Though of the day
હું એક એવા પિતાની શોધમાં છું જે પોતાની દીકરીને દહેજમાં ૧૦ તોલા સોનું નહીં પરંતુ ૧૦ સારા પુસ્તક આપે.
એલીમેન્ટ્રી એજ્યુકેશન ઈન ઈંડીયા પ્રોગ્રેસ ટોવડર્ઝ,યુ.ઈ.ઈ.
Gujarati Festival
Festivals
in Gujarat symbolize people's cultural, social and religious
aspirations. They help people to live a fuller and better life, remove
monotony and provide healthy recreation. They promote unity,
fellow-feeling, self-discipline and austerity.
Navaratri
Navarathri is the most colorful festival of Gujarat. The entire
period between June and October, when most of the countryside is engaged
in agriculture, the festivals celebrated are mostly days of austerity,
penance and fasting. The period includes the Gauri Puja, the
Janmashtami, the Nag Panchami the Paryushan and the Ganesha Chaturthi. Many of Gujarat's festivals are mostly celebrated by women. Gauri puja is observed by young, unmarried girls, who fast and pray for getting 'suitable husbands'.
DiwaliJanmashtami, the Nag Panchami the Paryushan and the Ganesha Chaturthi. Many of Gujarat's festivals are mostly celebrated by women. Gauri puja is observed by young, unmarried girls, who fast and pray for getting 'suitable husbands'.
Asvina is a month which marks the end of the harvesting season. This
month ends with the festival of lights Diwali, which is a four-day
festival. The first day of the festival starts with the Lakshmi Puja.
The second day is considered as the day of casting off evils. The third
day is the main Diwali day. On this day every home is illuminated with
earthen lamps and the courtyards decorated with Rangoli designs.
The fourth and the last day is the New year day for
the Gujarati's when people visit temples in colourful costumes and greet
each other. The day following the new year day is called the Bhai bij
day when brothers are invited by their sisters to partake of sweets with
them. The full moon day of the Kartika month, with its preceding
eleventh (ekadashi) day is called the Dev-Diwali. On these days the
marriage of the Tulsi plant with the Shaligram, symbolising Lord Vishnu,
is celebrated in every Hindu home in Gujarat.
Holi
Like the Diwali, the spring festival of Holi on the full moon day in
the month of Phalguna has a universal appeal. While Diwali marks the end
of the monsoon and therefore the agricultural season of the Kharif
crop, Holi marks the agricultural season of the Rabi crop. The next day
after Holi is celebrated as Dhuleti (Dhuli Padvo) when people throw
colour powder at each other and make merry.
Kite Festival, a national festival for Gujarat is observed on the
14th of January, the day when the sun enters the tropic of cancer. On
this day young boys and girls and even old people, are on their house
tops flying kites. Now the festival, held at Ahmedabad attracts the
connoisseurs of kites from all corners of the world and is known as
International Kite Festival.
Started in the year 1989, it coincides with the festival of Uttarayan
or Makar Sankranti. The change in the direction of winds on Makar
Sankranti is marked by thousands of colourful kites of all patterns and
dimensions which dot the blue sky. The festival lures expert kite-makers
and fliers not only from major cities of India but also from around the
world.
Janmasthami, the Birthday of Lord Krishna, is celebrated on the
twenty-third day in the month of Shravan as per Hindu calender
(August/September). It is celebrated with great fervor at Jagat Mandir
in Dwaraka. The idol of Krishna as an infant is worshipped, bhajans are
sung all over the state. A fair is held on this day at Jamnagar.
No festival except the Balev, when Brahmins change their sacred
threads, is exclusive to any particular community or section. The same
day sisters tie Rakhi on their brother's wrist wishing them a happy
life. The day is also celebrated as Nariyeli Poonam in the coastal areas
of the State, where people worship the sea offering coconuts.
A festival of Indian classical music usually conducted on the First
week of January in Ahmedabad every year. This festival was inaugurated
by Pt. Ravi Shankar in 1980. The musical event is organised by a public
charitable trust which runs the Saptak School of Music. This festival
which spans the first 11 days of January, showcases the best talents and
presents as many as a hundred plus musicians with sincere commitment to
standards.
The sun temple at Modhera in Mehsana district in north Gujarat, built
during the reign of the Solanki king Bhimdev I, represents one of the
most magnificent monuments of Gujarat. The temple, though in ruins, is
considered one of the best specimens of Indian art and architecture of
the by gone era.
The fair during Mahashivaratri is held for five days and takes place
during February, and the events associated with it are colourful indeed.
The mahapuja of Lord Shiva takes place at midnight, in this temple, on
the 14th day of the dark half of the month of Magh. When the puja
starts, naga bavas (naked sages) living nearby move towards the fair
seated on elephants, holding flags, and blowing conch shells, sounding
tungis and turis. It is firmly believed that Lord Shiva himself visits
the shrine on this occasion.
Like so many other regions of Gujarat. Kutch has its own distinctive
character. It is, in fact, a peninsula, lying between the Sir river, the
Sir Creek and the Great Rann of Kutch on the north-west, and the Gulf
of Kutch on the east. The country is somewhat bare and wild, with some
cultivated fields near the villages. It has a remarkably heterogenous
population, who belong to 18 different tribes, each with its own
language and culture. Yet Kutch, with its colourful people, historic
towns, and remarkable handicrafts, has much of interest to offer
visitors.
There are many fairs in Gujarat where numerous tribal people gather
on special occasions to participate in the various activities that take
place at the fair, whether these are religious or secular, and to enjoy
themselves thoroughly. The Trinetreshwer Mahadev Fair at Tarnetar, near
the industrial town of Thangadh, Saurashtra, is one such fair.
It is believed that the fair has been held on this ancient site since
antiquity. The fair is linked with the story of Draupadi's swayamvar
and it is said that it was at this place that the great archer Arjuna
performed the difficult task that won him his bride. A pole was erected
in the centre of the kund and a fish was kept rotating at the top of the
pole, at top speed.
