the most auspicious. In order to showcase and highlight the regional culture, heritage and traditions of the area during this period, the J&K Tourism Department has instituted the Navratra festival as an annual event to be held during September/October on all the nine auspicious days of the Navratras. One of the famous events in Navratra festival is “Bhaint Competition” in which singers from different part of the country took part.
Guru Ravi Das's birthday
Is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Jammu city. Public meetings follow Kirtans and Bhajans. Likewise, the Gurpurabs, Guru Nanak's birthday, Navroz and I'd are celebrated providing opportunities for the expression of good fellowship among various communities and castes. Buddha Jayanti , Mahavir Jayanti , Gandhi Jayanti and christmas are also celebrated here as in other parts of the country.