Jaipur festivals :-

Rajasthan is a state of fairs and festivals. Jaipur, being its capital, leads the zeal and religious devotion of the people who celebrate all their festivals with special fervor and enthusiasm. There is a long list of festivals and almost each day is a celebration or an even in the city but we have selected the events that are unique to the city of Jaipur and are almost an inseparable element of the cultural identity of the capital of the state. Most of the festivals fall during the period from monsoons to spring, beginning with Teej and commencing with Gangaur festival. Both these festivals are dedicated to Goddess Parvati and her infallible fidelity to her husband, Lord Shiva.


Gangaur Festival
Gangaur Festival is usually celebrated in March or April, a fortnight after Holi. It is the most colorful and important festival of Rajasthan. The womenfolk worship Goddess Gauri, the consort of Lord Shiva for marital bliss, long lives of their husbands and conjugal happiness. During this eighteen-day long festival, the girls and married women dress up in their traditional ghaghras and cholis. The idols and images of the Goddess are ornamented in beautiful dresses and exotic jewellery and women make offerings to her for her blessings with great devotion.

Elephant Festival
Celebrated in March, this annual festival of Jaipur is unique in its concept. A number of beautifully bejeweled and bedecked elephants march gloriously in a grand procession that savors of royal tastes and participate in several competitions and events at the time of Holi. The giant pets run races and play polo at Chaugan in Jaipur, the venue of the Elephant Festival, with their long trunks during the festival. There are dancers, musicians and a large number of onlookers who come there to witness this majestic event. The painted elephants covered with richly embroidered velvets look grand and cute at the same time.


Kite Festival
Makar Sahnkranti celebrated on 14th January every year is a day of kite flying at Jaipur. People fly kites with riotous celebration. Every kite cut loose is an even accompanied by shouts of 'Woh Kata!' and sky seems nothing more than a big collage of colorful kites in all shapes and designs. In Jaipur, the Desert Kite Festival is held in every five years where expert kite makers flaunt their kites, which are sometimes huge in sizes and often carry social messages or even caricatures of famous personalities. Open to all, tourists can also participate in various kite-flying competitions.

Teej Festival
Celebrated usually during the first week of August, Teej festival is marked by rituals and fasts that accompany the monsoon clouds. The newly washed fields look fresh and beautiful and peacocks can often be spotted dancing during the season, as women sing Teej songs and enjoy rope swings in their gardens. Teej marks the beginning of the series of festivals and fairs that ends only with the Spring festival of Gangaur. Especially in Jaipur, Teej is celebrated with a special fervor and showers of rain on this day pep up the joyous celebrations by several degrees. It is considered a day for lovers and would-be life partners and young boys and girls come to the city from nearby villages, singing and dancing on bullock and camel carts and open tractor-trailers. The procession on Teej is the highlight of the festival.