Festivals are intrinsic to communities the world over and are celebrated everywhere with joy, enthusiasm and devotion. This is even truer in India, an ancient land with an unbroken legacy of sacred rites and rituals, a strict adherence to custom and a consuming desire for communing with the Divine.
Here, even the humblest home will mark the special days as best as it can. The spirit and zeal with which every festival is organized and attracts foreign tourists from around the world to this country, who flock to temple towns, religious ghats, mountain retreats and pilgrimage centres to witness first hand the magical experiences.
September 2015, volume 39, No 9