Incredible India : Fairs and Festivals

Contents: Preface. Editor\'s note. 1. Basant Panchami. 2. Bihu. 3. Buddha Purnima. 4. Christmas. 5. Diwali. 6. Durga Puja. 7. Dussehra. 8. Eid-ul-Fitr. 9. Eid-ul-Zuha. 10. Ganesh Chaturthi. 11. Guru Parv. 12. Holi. 13. Janmashtami. 14. Khwaja Chisti Urs. 15. Kumbh Mela. 16. Maha Shivaratri. 17. Mahavir Jayanti. 18. Navroze. 19. Onam. 20. Pushkar Mela. 21. Raksha Bandhan. 22. Rath Yatra. 23. Teej. 24. Tribal Fairs of Madhya Pradesh. 25. Vishu.

In India, the landscape is primarily of celebration. Barely does one festival end to commemorate the season, when another follows to honour a God, a prophet or a saint.

The festivals of India embody the face and voice of this ancient tradition, and their variety, the expression of the creativity of its people. It is in its festivals that the country finds its many faces, its innumerable forms, its kaleidoscopic colours, and innovative spirit and yet within that there runs the defining commonality that says emphatically: this is India.

What comes out of this cultural cauldron is still the commonality that manages to let so many cultural, religious and racial differences live and find their own individual path to commemorate a racial, mythological and historical memory as well as celebrate a cultural continuity.

This book takes the reader through the unique blend of cultural strands that weave the magic of this land." (jacket)