Desert Festival, Jaisalmer 2020

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FESTIVAL DETAILS

Once a year during winters, the sands around Jaisalmer come alive with the brilliant colors, music and laughter of the Desert Festival. Dressed in brilliantly hued costumes, the people of the desert dance and sing haunting ballads of valor, romance and tragedy. The fair has snake charmers, puppeteers, acrobats and folk performers. Camels, of course, play a stellar role in this festival, where the rich and colorful folk culture of Rajasthan is on show. The festival closes with an enchanting sound and light show amidst the sand dunes on a moonlit night.

 

The Jaisalmer fort provides an ethereal backdrop to the annual desert festival. Sponsored by the Rajasthan State Tourism Corporation, this festival is a joyful celebration of the traditional performing arts and creative crafts of Rajasthan.

 

CELEBRATIONS

A few days before the spring full moon according to the Hindu calendar, musicians, dancers and performers from all over Rajasthan start moving in colorful camel caravans towards the golden town of Jaisalmer, which dons a festive look. The otherwise barren landscape is splashed with vibrant colors marking the opening of the Desert Festival. The 12th century fort of Jaisalmer, built in yellow sandstone, provides a fairytale background. Over the years, the desert dwellers in their solitude have woven a fascinating tapestry with threads of music and rhythm and the Desert Festival is a celebration of their heritage. It is a chance of a lifetime to see the folk art forms against the landscape that has nurtured them for hundreds of years.

 

With the arrival of the artists, a delightful series of programs begins in and around Jaisalmer. There is music everywhere and at every given hour. Through the winding lanes of the fortified town to the sand dunes and even the rivers of abandoned villages, the music casts a potent spell. Beginning at sunrise, it reaches its zenith under the umbrella of the star-studded sky. Though it is mainly a festival of the performing arts, there are several other events that give a glimpse of the desert culture.

 

Through the day, visitors can come face to face with the desert craftsmen. Exquisitely embroidered skirts, hand-woven shawls, rugs, carvings on wood and stone, camel decorations, embroidered leather bags, ethnic silver jewelry and terracotta are brought in from all over the desert. These skillfully achieved crafts are objects d'art for the handicraft buff.

 

Evenings are meant for the main shows of music and dance. Vibrating desert drums can be heard for miles around. Nearly all the variations of performing arts of these desert people are displayed. Continuing till late into the night, the number of spectators swells up each night and the grand finale, on the full moon night, takes place by silvery sand dunes.

 

Although the basic design of the festival remains the same, each year there are a few new events. Some of the most spectacular and memorable shows of past festivals have been the dream-like pageant, "Blood, Blade and Romance" on the sand dunes recreating the legendary past; the camel tattoo of the Border Security Force, which has a highly trained camel corps to guard the western border; and the pulsating folk ensemble of a hundred musicians.

 

RITUALS

Camels are not just beasts of burden but an integral part of the desert life and the camel events confirm this fact. Special efforts go into dressing the animal for entering the spectacular competition of the best-dressed camel. Interestingly, there is a folk song to describe the making of the camel's necklace-the Gorband. Camel owners vie with each other for winning the camel races and a feeling of pride is discernible both in the eyes of the owner and his mount that wins. To add some more fun and color, the camel show has two unique events - the camel polo and the camel dance.

 

Other interesting competitions on the fringes are the moustache and turban tying competitions, which not only demonstrate a glorious tradition but also inspire its preservation. Both the turban and the moustache have been centuries old symbols of honor in Rajasthan.

 

Keeping the moustache twisted upwards meant keeping the pride intact while drooping moustaches conveyed complete surrender. Tying a turban is not only an intriguing tradition but an art as well. Varying styles of tying the turban and colors describe the caste, region and also the occasion. To the viewers, it appears complicated but those who have inherited the tradition tie a turban out of meters of cloth at the blink of an eye.

 

LEGENDS

Unlike the major festivals of Rajasthan, the desert festival has no legends to recount. It is a created event but the music traditions of the desert are so fascinating that conceiving the musical festival came as almost a natural solution for facilitating their preservation. It was also inspired by the Music Festival of Salzburg-though totally different in concept and content. Both the towns exude music and have a heavy inflow of tourists. But unlike the Salzburg Festival, the shows of the Jaisalmer Festival are not ticketed. Sponsored by the state tourism corporation, it has been designed to promote tourism in the enigmatic Thar Desert.

 

Once the festival is over, it certainly leaves behind a nostalgic feeling. Some connoisseurs of music have been to the festival more than once and there is a tourist from Holland who has attended the festival four times.

