PUSHKAR FAIR DATES 2012
Camp Bliss runs from 18 to 27 November, and is a great way to experience Pushkar Fair.
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18 November Groups of camels, herders and traders begin to appear from out of the desert and set up camp in the dunes around Pushkar. For some, the journey may have taken up to three weeks.
19 November Many more camels, nomads, herders, farmers and traders are arriving, many on foot or by camel cart. The gathering rapidly grows to immense proportions. Most trading will take place during these first few days.
20 November Arrivals continue. This is the best time for photography of people and animals and the time when you may move around and observe the scene most freely. Camels are inspected and thoroughbred Merwari horses put through their paces for purchasers. Even marriages may be arranged.
21 November Arrivals continue. On the dunes, the gathering is reaching maximum size. All over the dunes groups of vendors and purchasers gather around their animals with negotiators to arrange the deals. The best prices are achieved in a year when the monsoon has been good.
22 November By now tented bazaars are a hive of activity and the fairground is being set up. The scene on the dunes is at its most crowded. In the stadium there are camel races, displays and competitions.
23 November – Cattle Fair More and more people are arriving, although camels and traders begin to disappear back into the desert as the week progresses and their business is concluded. Stadium events continue.
24 November – Cattle Fair The scene on the dunes is increasingly busy and chaotic, with camel cart rides, itinerant musicians and vendors. Around the stadium there are cultural activities, competitions and a craft fair with handicraft stalls.
25 November – Pushkar Fair The town, temples and bazaars are becoming more crowded. The colourful fairground attracts huge crowds with stalls, street vendors, sideshows and ferris wheels. Stadium events continue.
26 November – Pushkar Fair Great numbers of colourfully-dressed villagers arrive from all over the region to bathe in the holy lake. The fairgound is going full swing. There are fewer camels and traders on the dunes and the cattle are departing.
27 November – Pushkar Fair Pilgrims throng the streets of Pushkar and shop in the fairground bazaars as they prepare for tomorrow's Kartik Purnima religious festival when they will bathe in the holy lake, believed to have been created when the god Brahma dropped a sacred lotus flower to earth.
28 November is the last day of the Pushkar Fair Official Programme and is the day of the Kartik Purnima religious festival, when many thousands of devotees visit the temples and circumambulate the holy lake.
PUSHKAR CAMEL FAIR 2013
Camp Bliss will be at Pushkar Camel Fair for nine nights from 7 to 16 November 2013.
For enquiries about individual or group tours including Pushkar please contact us from this site or email info@indianmoments.com.