Jaisalmer Desert Festival

Jaisalmer is a city with glory, culture and reason to celebrate its past. Every year, during the winter, the deserts of Jaisalmer get filled with color, music, laughter & love on the onset of the Jaisalmer Desert Festival. The annual desert festival is celebrated in the month of February but dates change every year. The history and reasons behind the celebaration of the desert festival in Jaisalmer is interesting. The festival is celebrated to mark and honour Lord Krishna’s prediction of how a successor from the Yadav community will set up his kingdom on the Trikuta hill. So, ever since Rawal Jaisal gave birth to Jaisalmer in the year 1196 AD, the people have been coming together to bring in joy by celebrating the festival in full pomp and show. A complete account of the folk tunes, tinges and twines affected aural albino dunes, the Jaisalmer Desert Festival displays Rajasthan Tourism’s ability and penchant to organize grand cultural fests and fairs to unfold innumerable facets of culture, heritage and lineage of Jaisalmer. The annual cultural event, Jaisalmer Desert Festival, sprays its colours, plays its tunes and whirs its heels out of the affection of the arid Thar that alcove out to the eyes of all-around spectators. Tourism is the mainstay of the economy of Rajasthan, the desert state of India, and Department of Rajasthan Tourism organizes several cultural events in various historical destinations to highlight rich cultural treasure and attract foreign tourists. The three days long cultural extravaganza takes place in the bosom of age-old havelis, actual fort, majestic palaces, Jain temples and aboriginal culture. Jaisalmer desert festival is once-in- twelve-month celebration that takes place in the month of February in the Golden City of Rajasthan, Jaisalmer. The festival commences with a procession from Jaisalmer Fort and reaches Sam Sand Dunes, the venue of the cultural extravaganza. Romantic, remote and unspoiled, Sam Sand Dunes, 42 km from Jaisalmer, are the stage for three days spectacle of the enjoyments of the desert. Just come out of the winter wools and footfall on to the caressible blossom season, the folk admixture from the aureate city-limits of India, Jaisalmer, captures the apperception of bags of travellers. The Desert Festival in Jaisalmer is appropriately an absolute breach from the advice age that avalanche aloft the collage of age-old amplitude and colourful art from the diorama of absurd India.

The festival gets attention from all over and is a collection of competitions and races of all sorts. It brings forward Rajasthan’s oldest and the best cultural traditions and keeps them alive through it all. The juggler performances, folk music and folk dances make the festival vibrant and put up a great show. A cricket lover can get to try on a game with the locals. Being a spectator to a game of camel polo is a lifetime experience as well. It’s really something unusual and fun to witness in exuberance of cultural colors. Camels of course, being an integral part of Rajasthan’s culture, are also a major part of the festival. The camels are decorated and dressed in beautiful colors for the ‘Best Dressed’ competition. There’s a bunch of camel races & gymnastics wherein people performing stunts on the camels. But the one that catches everyone’s eyes and gets all and sundry excited the most, is to see the ‘Who has the biggest Moustache race’? Seeing bunch of men, with moustaches twirled and curled and dressed beautifully in gorgeous shades is really something one wouldn’t see elsewhere. Biscuit races, turban tying, longest beard competition, Mr. Arid contest, puppet shows, customary processions, camel mounted bands, society dances and snake charmers’ spectacle also take place during desert festival.

Through the day, explore the craftsmanship of men and women, creating beautiful pieces like hand woven shawls, carved out furniture or embroidered skirts. The cacophony of Rajasthani art, Rajasthani folk music and dance, are represented by able artists. By evening, the area is light up and folk music, dances and performances start and go on till the night. The fair has finger licking yum food stalls. Several small makeshift shops are also established for the three days festival to offer visitors opportunity to purchase any article to take back as a souvenir.

Aside from the competitions, just being here at Sam Sand Dunes, with the sun setting in the background, - this makes for one of the best views to see and be in the company of the people with open hearts. On the final night, the night of the full moon, live music performances take place under the starry sky. The soothing vibe in the festival, vibrancy all around and nature being at its best, the scene and ambience is definitely pleasing to the eyes, filling the heart. The Desert Festival in Jaisalmer, an annual cultural event, is something one shouldn’t miss for a thing! The Government of Rajasthan markets the vibrant festival to attract international tourists to visit us and dive into our culture too.

Dates, Venue & Attractions of Desert Festival in Jaisalmer

Year Dates Venue Attractions
2019 February 17,18,19 Sam Sand Dunes

Camel race, camel decoration, biscuit races, turban tying, longest beard & moustache competition, Mr. Arid contest,

puppet shows, customary processions, camel mounted bands, society dances and snake charmers’ spectacle,

folk music, folk dances, crafts shops, food stalls etc.

2020 February 07,08,09

Jaisalmer Tour Packages

Cultural Rajasthan Tour

Cultural Rajasthan Tour

14 Nights / 15 Days
Destination : Delhi- Mandawa- Bikaner- Jaisalmer- Jodhpur- Kumbhalgarh- Udaipur- Bundi-Ranthambhore- Jaipur

Golden Triangle with Jaisalmer Tour

Golden Triangle with Jaisalmer Tour

6 Nights / 7 Days
Destination : Delhi - Agra - Jaipur - Jaisalmer

Mansions & Havelis of Rajasthan Tours

Mansions & Havelis of Rajasthan Tours

11 Nights / 12 Days
Destination : Delhi-Jaipur-Mandawa-Bikaner-Jaisalmer-Jodhpur-Rohet-Ranakpur-Udaipur-Dungarpur

North India Holidays Tour

North India Holidays Tour

12 Nights / 13 Days
Destination : Delhi-Jodhpur – Jaisalmer- Udaipur- Jaipur- Agra- Varanasi

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