 

Today, this traditional extravaganza is a coveted event for music lovers-the performers as well as the listeners. For the performers, it has become a prestigious event to participate in. It has also helped find new talent and expended patronage to many artistes.

 

REGIONAL CELEBRATIONS

Jaisalmer is the only place where this desert festival is celebrated with great zest and zeal. Rajasthan being a popular tourist destination, the festival adds to its color.

 

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THE TIMING OF DESERT FESTIVAL

Usually the festival is held on the Hindu calendar of the end of ‘Magh’ month that falls in the month of February and three days before of the Maghi-Purnima or the full moon. The celebration takes place on the glittery sands of the Thar Desert and stretched till 42 km from the city of Jaisalmer, towards the Sam Sand Dunes and indeed makes these three days an unforgettable affair for all those tourists.

History of Desert Festival

Basically the Desert festival of the Sand dunes of Rajasthan is basically organized to attract tourists from all over the world by ‘The Tourism Department of Rajasthan’ and to uplift the cultural heritage of Rajasthan. The festival is truly an extravaganza and indeed attracts millions of tourists to the city of the ‘Golden Fort’-Jaisalmer. It is a fact that the tourists who are from outside India are significantly targeted to visit to this festival and see the beauty of the cultural traditions of the state. And factually these foreign tourists love to see the glimpses of the culture of India –especially Rajasthan through various performances and competitions that are organized presenting as important part of this festival. So, in these three days the tourists can collect the memoirs of their experience of these performances that are the presentation of the colorful culture of Rajasthan.

 

There is another background of the festival which is inspired by the Hindu Mythology. It is believed that Lord Krishna once said to Arjuna that one of the future rulers of the Yadav clan will built his kingdom on the Trikuta Hills and his words came true when Rana Jaisal founded the Golden Fort as his kingdom on the hills and named his kingdom as Jaisalmer. And this is the celebration which cannot be forgotten as the villagers and the local people dress in their best costumes and sing folk songs to welcome the festival with open arms and enthusiasm. They wait for this festival as soon as the winter arrives and the adieu the season with a note of celebration of their culture.

 

DESERT FESTIVAL COMPETITIONS AND EVENTS

Besides, the festivities and dance of the local people there are much to explore in the Desert Festival of Rajasthan and that is why the tourists who visit cannot forget these three days which enhances the beauty of the golden sands of the ‘Thar’. The festival begins with a grand procession in the early morning starting from the Jaisalmer Fort to the Shahid Poonam Singh Stadium. And as the festival is organized every year the various events also include every year with the same enthusiasm.

 

THE FOLK MUSIC – The calm sands of the Thar shine like gold and Rajasthani folk songs reverberate all around making ita rustic and soothing ambience with the folk song competition and make you forget rest of the world. Moreover, the local artists of Rajasthan sing and dance on the beats of traditional musical instruments which are played beautifully and will really touch your hearts and will make you hum them.

 

 

CAMEL RACE – Apart from music and dance there are Horse and camel sports are also organized where one can see high standing camels decorated colorfully with ornaments and bells and flowers and they go for a race and the owner of the winning camel gets huge prize money. There are also arrangements of camel polo can be seen and thus it becomes a grand affair.

 

MR. DESERT COMPETITIONS – This is a competition which is also named as “MaruShri” or as the Man of the Desert and the caliber is measured by the length of the moustaches of the participants here and that is why the longest the moustaches will be the man will be the winner, indeed it is funny but interesting too.

 

TURBAN TYING COMPETITION – It is another way of having and watching fun in the desert festival as this is one of the completion that is an important part of the festival. The turbans are considered as the element of prestige and the high tied it will be the person will be the winner, and these are such kinds of events which are considered as healthy competition and indeed they are safe.

 

FOOD FESTIVAL  – Any Festival in Rajasthan can never get completed without food and desert Festival is one such name, so in this festival there are ample of food options can be seen here with the local food vendors and also in the local food marts and sweet marts who sell in a wide range of local Rajasthani cuisine and the food festival is a matter of grandeur which should not be missed at any cost. The local food of Rajasthan is predominantly known for its lip smacking cuisines and they are indeed a hot in all over the country for their rich color and spiciness. So, the tourists can taste the very best of the food of the state amongst Daalbati, Gatte KI Sabzi, Lal Maas, Churma, Ghevar, etc.

 

OTHER ATTRACTIONS  – Apart from these competitions the festival also include puppet shows, snake charmers, folk dancers, acrobats, local musicians, mehandi artists, art work sellers and  many others those who literally make the festival more colorful and vibrant. The festival also get more lively when the popular fire dancers and Gair dancers take part and they dance with the fire plates on head and also standing on them. These are really enthusiastic and make the tourists go admiring of these acts.